The Tiger or the Lady

The tie between this explanation of the deathbed reaction of an atheist versus an agnostic and the events at the end of the novel are evident in the phrases, “beholden to dry, yeastless factuality” and “lack imagination and miss the better story.” Essentially, these expressions capture the tension that the Japanese interviewers face when being forced to choose between the Pi’s narrative involving the tiger and other improbabilities or his narrative about the cook who murders Pi's mother, which is unfortunately, more probable in the eyes of society. Even so, the Japanese men’s choice to record the tiger story in their log as if it were fact redeems them from their time of doubt, just as the theoretical atheist is redeemed in his “deathbed leap of faith,” where he acknowledges what he sees as “L-L-Love” and God instead of “f-f-failing oxygenation of the b-b-brain.” Essentially, Pi challenges readers to seek truth instead of merely collecting and accepting facts.