Name: Date:

from Life of Pi
Yann Martel

FIRST READ: Comprehension

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

1. Which is the best description of the narrator’s situation in the selection from
Life of Pi?
a. After a shipwreck, he is adrift at sea with a tiger named Richard Parker.
b. After a shipwreck, he is responsible for rescuing a tiger named Richard
Parker.
c. He finds himself lost at sea on a fishing boat named the Richard Parker.
d. He is fishing for dorados on a fishing boat named the Richard Parker.

2. In the beginning of the selection from Life of Pi, why does the narrator
want to fish?
a. He is hungry for food.
b. He needs something to do.
c. He needs to feed the tiger.
d. He wants to practice survival skills.

3. In the selection from Life of Pi, how does the narrator catch his first flying fish?
a. He uses a piece of leather sole as bait.
b. He uses one of his shoelaces as bait.
c. He pulls it in after it grabs his hook.
d. He picks it up after it flies into the boat.

4. In the selection from Life of Pi, why does the narrator have difficulty killing his
first fish?
a. The tiger has taken it from him.
b. Its skin is turning different colors.
c. He is a committed vegetarian.
d. It escapes as soon as he lets go of it.

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 GRADE 9 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

FROM LIFE OF PI BY YANN MARTEL

Name: Date:

5. In the selection from Life of Pi, what does the narrator say made killing the
dorado easier than killing the flying fish?
a. The flying fish is larger, so it is physically harder to fight and kill.
b. The dorado is a predator, which he dislikes because he is a vegetarian.
c. He has already killed one fish, so he believes that he has become used to
killing.
d. The dorado attacks him, so he views killing it as an act of self-defense.

FIRST READ: Concept Vocabulary

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

6. If an animal is predatory, which of the following must be true? Choose your

answer based on the meaning of predatory.
a. It eats dead animals that it finds.
b. It kills animals for food.
c. It is dangerous to humans.
d. It forages for scraps.

7. Which of the following situations best illustrates the meaning of irresolvable?

Base your answer on the meaning of the word irresolvable.
a. Sara found some tools and fixed the leak easily.
b. After two days, Li finally solved the equation.
c. Kim could not swim, but she had to leave the boat.
d. Rafael left the bar of soap in the water, and it grew smaller.

8. Which is the best definition of adversary as it is used in the following

sentence?
The sailors’ biggest adversary was the wind.

a. opponent or enemy
b. friend or ally
c. guide or indication
d. puzzle or mystery

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 GRADE 9 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

FROM LIFE OF PI BY YANN MARTEL

Name: Date:

CLOSE READ: Analyze the Text

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

9. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.

Part A In the selection from Life of Pi, how does the narrator view the tiger?
a. with fear and admiration
b. with fear alone
c. with terror and loathing
d. with fear and hatred

Part B Which quotations from Life of Pi best support the answer to Part A?
Choose two options.
a. He turned to me again. “Where’s my treat?” his face seemed to inquire.
b. I turned with the half-hearted, half-abandoned hope that I could jump
onto the raft before he could jump onto me.
c. He raised himself and went about blocking, swiping and biting all the fish
he could.
d. Actually, it was not so much the [tiger’s] speed that was impressive as the
pure animal confidence, the total absorption in the moment.

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 GRADE 9 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

FROM LIFE OF PI BY YANN MARTEL

Name: Date:

10. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.

Part A In the selection from Life of Pi, how does the narrator feel after killing
the flying fish?
a. eager to eat the fish
b. sad and guilty
c. filled with courage
d. proud of his success

Part B Which quotation from Life of Pi best supports the answer to Part A?
a. The flying fish was dead. It was split open and bloody on one side of its
head, at the level of the gills.
b. I wept heartily over this poor little deceased soul. It was the first sentient
being I had ever killed.
c. After that it was easier. Now that it was dead, the flying fish looked like
fish I had seen in the markets of Pondicherry.
d. In the dying hours of the day I tried fishing again.

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 GRADE 9 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

FROM LIFE OF PI BY YANN MARTEL

Name: Date:

11. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.

Part A In this quotation from Life of Pi, the narrator explains how he felt after
catching the dorado.
I felt I was dealing fate a serious blow by engaging such a handsome adversary.
With this fish I was retaliating against the sea, against the wind, against the sinking
of ships, against all circumstances that were working against me.

Which of the following best summarizes how the narrator feels as a result of
catching the fish? Base your answer on the quotation.
a. proud of his skills and his victory against the hungry tiger
b. unsure of his future stranded in the middle of the ocean with a tiger
c. happy that he has shown he has some power over his circumstances
d. pleased with the size of the fish he has captured for food

Part B Which phrase from the quotation best supports the answer to Part A?
a. I was dealing fate a serious blow
b. such a handsome adversary
c. against the sea, against the wind
d. against the sinking of ships

CLOSE READ: Analyze Craft and Structure

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

12. Which of the following details from Life of Pi most clearly shows that the
narrator is a dynamic character?
a. the fact that his plan to feed the tiger remains unchanged
b. the way he solves the problem of catching a fish
c. the change in his attitude about taking the life of a fish
d. the conflict between his values and his need to kill a fish

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 GRADE 9 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

FROM LIFE OF PI BY YANN MARTEL

Name: Date:

13. Which of the following quotations from Life of Pi is most clearly part of an
internal monologue?
a. What exactly do you intend to feed that tiger of yours? How much longer
do you think he’ll last on three dead animals?
b. “Go ahead, Richard Parker, finish me off. But please, what you must do,
do it quickly.”
c. Standing unprotected as I was, I felt I was living the martyrdom of Saint
Sebastian.
d. I proceeded with great deliberation. The loss of my tackle that morning
had had a sobering effect on me. I couldn’t allow myself another mistake.

14. In the selection from Life of Pi, which types of details are used to reveal the
narrator’s character traits and the changes he undergoes? Choose all that apply.
a. comments about him from others
b. how he treats other people
c. his physical appearance
d. his thoughts
e. his feelings
f. his actions

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 GRADE 9 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

FROM LIFE OF PI BY YANN MARTEL

Name: Date:

15. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.

Part A Which of the following best describes the development of the narrator’s
character in the selection from Life of Pi?
a. He finds he is able to take a life, despite his principles.
b. He finds he has conquered his fear of the tiger.
c. He changes from a thoughtful person to a brutal person.
d. He changes from a timid person to a cruel person.

Part B Which quotation from Life of Pi most clearly illustrates the

development identified in Part A?
a. After that it was easier. Now that it was dead, the flying fish looked like
fish I had seen in the markets of Pondicherry.
b. Actually, it was not so much the [tiger’s] speed that was impressive as
the pure animal confidence, the total absorption in the moment.
c. I felt I was dealing fate a serious blow by engaging such a handsome
adversary [the dorado].
d. You may be astonished that in such a short period of time I could go
from weeping over the muffled killing of a flying fish to gleefully
bludgeoning to death a dorado.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: Word Study

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

16. What is the meaning of the Latin suffix -ory or -ary?

a. of or having to do with
b. one who does or assists
c. state or condition of
d. like or full of

17. The word advisory is formed from the word advise, meaning “give guidance
to” or “make recommendations to” and the Latin suffix -ory. Based on this
information and your knowledge of the suffix -ory, choose the most likely
meaning of advisory.
a. having to do with recommendations or warnings
b. one who makes recommendations or gives warnings
c. state or condition of receiving guidance
d. like or full of recommendations or warnings

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 GRADE 9 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

FROM LIFE OF PI BY YANN MARTEL

Name: Date:

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: Conventions

Identify the choice that best answers the question.

18. Which of these sentences contains a participial phrase?

a. Water was pouring through the hole in its hull, and the ship began to sink.
b. Living on the fish she caught as she drifted, the sailor waited for rescue.
c. The shipwrecked sailor was mending a sail when he spotted the boat.
d. The speeding vessel almost passed the sailor without stopping.

19. Which of the following sentences contains an absolute phrase?

a. After killing the zebra and orangutan, the hyena was in turn killed
by the tiger.
b. The tiger having killed the hyena, the narrator was left as the only other
survivor.
c. While escaping the dorado, the flying fish leaped into the air and were
caught by the tiger.
d. The tiger was eating flying fish whole and alive even as their wings were
beating in his mouth.

20. Which phrase in the following sentence is a participial phrase?

After sailing around the world, his boat sank, and, the voyager returned home,
leaving adventure behind.

a. After sailing around the world

b. his boat sank
c. the voyager returned home
d. leaving adventure behind

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