With four wild zoo animals, a teenage boy, and a lifeboat drifting on the Pacific Ocean, what could possibly go wrong? Yann Martel’s fictitious book, “Life of Pi,” tells the story of a boy named Pi escaping a sinking cargo ship by climbing into a lifeboat. Unfortunately, Pi was not the only passenger aboard. For the several months he has to learn how to live among animals and survive while floating aimlessly across the ocean. Pi’s struggles throughout the book highlight the importance of belief and perseverance. The main character in this book is Piscine Singh, otherwise known as Pi. An important trait Pi has is that he never gives up. Aside from that, he never believes that they will die and he never gives up. Even though he is stranded in the middle of the ocean he does not accept his almost certain death. Part of the reason Pi acts this way is because of his strong connection with religion. He studied Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam all at the same time because he did not believe there should just be one religion, and instead just wanted to learn to love God. Since he had such a strong connection with faith he was able to calm himself and focus on survival. Another character is Richard Parker, the tiger. Richard Parker was tossed overboard by the waves and into the ocean …show more content…
Even though Pi was floating through the ocean without knowledge of when he would find land or if he would survive, he never gave up. This shows that if Pi never gave up even in the most dire of situations and circumstances, no one should ever give up. Whether it’s giving up in school or sports, there is no reason I should not try my best or ever give up. It actually is very inspiring and makes me realize that it is important to persevere and fight through all tribulations life presents because it is possible to make it through. Overall, after reading about Pi’s struggles and his own perseverance I want to apply that strength to my own
Stranded for 227 days at sea in a lifeboat, with no one else except an adult Bengal tiger. This is exactly what the main character Pi, in "The Life of Pi" went through. "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel is a story about a boy named Piscine Molitor Patel, an Indian boy who survives more than seven months floating on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean, with no one else but a 450-pound tiger (Cooper). Yann Martel was born on June 25, 1963, in Salamanca, Spain. His parents, Emile Martel and Nicole Perron, were both born in Canada. He spent his childhood in several different countries, including France, Mexico, the United States, Canada, and Costa Rica. As an adult, he lived in many other places but one of them was India, which may be where he got inspiration for writing “Life of Pi”. Yann Martel uses the literary elements similes and foreshadowing, to express the theme that believing in religion can give you the faith to want to survive.
Hello everyone! I am Muhes Ariyaratnam and this is speech on coping with adversity. Everyone faces adversities big or small. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and Steve Jobs was kicked out of his own company. They went on to have very successful careers in their respective fields. Two of the greatest humans faced adversity. Similarly the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel and the play King Lear by William Shakespeare contain the same theme of coping with adversity. In both texts characters cope with loss of loved ones, poor mentality, and nature.
Pi turns to God and says aloud, “‘Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die.’” (Martel, 148). Instead of giving up, he used a miracle that God gives him and turns it into a routine. His belief of God watching over him gave him a lot of motivation Pi explains his struggles when he says “You might think I lost all hope at one point. I did. And as a result, I perked up and felt much better. We see it in sports all the time don’t we?” (Martel 134). At this moment, Pi decides to disregard Richard Parker and focus on his thirst. He thinks back to how when Jesus was crucified, that his only complaint was thirst. This gave Pi a reason to help himself by letting go of his worrying. As he slowly becomes more depressed, Pi comes to the realization that “God’s hat was always unraveling. God’s pants were falling apart. God’s cat was a constant danger. God’s ark was a jail. God’s wide acres were slowly killing me. God’s ear didn’t seem to be listening.” (Martel, 209). Whenever Pi starts to upset about his situation, he yells about how everything symbolizes God. Although sometimes it did not help, Pi says that he will continue to hope and love
The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities that interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional — but is it more true?
Life of Pi by Yann Martel offers many connections to the Christian religion, such as Pi’s journey of hardships and miracles being similar to Jesus’s journey through Israel, Pi being reborn when he landed in Mexico just as Jesus was reborn on Easter, and Pi taming Richard Parker is like God taming humanity as Jesus. The book offers much to learn about religion, faith, and beliefs. Pi’s life is one of triumph and glory. The trials of his life are similar to the savior of one of his religions, as Jesus went through many trials as well. Pi Patel is a boy of many faiths, but Christianity offers the most to connect with, as the similarities between Jesus’s journey to the cross and Pi’s journey on the Pacific are plentiful and interesting.
This unimaginable tale, is the course of events upon Pi’s journey in the Pacific ocean after the ship that Pi and his family were aboard crashes, leaving him stranded with a tiger named Richard Parker, an orangutan, a zebra, and a hyena. Pi loses everything he has and starts to question why this is happening to him. This is parallel to the story of Job. Job is left with nothing and is experiencing great suffering and he begins to demand answers from God. Both Pi and Job receive no answers, only being left with their faith and trust. To deal with this great suffering Pi begins to describe odd things which begin to get even more unbelievable and ultimately become utterly unrealistic when he reaches the cannibalistic island. Richard Parker’s companionship serves to help Pi through these events. When the reader first is intoduced to Richard Parker he emerges from the water, making this symbolic of the subconscious. Richard Parker is created to embody Pi’s alter ego. Ironically, each of these other animals that Pi is stranded with comes to symbolize another person. The orangutan represents Pi’s mother, the zebra represents the injured sailor, and the hyena represents the cook. Pi fabricated the people into animals in his mind to cope with the disillusion and trails that came upon him while stranded at the erratic and uncontrollable sea,
This alternate ending plays a key role in understanding how to view the novel through Freudian lenses. Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis clarifies many troubling issues raised in the novel Life of Pi. Martel’s novel is about the journey of a young man being forced to test his limits in order to survive the unthinkable predicament of being lost at sea alongside an adult Bengal tiger. Life of Pi starts out by introducing an anonymous author on a quest to find his next big story and goes to a man by the name of Piscine Molitor Patel who supposedly has a story worth hearing. Patel begins his story talking about his childhood and the main events that shaped him such as his family’s zoo, the constant curiosity in religion he sought as a young boy and also how he got his nickname Pi.
Pi was interested in a trinity of religions and his fate in these religions helped him survive his journey across the Pacific Ocean with Richard Parker. These challenges helped secure Pi’s fate in these religions. He says because of his belief in God he survived. Yann Martel tells Piscine’s story wonderfully because of him betraying the story through adolescent Pi’s eyes.
The novel, Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, is about a young boy, Pi, and his survival on a lifeboat drifting in the Pacific Ocean. It is written in three sections, the second part, spanning from chapters 37 to 94, concerns the events on the lifeboat and what Pi experiences. This part contrasts part 1 as Pi is not alone, the only human, left to dwell in his own thoughts and be self-sufficient. Whereas in part 1, Pi is living in India, surrounded by his family and friends, not alone in the slightest.
The primacy of survival and self preservation are natural instincts, often triggered by the ordeals of suffering. In the novel Life of Pi, Yann Martel exemplifies the notion of survival, as the shipwrecked inhabitants experience the trials and tribulations of suffering. A conception of willpower is projected through the actions of distinctive characters, who demonstrate their ambition towards life. Their paradoxical attempt of valiant or barbaric acts, emphasizes the key idea of survival. Determination and perseverance is evident in the actions executed by Pi, the zebra and the hyena, assisted by their sheer will to live.
A young boy named Pi was stranded in the middle of the pacific ocean, alone except for the company of a 450 pound Bengal Tiger. Death was imminent and any chance of survival was slim; the only thing the boy had left was faith that he would make it. In the book The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, faith has always been a part of Pi’s life. When he was just a boy, he was torn over which religion he should believe: Christianity, Hinduism, or Islam. Faith came back into his life later when he was stranded out at sea and was stuck only with his belief that he could survive. Later on in his life when Pi somehow survived his adventure, everyone that heard his story didn't believe him. Pi’s belief in himself overall is how he survived his adventure. Pi’s
Imagine being stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in a lifeboat, not alone but with some carnivorous animals, as company. The chances of survival do not seem so high, but when one has the will to survive, they can do anything to attain it. Pi Patel and his family are on their way to Canada from Pondicherry, India, when their cargo ship the Tsimtsum sinks. Pi is not the only survivor of the ship, along with him is a hyena, an injured zebra, an orangutan and a 450-pound orange Bengal tiger. Pi travels across the Pacific Ocean in only a lifeboat, with food dwindling quickly, he needs to find land and most of all survive the voyage. In Life of Pi; Yann Martel develops the idea that having the will to survive is a crucial key to survival; this is demonstrated through symbolism of the colour orange, having religion on the protagonist’s side and the thirst and hunger experienced by the protagonist.
The evident motif of religion plays a major factor in Pi’s life; however the author chooses not to focus on one religion specifically but instead enforces a glorification of more religions. Martel creates a main character who is a curious young boy who decides to learn about Christianity, Hinduism and Islam all at once. Even though Pi is primarily Hindu, he has insight on the conception of religion being “more than [just] rite and ritual” (Martel 48). Pi’s insight on religion opens his mind to more options than just sticking to one. Unlike the traditional standards of Pi’s society, he chooses to explore different religions in his community. His exploration helps him realizes “we are all born…in limbo- without religion, until some figure introduces us to God…” (Martel 47). Pi is recognizing the idea that religion is a life-style choice people make by deciding the morals of which they will live their life. Along with Pi’s understanding of structured life through religion, he discovers the freedom of being able to celebrate different religions at the same time. While reflecting on his religious background, being raised Hindu, he finds importance in “not [clinging]!” or focusing “upon fundamentalism and literalism!” (Martel 49). Pi thinks religion is meaningful because of the followers who believe in it. Without belief, religion is nothing, so fai...
Adversity has the effect of evoking abilities which, in booming circumstances, would have lain dormant. Through adversity we come to see ourselves grow and advance as individuals, and realize our true potential. In retrospect, we see Pi overcoming fear and loss and realizing what he is capable of and his potential as one of God's disciples. Adversity brings out the finest in people, the most magnifcant qualities and abilities that a person can possess. Yann Martel expresses through this writing that people fall victim to adversity all the time, but our understanding for different situations makes us able to determine our capabilities as individuals. Pi has many potential talents and abilities that he just hasn't uncovered yet and could use to survive. Throughout the novel Pi goes through many life changing experiences, overcomes many obstacles and pushes his limits. Like when Pi catches the fish and kills it for the first time. He's hesitant and begins to fret over it, but he soon comes to realize that in order for him to survive he has...
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel was a fascinating and exciting narrative that described the journey of a young boys life starting with the formation of his beliefs moving all the way through an adventure that changed his life forever. I found it extremely engaging on both a philosophical level and a psychological level as I saw Pi, a young boy, curious about life, discover both religion and go through an extremely traumatic experience. I found Pi's devotion to God to be an uplifting example that many people throughout the world should see. Although I do believe that Pi was confused about how to best love God, I admire his efforts and believe that his dedication is sincere. I also found the psychological aspect of Pi to be almost as fascinating as religion. I could see from the beginning that Pi was quite thoughtful and always tried to think before he acted. However, what I found even more fascinating than his pre-planning cognitive abilities was how he thought when he was under great stress. Perhaps the best example of how he coped with stress was towards the end of the book when he tells what may be the true story, and we can see that he may have represented everyone as an animal in order to deal with the situation. This provides valuable insight into Pi's mind and opens a whole new area of possibilities when considering how Pi thinks. This ending leaves how Pi thinks open to interpreting which adds a intriguing aspect to the book. Beyond the religious and theoretical aspects of the book, the adventure seen kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. Every time it seemed Pi was about to die or give up hope, an astounding miracle would suddenly save him. I found the effect of these suspenseful moments to cause me to want to...