Meaning of the floating algae island

[Maria]

Does it represent something in real life like depression or loneliness anything?

When he said that he needed to search of his own kind than to live a lonely life, I knew it must have meant something, I just couldn't tell exactly what.

[Ethan]

I have read several really interesting ideas on how the island might represent the Garden of Eden.

Pi is able to enjoy the island as long as he remains ignorant, but once he unravels the tooth (fruit from the tree of knowledge...?) he is no longer comfortable staying on the island. Knowledge in a way forced him off of the island, and out of the garden.

Hope that helps.

[Marie]

I was thinking that the island appeared to be in the shape of Shiva. So I took the island to be the Dream of Shiva which involves struggle, sacrifice, and conflict with two choices. Pi had to come to terms with the “sacrifice” of the cook and the cannibalism. Could he live with what he’d done? Pi needed to decide whether he wanted to continue the struggle to survive or succumb to the beauty and plenty of the island luring him to his death. If he had chose to stay, it would have been a giving up in a sense.

[T]

It might be significant that it's an island that has consumed a man, and that the alternate version of the story includes cannibalism. It's a hint at what the reality may or may not be (depending on which version you choose).

[Maria]

Wow..I had never thought of the island as anything but an island until I looked at this thread. These are such interesting ideas!

[S.]

i believe other commentators have made much of the meerkat's stripes. sailors wear striped shirts in most maritime cultures. "entering an island of striped animals who line up for you" = you do the math.