Whether he exists or not, the fact remains that Richard Parker is one bloody rude tiger. After being stranded at sea for 227 days with Piscine Molitor 'Pi' Patel (Suraj Sharma), Richard Parker, an adult Bengal tiger, turns his back on his human companion and disappears into the Mexican forest without so much as a knowing nod or a lick from his abrasive tongue. Many of us are guilty of projecting human emotions onto our captive animals or pets as we call them but after keeping the enormous cat from starving and drowning for the best part of a year, one can forgive the 16 year old Pi for believing Richard Parker to be his friend. Alas, this feeling of kinship is unrequited. As the last glimpses of Richard's striped tail disappear into the greenery, the pained expression on Pi's face is enough to melt the most frozen of hearts. His feelings of sorrow are succinctly summed up in the ensuing monologue:
"I wept like a child. Not because I was overwhelmed at having survived, although I was. I was weeping because Richard Parker left me so unceremoniously. It broke my heart. You know my father was right: Richard Parker never saw me as his friend. After all we had been through he didn't even look back."
I hope you choke on a furball you ungrateful, furry t*sspot.
