hyENA VS. cook:
In the novel, the hyena represents one of the most vicious animals, which comes as a surprise because a Bengal tiger was also sharing the lifeboat. The hyena in the second story is represented as the cook, who was on the ship previous to the crash. Like the hyena, the cook possess evil characteristics, and is known to kill both a zebra (Chinese sailor) and the orang-utan (Pi's mother). Previous to the second story, we do not here much about the cook who is present on the boat, but when the cook was presented as the hyena, the audience really sees his true character. In the novel, Martel is portraying the hyena/cook to be the evil in the story, making the audience wonder about humans vs. evil and how humans are able to possess that great amount of evil. When Pi is describing how viscous hyena's are he says, "The hyena feels no disgust at this mistake... A hyena's catholicity of taste is so indiscriminate it nearly forces admiration." (pg.129) This explains the true evil of the hyena and in the second story the cook. As described in the second story, we also notice that the cook seems to possess very common traits with the hyena. They both are greedy, viscous, and are known to be savages. In the second story, the cook seems to not get along with anyone on the boat, and ends up killing the other two members. "It was the cook's idea. He was a brute. He dominated us." (pg.338) This quote explains how the cook and hyena are very similar. In the first story, the members were scared of the hyena, while in the second story it was the cook. But, in both stories they ended up being the same person, the cook.
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Characteristics of hyenas:
As mentioned throughout the paragraph to the left, hyenas are very vicious animals and are known to be scary and evil. Throughout the novel, the hyena and the cook both possess the same characteristics, which creates them to be the same character. Hyenas are said to be, "These are complicated, intelligent, and highly social animals with a really awful reputation." In relation to the cook in the second story, both hyenas and the cook are intelligent people, as mentioned in the novel by Pi himself. "He was good with his hands and he knew the sea. He was full of good ideas... If we survived any time at all, it was thanks to him." (pg. 342) As mentioned earlier, and the quote above, it is proven that the hyena and the cook are considered to be the same character.
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