What is the relevance of chapter 32? What does this say about society (how might it relate high school society)?

In chapter 32, Pi discusses many accounts of unusual living arrangements that have been found in zoos. He mentions the rhinos living with the goats again and also adds an account of a mouse that lived in a cage full of vipers. Pi also mentions the lion tamers again and says that he believe the answer to why these arrangements work is that there is a certain measure of madness that moves life in mysterious ways. This chapter is important to the story because it gives some sort of explanation as to how Pi survived with Richard Parker that doesn’t involve religion. To an atheist reading the story it is the measure of madness in the world that keeps Pi alive. This allows for the book to be read in two ways, as novel about religion and a test of faith or as a young boy’s remarkable ability to survive because of what he learned as a child.

This chapter also makes a point about society. It shows that despite animals’ differences, they are often able to overcome those differences and live together in harmony. This leads the reader to the question: if animals, like the rhinos and the goats, can overcome their differences and live in harmony, why can we humans do the same? Why can’t we ignore the different religions in the world and live in peace? The chapter relates to high school society in a different way. You can relate a grade nine student stepping into high school for the first time with a lion stepping into the ring. In both cases there is already a dominant person present: the senior students or the lion tamer. You can see in high school that the “alpha,” or coolest, grade nines are the least likely to be pushed around by the seniors while the “omega,” or most un-cool, grade nines are the most likely to be hazed. The same can be seen in the lion ring. The alpha lion is the one that the tamer commands the least but he makes the more pliable omega animal do the most challenging tricks.