In order for one to overcome unexpected challenges in their lives, they must gather inner strength. One cannot imagine what might have been going on in Pi’s mind while watching his family drowning underwater in front of his eyes. However even after seeing such a heart-wrenching accident, Pi’s will to live still remained. He is constantly haunted by the memories of his family. Around his mother’s birthday, he sang her happy birthday out loud whilst being on the lifeboat. He had to learn to get over the loss of his family in order to survive and save his and Richard Parker's life. Another way pi’s inner strength is defined in the book, would be how he sets aside his beliefs and values in order to survive. Although pi did not completely abandon his values and beliefs he …show more content…
Even though at times his circumstances force him to doubt god, he continues to believe in god. He makes a schedule in which he prays according to the three religions he follows, including of Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. For him, this is compulsory as it helps him manage his stress and gives him hope. Pi is also compelled to terminate his vegetarian lifestyle. He catches his first fish stranded on the ocean, at first, he is hesitant but then he comes to realize that to survive he must be capable of killing without guilt. Not only does he eat raw seafood but he also tries Richard Parker’s feces and urine. Pi has to face the reality of surviving while being on a lifeboat with richard parker. After analyzing his options and making several plans, Pi decides that he will have to keep richard parker alive. Only if pi maintains his inner strength and shows his dominance to the tiger, he can protect himself from being killed and eaten by him. Pi has a great fear of tiger, especially after the lesson his father gave him in the pondicherry zoo, early on in the book. From this lesson pi knows that animals can attack anyone at any
Pi was afraid and surprised that Richard Parker was in the boat once he had lifted the blanket. Then Richard Parker had roared at him and tried to attack by his claws ,but pi had gotten away as soon as he did. Pi and Richard Parker started to roamed slowly around the boat in the middle of the ocean. Pi didn't trust Richard Parker because he knows that he only wanted to kill and eat pi. Pi tried to get rid of the tiger and then he tried avoiding the tiger, but as time goes on he got tired of trying get rid of Richard Parker. So then he began tame the tiger by using his whistle he had gotten from his locker. As he and Richard Parker started to get along through the past days,they have become really close friends.
He states that he is the provider of food and water for Richard Parker and the tiger is well aware that Pi is the one keeping him alive. He discusses the process of collecting rainwater and wraps the bags of water in a blanket in order to prevent them from splitting open. Richard Parker expects Pi to quickly give him food after fish, sharks, or turtles have been caught. Pi realizes as he is that he is eating like an animal, identical to Richard Parker. A storm arises and Pi falls into Richard Parker’s region of the boat. After the storm stops, Pi is unharmed, the bags of fresh water are not split open, and he finds a small amount of whistles. While Pi is resting, water splashes on his face. Suddenly he sees a whale directly next to the boat. Its eye is the size of Pi’s head. This enormous creature does not cause any harm. Pi begins to talk about birds, hopeful that one will reveal land. Nevertheless, none of the birds do so. He catches a masked booby and eats its lungs, stomach, liver, brain, eyes, and webbed feet. He gives the rest of the bird to Richard Parker. Lightning strikes from afar and comes closer. Richard Parker is terrified of the loud strikes while Pi believes it is a positive, religious
Richard Parker is the character everyone will remember from Life of Pi, if only for the fact that he’s a tiger. He is terrifying, beautiful and apathetic; he’s also possibly half-eaten by sharks at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean without ever having stepped foot in a lifeboat, depending on what story the reader prefers. This poses an interesting question to the reader of the novel; if Richard Parker is only present in one of the stories, the tale with a lifeboat packed with animals, what does he represent in the story devoid of zoo animals entirely? An examination of Richard Parker’s comparison to other characters and actions will reveal that he symbolizes an animalistic side of the titular character. For the purposes of this essay, “animalistic side” means the side of Pi that behaves more like an animal than like a human, and is also willing to do whatever it takes to survive.
The most dangerous fear that Pi deals with is Richard Parker who has no mercy on his victims. Pi knows that he should deal with Richard Parker in a small damaged lifeboat. He can't run away from his fears, so he makes a border between Richard Parker and himself. Pi says, " I started thinking seriously about how I was going to deal with Richard Parker. This forbearance on his part on hot, cloudless days, that is what it was and not simple laziness, was not good enough. I couldn't always be running away from him. I needed safe access to the locker and to the top of the tarpaulin, no matter on what time of day or the weather and no matter of his mood. It was rights that I needed, the sort of rights that come with the might. It was time to impose myself and carve out territory," (Martel, 224). If one runs away from self-fears, the person will not achieve the goals for which Pi is no different. Despair has had the most destructive effect on Pi that has really stopped him to try rescue him. The only factor that forces despair to diminish is taking practical steps. Pi could survive 227 days on the lifeboat with faith. He reminds himself everything in this world is a creature of God. He says, " Despair was a heavy blackness that let no light in or out. It was a hell beyond expression. I thank God it always passed. A school of fish appeared around the net or a knot cried out to be reknotted. Or I thought of my family, of how they were spared this terrible agony. The blackness would stir and eventually go away, and God would remain, a shining point of high in your heart.
Having just experienced the sinking of his family’s ship, and being put onto a life boat with only a hyena, Pi felt completely lost and alone. When he sees Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger from his family’s zoo, it is a familiar face to him. His initial reaction is to save the life of his familiar friend so that he may have a companion, and a protector aboard the lifeboat. Suddenly Pi realizes just what he is doing. He is saving the life of Richard Parker, by welcoming him, a 450 pound Bengal tiger, onto the small lifeboat. He experiences a change of heart when helping the tiger onto the boat. Pi realizes that he is now posing a threat on his own life. With Richard Parker on the boat, Pi is faced with not only the fight to survive stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but the fight to survive living with a meat eating tiger. The change of heart that Pi experiences might possibly mean that he is an impulsive thinker. It may mean that he often does something on impulse without thinking it through, and then later regrets his actions.
...knowledge his shadow self. He was able to survive his plight on the lifeboat because of the characteristics of his shadow self, Richard Parker. Even at the loss of his shadow self, Pi remains connected and constantly misses this part of his persona. After his ordeal on the lifeboat, Pi becomes rational and humane; however his experiences has scarred him, and will forever remain with him. Readers can definitely learn from Pi’s experience with his shadow self. The more we refute our shadow, the more it weighs us down. However, if we are willing to come to terms with the reality of our shadow, learn how it works, “tame” it so that it does not control us, we would be more literate and enlightened.
But survival is not simply oriented around physically continuing to live: it is also about staying mentally sane. Physical survival depends on mental survival--how can you possibly make good decisions about rationing supplies or even remember to feed yourself if you don’t have your wits about you? And mental survival, in turn, depends on faith of some sort. As a result of the teachings of Father Martin and the two Mr. Kumars, Pi had faith in religion and in science. As for religion, Pi demonstrated this belief quite obviously when he said, “So long as God is with me, I will not die” (148). Pi also demonstrated his belief in religion when he described his daily schedule, which involved prayer five times a day. And, as for science, Pi essentially put his life into the hands of science when he relied on the knowledge he had of animal behavior to tame Richard Parker, a large, extremely dangerous tiger. Faith in multiple belief systems gave Pi hope that someday he would be saved, and this shaped him into a fighter, into someone determined to live no matter his situation. Pi remarks, “I discovered at that moment that I have a fierce will to live… Some of us give up on life with only a resigned sigh. Others fight a little, then lose hope. Still others--and I am one of those--never give up” (148). Overall, it would be difficult to understand how exactly Pi survived 277 days on a lifeboat with a tiger without knowing Pi’s strong belief in religion and its power to help him find hope in the face of adversity--it may even deter you from believing in Pi’s story in the first
Throughout the novel, Pi’s thoughts reveal and internal struggle between his desire to live and his own beliefs to what is morally right. Pi grows up on varying religious viewpoints because he studies different religions. His religious diversity forms a moral standard of “dignity not …depravity” (Martel 71). He values dignity and character over corruption of morals initially because he sees it as the correct way of life. However, when faced with the challenge of survival, Pi finds he must sacrifice some of his previous beliefs in order to stay alive. For example, due to his limited amount of food resources, Pi must abandon his lifestyle of being a vegetarian. This concept of sacrificing his personal beliefs out of desperation is not a comfortable transition for Pi. While starving, Pi has to kill a fish. Since it is his first killing, he does it gently with “tears flowing down [his] cheeks” (Martel 183). Pi’s emotion shown in the process of killing this fish portrays his internal struggle of wanting to remain peaceful. He views himself as a “killer…now guilty… [with] a terrible burden to carry” (Martel 183). His lack of ability to accept the death of the fish and dismiss it for his own survival needs shows his yearn to hold on to his innocent and passive lifestyle he held before. Also, Pi’s denial of killing the rat is an effect of his desire to remain pure and innocent. Though he ...
By establishing a close relationship with God, Pi is able to endure his difficult moments at sea. Relationship means “the way in which two people or two groups feel about each other and behave towards each other” (“Relationship”). Pi is left alone with Richard Parker, an adult Royal Bengal Tiger in the tarpaulin. The presence of the tiger is seen as a symbolic presence and figure of God. At one point of the story, back in India, Pi is taught by his father to fear the tigers. This means that Pi should fear God. At the sea, although he distant himself from the tarpaulin and stay in the raft, he still ties his raft to the tarpaulin where Richard Parker is. This is because Pi knows that he has ...
Pi found hope through himself. He found ways to survive that ultimately did work. He first noticed the recurring theme of orange all around him. The color orange brought hope to everything around him. For example, the lifeboat was orange, the life jackets were orange, Orange Juice was named Orange and the life raft was orange. Alter on in the novel orange is also the color cat that Pi’s daughter Usha has. Pi also learns that religion is tried together so strongly with hope. If he prays to the gods and hopes they hear and respond, the end result ultimately turns out successful. Every day he prays to the gods and hopes they listen. Not one day goes by where he doesn’t pray to the gods to help him. He wishes that his hope will be transferred into something positive. For example he says, “ Praise to be Allah, Lord of All Worlds, the Compassionate, the Merciful, Ruler of Judgment Day! This is a miracle. This is an outbreak of divinity. This is…This is…” He is praying to the gods to help him in his struggle to survive. The theme of hope is also very strongly conveyed through Pi’s thoughts. “I was giving up. I would have given up- if a voice hadn’t made itseld heard in my heart. The voice said, “ I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen every day… Pg 148” This quote show how Pi’s character refuses to give up hope. He has this small ounce of hope that won’t give up. He learns hat hope is with in him if he chooses to take advantage of it. He believes in himself throughout whatever happens and he does survive. He is Pi, the ambassador of life. He never ceases to believe in
First of all, religion is a key component in Pi’s survival because it leads Pi to believe that he has to coexist with other creatures and they are all one entity. When Pi struggles with the storm on the lifeboat, he has the opportunity to abandon Richard Parker, but he doesn’t: “I could see his head. He was struggling to stay at the surface of the water. ‘Jesus, Mary, Muhammad and Vishnu, how good to see you, Richard Parker! Don’t give up, please. Come to the lifeboat. Do you hear this whistle? TREEEEE! TREEEEE! TREEEEE! You heard, right. Swim! Swim!’” (Martel p.121). Although Richard Parker
At various times the Christian religion gave Pi hope for survival. But at other times the only thing that kept Pi moving forward with his everyday activities was that he was sacrificing himself for Richard Parker (the tiger). Pi was sacrificing himself and the food that he had, so Richard Parker would stay as healthy as possible. Pi was sacrificing his well being and energy to protect the well
The projection of Richard Parker helps Pi to be aware of this current situation, which was him being stranded in the ocean on a lifeboat in comparison to his beliefs in his religions. His fear towards Richard Parker was one of the reasons of his survival. Pi says, “Fear and reason fought over answer. Fear said yes. He was a fierce, 450-pound carnivore. Each of his claws was sharp as a knife” (Martel 108). Pi describes Richard Parker as an extremely dangerous, fearful, and vicious predator. This causes Pi keep aware because he is on a boat with a deadly carnivore. He tries to keep awake at night while being on the lifeboat with Richard Parker from the fear of being attacked and eaten by the Bengal tiger. However, since Richard Parker is Pi’s id, it was actually him keeping himself aware and alive. Pi states, “If I still had the will to live, it was thanks to Richard Parker. He kept me from thinking too much about my family and my tragic circumstances” (Martel 164). This shows how Richard Parker occupies Pi’s mind and influences his thoughts about the tragic incident that has happened. The will to live for Pi is no longer his family, but Richard Parker, his id. Richard Parker taught Pi how to survive based on his instincts an...
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 story begins in India where Pi's father owned a zoo. Zoology was one of Pi's passions along with religion. Pi had a very strong thirst for knowledge but he also had a hunger for God. In the book, Pi clearly showed his love for the many classical divisions of religion. He worshiped as a Hindu, Muslim, and a Christian. Pi's family laughed at Pi because they said that it was not possible to believe in that many different religions. Pi was very much against not having a belief at all. He thought that you should have to believe in something in order to get by in life. Pi's devotion to his belief in God was shown very well at the beginning of the story. His life changed drastically when his father decided to sell the zoo and move their family from India to Canada due to political unrest. His father sold the majority of the animals to zoos in America. They loaded their belongings and the animals onto a freight ship. Unfortunately, half way across the Pacific, the ship sank. Pi then found himself abandoned on a lifeboat with only a Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker, a zebra, a hyena and an orangutan. He was faced with more physical needs than ever before and his faith and devotion to God wavered a bit. Pi always tried to remember his devotion during...