Life Of Pi

Life of Pi

Yan Martel

Copyright © 2001

Chapter 13

So you see, if you fall into a lion’s pit, the reason the lion will tear you to pieces is not because it’s hungry – be assured, zoo animals are amply fed – or because it’s bloodthirsty, but because you’ve invaded its territory.

As an aside, that is why a circus trainer must always enter the lion ring first, and in full sight of the lions. In doing so, he establishes that the ring in his territory, not theirs, a notion that he reinforces by shouting, by stomping about, by snapping his whip. The lions are impressed. Their disadvantage weighs heavily on them. Notice how they come in: mighty predators thought they are, “kings of beasts”, they crawl in with their tails low and they keep to the edges of the ring, which is always round so that they have nowhere to hide. They are in the presence of a strongly dominant male, a super-alpha male, and they must submit to his dominance rituals. So they open their jaws wide, they sit up, they walk backwards, they roll over, “he’s a queer one,: they think dimly. “Never seen a top lion like him. But he runs a good pride. The larder’s always full and – let’s be honest, mates – his antics keep us busy. Napping all the time does get a bit boring. At least we’re not riding bicycles like the brown bears or catching flying plates like the chimps.”

It’s a question of brain over brawn. The nature of the circus trainer’s ascendancy is psychological. Foreign surroundings, the trainer’s erect posture, calm demeanor, steady gaze, fearless step forward, strange roar (for example, the snapping of a whip or the blowing of a whistle) – these are so many factors that will fill the animal’s mind with doubt and fear, and make clear to it where it stancs, the very thing it wants to know. Satisfied, Number Two will back down and Number One can turn to the audience and shout, “Let the show go on! And now, ladies and gentlemen, through hoops of real fire…”