Quinn Chandler March 21, 2013 2B

Aliens: Are They the Explanation? (Disclaimer: All thoughts and views expressed in this essay is purely speculation, nothing (From the writers standpoint) is fact.) How can a ship sink in a book? In Yann Martels Life of Pi, a young Indian boy finds himself as a castaway after the boat he was traveling on sank, with no explanation. A theory has been made that the true cause to this incident was, in fact, life from space. Many elements of the story can be proved by siding with this theory, for example, the boat sinking could have been caused by an alien attack and the mysterious island are both explained by aliens. Now, some people disprove this by simply saying, Alien life doesnt exist. However, they are wrong in this idea. Alien life could be the cause of the boat in Life of Pi sinking. First off, in the story, there is never any official explained cause of the boat sinking, even in Mr. Okamotos report, although there is a mention of a breach in the hull but, precise reason of breach impossible to determine (Chapter 100). So, we know that the hull was breached, but by what is the true question that needs to be answered. Normal people, as in average and everyday people that you meet on a street, would say that there was an error made by the crew or a natural accident and that is backed up again in Okamotos report. The evidence is right there, but people refuse to see that. Nobody wants to believe that aliens attacked something on earth because that could lead up to an invasion on more than a ship in an ocean. Perhaps the reason why there was a breach in the hull was then not an attack, but a research excursion to find out how a human ship works. That is just one theory.
Another possible point of evidence that alien life played a key role in the book is the island that Pi landed on before he hit the mainland. Most of the organic life Pi encountered was impossible according to Mr. Okamoto and his assistant. Humanly impossible could be said. But nothing can be said about whether or not aliens could manufacture that kind of life. Meerkats that even Pi hasnt seen the likes of. Carnivorous trees are not possible in nature, but if alien life somewhere, that is more advanced than us, simply need to trade a few genes into trees genetic code and bam, there is a carnivorous tree. Pi simply landed on an alien testing zone of some sort that was based on earth. It may sound far-fetched, but could be possible. Also, what if Pi hadnt really been a castaway? What if the truth behind the whole story of Pis adventure was really a delusion made from an alien encounter. To be blunt with this point, when the ship was attacked, it could have been searched beforehand to find a suitable guinea pig for alien testing. Pi, his mother, the sailor, and the French cook could have been the only suitable subjects, so they (the aliens) sunk the ship and took them away. While the experiments where in progress, every human but Pi died from the experiments. After a while, the aliens let Pi go, with a life boat from the ship (They already

made look like it was traveling for that amount of time), filled Pi with this story, and sent him on his merry way. This sounds even more far-fetched than the last idea, but it is still a possibility. Here comes the inevitable bit, which is everything against alien life being a part of this book. First off, why would aliens be interested in a Indian boy traveling across the ocean? There is no real reason why. Second, if intelligent alien life existed, why would be interested in earth? They may not be even past their version of the Stone Age. Finally, in the words of Les Johnson, The aliens are not among us (www.baen.com). Alien life doesnt exist. Technically speaking, we are alone in our galaxy and, by extension, the universe, until some catalyst event sparks new life somewhere. There is no logical explanation for how the boat sank without actually going and bringing it to the surface. If Pi had the coordinates to the island he referred to, scientists would be there straight -away to find a way to prove the existence of such. In conclusion, alien life is a provable explanation for many events that took place in Life of Pi, such as the sinking of the boat, the mysterious island, and the whole journey itself. But, as always, naysayers will say that alien life visiting our planet is illogical and impossible, to which I say, When you eliminate all of the possible explanat ions, whatever is left, no matter how improvable, must be possible. With that, I rest my case.

Bibliography
1) Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2001. 2) The Aliens are Not Among Us by Les Johnson - Baen Books