1. Teacher workshop 18 March Bronwen Louw
Narrative Voice
Teacher workshop 18 March
Bronwen Louw

2. The suspension of disbelief
Whenever we read a work of fiction, we know that it is not true.
However, while we are reading it, we suspend this belief and engage with the text as if it were true. In this way, we immerse ourselves in the fiction.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as follows: “Temporarily allow oneself to believe something that is not true, especially in order to enjoy a work of fiction.”

3. Ways in which authors enable this suspension
Narrative voice: often by using the first person narrator, the story feels more credible- as if told through the eyes of someone who has really experienced something.
The setting: real settings in real historical moments add to the credibility of the story
Even stories that can be classified as magical realism, contain some elements of truth or reality so as to foster belief

4. Narrative voice
This refers to who is telling the story, i.e. through whose “voice” we hear the story

5. Narrative voice in Life of Pi
Through whose voice do we hear most of the story? i.e. who is the primary narrator of the events?
Why do you think this is?

6. The Frame structure
Even though Pi is the primary narrator, his story is framed in two ways:
The novel begins with a note from the Author explaining how he came to write Pi’s story.
The novel ends with a transcription of the interview between Pi and the Japanese investigators and then a report regarding this interview.
Why do you think Pi’s story is framed in this way? i.e. how does this link to the suspension of disbelief?

7. The Author’s note
In this first section, the author Yann Martel, addresses the reader directly and gives the background as to how he came to write this novel.
He explains that he was in India working on his third novel after two successive failures, when he met Mr Adirubasamy who told him about Pi.
Mr Adirubasamy tells him that he has a story “to make you believe in God”.
The narrator tells how he met with Pi and interviewed him over the course of a year.

8. The Author’s note
Some of these details are true- Yann Martel did go to India after his first two novels failed.
However, Martel actually got his inspiration for the novel from a book review of another book in a newspaper.
Which background story is the “better story”?
Why invent a background story which is partly true and partly not true?
To which of the novel’s themes does this link?
In the introduction he says of writers: “What is fiction but the selective transformation of reality?”. What does this mean about all writing?

9. Is the Author and the narrator the same person?
The narrator and the Author do share some things, but they are not necessarily the same.
For instance, Yann Martel has said that he is deeply religious, yet the narrator of Life of Pi is not religious and all and is quite sceptical of religion.
Therefore, the frame narrator is also a creation of the author.

10. The Frame narrator’s sections in Part One of the novel
Part One covers Pi’s childhood and the events leading up to the sinking of the Tsimtsum.
Between some chapters containing the adult Pi’s recollections, the Frame narrator comments on the adult Pi whom he is in the process of interviewing.
These commentary chapters are written in italics.
Why do you think these chapters were included in the novel?

11. The Author commentaries
The Author/narrator comments on what the adult Pi is like- giving us a glimpse into how Pi’s trauma has influenced his adult life.
We also obtain a glimpse of a loving family man. Why do you think these glimpses have been included?
The Author/narrator also shows us how Pi’s story influences him.

12. Part Two
Why do you think there is no Author/narrator commentary in Part Two?

13. Pi’s narrative voice in Part 1
This is a mixture of:
Nostalgic memoir as Pi recalls his happy childhood in the Pondicherry Zoo (and less happy taunting at school)
Documentary style information about animals- their habits, their attributes, their relationships with each other and with humans
Research regarding zoos and anecdotes that back up this research
Philosophical musings about God, religion and science
Why do you think Pi employs these different styles?

14. Part three
Chapter 95, the first chapter of Part 3, is narrated by the Author/Narrator again. In this chapter he describes how Mr Okamoto told him about how he and his junior colleague, Mr Chiba travelled to Mexico to interview Pi regarding the sinking of the Japanese ship, the Tsimtsum. Why do you think the Author/narrator introduces this section?
Chapters 96 – 99 are a transcription of the interview between Pi and the two Japanese investigators. We only read dialogue and do not know what the characters are thinking.

15. Mr Okamto and Mr Chiba
They are not strictly speaking narrators but their ‘voices’ come across clearly in the interview
They represent the voice of the rational listener. In a sense they are in the reader’s position: they have just heard a story that is astonishing and implausible and have to decide whether or not to believe it.
They demand a “story without animals” and are presented with an alternative story that is more plausible but utterly horrifying.

16. The Reader’s choice
When Pi asks them which story they prefer, the reader, in a sense, is faced with the same choice: would you rather believe that animals did awful things to each other on the lifeboat or that people committed such atrocious acts?
Most readers would probably prefer the first story with the animals but concede that the second story is the more likely version of events.
If this is so, then we have to admit that the first story is a story within a story since it is not what really happened.

17. What is the “real” story?
If we feel tricked by the revelations of the second story, it is because we suspended our disbelief during Parts 1 and 2 of the novel.
The second story shocks us out of this suspension. It is as if the author has broken the trust in author-reader relationship by deceiving the reader all along.
Remember that, since this is a work of fiction, NEITHER of the stories is actually true!
This links back to the theme of storytelling in the novel: we as readers were presented with a story which we chose to believe.
The narrative style made this belief easier.

18. The last chapter
In chapter 100, the Author/narrator speaks again, telling us that he received a letter from Mr Okamoto.
The letter contains Mr Okamoto’s report regarding his interview with Pi.
He ends with the words “Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long at sea as Mr Patel, and none in the company of an adult Bengal tiger.”
This suggests that he has decided that the first story with the animals is the true one.
Why do you think the novel ends with Mr Okamoto’s words? Why does he get to be the final narrator?

19. The narrative style
The authentic sounding Author, the credible first person narrator and the rational voice of the Japanese investigators add up to a work of fiction that explores the act of storytelling itself.
Isn’t there something true about fiction?
Isn’t there something fictional about our relations of the truth? i.e when you relate a real event, don’t you narrativise it? Isn’t it coloured by your own perspective? Doesn’t it become a story?

20. Thank you for your participation today