Paradox Purpose

Personally I think the purpose of this paradox that Martel purposely put in the novel and film was to show the two sides of a person or in this case Pi. Not only that but the purpose was to have something symbolize the dangerous or wild side of Pi. By including this paradox in the story it all ties up to Martel's purpose of Life of Pi which is storytelling, giving us some meaning and religion, teach us something (goal/purpose)