Life of the Pi

The eventual devouring of a character is foreshadowed throughout the passage. Pi tells the stranger ?No wonder you're starved for customers.' There is irony here as Pi is the stranger's customer. Later when they are together the stranger tells of how Pi's ?heart, flesh and liver' are with him. This may have had a sinister undertone to it as with the stranger having an ?overeager embrace' on Pi's throat.

Pi suggests the two ?feast on each others company' the use of the word feast confirms Pi's intentions. Additionally Pi describes the stranger as ?a presence glowing through my blindness.' The use of the word presence makes him sound like a hunter as he is forced to use his senses to find his desired target. However Pi's needs are more complex than mere hunger. Psychologically he needs company but physically he needs food. The paradox created by ?my eyes were brimming with tears and I was smiling' illustrates the unity of his requirements.