View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Pi awoke in the middle of the night and saw the huge moonlit sky before him, what did he think about with regards to himself and the rest of the sea?

2. What did Pi call the tiger's snorting in and out?

3. How long did the two men dispatched to the town interview Pi for?

4. What was the island made out of, which Pi ate in massive quantity?

5. What did Pi share for food with Richard Parker after butchering it?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Pi's daily routine start showing through in Part 2, Chapter 62, a week since the ship sank?

2. Discuss the "dream rag," first discussed by Pi in Part 2, Chapter 87.

3. How was Pi's sleep effected by his stress in Part 2, Chapter 68?

4. The author discusses Pi's maintenance of his religious practices in Part 2, Chapter 74. Discuss Pi's religious reaction to his predicament.

5. In Part 3, Chapter 100, the author receives a letter from Japanese officials about their interview with Pi. They remark that they found Pi to have had amazing fortitude to survive his ordeal. Why did they find his ordeal so amazing?

6. In Part 2, Chapter 79, Pi was entertained by the tiger's behavior with the sharks. Explain.

7. In Part 2, Chapter 95, who were dispatched to Mexico to meet Pi, and why?

8. In Part 2, Chapter 90, how did another man enter the story?

9. What did Pi really achieve by studying the navigational directions in the survival manual in Part 2, Chapter 65?

10. How did Pi put his crisis in perspective in Part 2, Chapter 60?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Pi learns he must out-smart the tiger, because he is unable to out-muscle him. Describe, using specific examples from the book, some ways that you believe Pi out-smarts the tiger. How does the tiger not know what Pi is doing? Is the tiger dumber then Pi? Does the tiger focus on different things then Pi? Did the tiger allow himself to be outsmarted?

Essay Topic 2

Describe how the "circle of life and death" is exhibited before the shipwreck in the zoo, and after the shipwreck in the lifeboat.

Essay Topic 3

What is the definition of a hero? Is there a hero in this story? If so, who is it? If not, why not? Support your answers with examples from the text.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 997 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample