In Yann Martel’s novel Life of Pi, the narrator and protagonist Pi is placed in a life or death situation which tests his beliefs and morality. The novel also does a great job representing the relationship between human and animal behaviors and the socially accepted behavior created by our modern day society. In my opinion due to the drastic changes in Pi environment it molded his ways thinking and his actions in a particular way that he was not accustomed to until the end, this can be proven through Sigmond feuds theory of humans behavior.
Through the lens of a psychologist, Pi would be seen as someone who is very psychologically unstable. His psychological instability is revealed in many ways, but perhaps most significantly through the
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Freud explains that the brain can be divided into the 2 sections, the unconscious mind is the largest and the most threatening as it is unseen from the surface as it is responsible for fear, selfish need, violent motives, immoral urges and more. The conscious mind is actively aware for all that is going on, such as thoughts and perceptions. Pi was consciously planning his survival at sea he knew he has a limited amount of food and water so he was consciously outlining how to preserve what he had, "I put the hatchet down. I would break its neck, sight unseen, I decided. I wrapped the fish tightly in the blanket. With both hands, I started bending it. The more I pressed, the more the fish struggled. I imagined what it would feel like if I were wrapped in a blanket and someone was trying to break my neck"(202-203) .As proven by this quote Pi still has his religious beliefs and morals. In a way, I believe that Pi’s lifeboat and raft symbolize his conscious mind because that is where he eats,sleeps, survives and spends most of his time.However, Pi is greatly influenced by hs unconscious while in the ocean, while on the boat Pi's personality becomes ferocious. As a kid, his father showed him how dangerous animals can be, uncannily Pi used this to drive his ferocity In order to survive Pi was unconsciously influenced by Richard Parker's "personality". His …show more content…
the whole novel is about Pi's descent into psychological instability, due to the environment he is in we can see this through Sigmund Freud’s human behavior theory with regards to the id, ego, superego and the conscious mind and the unconscious
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.
The mind is divided into three parts, the id, the ego, and the superego. The part of the mind which is visible for all to see is the superego and the ego. Both the ego and the superego are rational parts of the mind. The id is said to be the only part of the mind that we are born with. Martel used the iceberg theory to depict the real survival struggle Pi had to go through. “Tears flowing down my cheeks, I egged myself on until I heard a cracking sound and I no longer felt any life fighting in my hands. I pulled back the folds of the blanket. The flying fish was dead. It was split open and bloody on one side of its head, at the level of the gills.” (231) In this moment it is Pi’s superego, his conscience fighting his id. His superego is wanting so badly not to kill an innocent animal, but his id is saying you need to do this to survive. This is the point where Pi’s superego is being used less and less until it is not used whatsoever. Pi’s ego is reality, it is rational thinking and his true personality. “I had to stop hoping so much that a ship would rescue me. I should not count on outside help. Survival had to start with me. In my experience, a castaway’s worst mistake is to hope too much and do too little. Survival starts by paying attention to what is close at hand and immediate. To look out with idle hope is tantamount to dreaming one’s life away.” (212) The last part of
As Pi is an active disciple of three separate religions, one would assume he has a shifting opinion on reality and it’s roots. Despite seeing himself as a practicing Hindu, Christian, and Muslim, he believes that there is a unity of all things. This contradicts
Life of Pi explores the limits of confinement in two different settings. Piscine, the character referred to as Pi whose story is shared with readers, lived at the Pondicherry Zoo in India, and he also survived in the Pacific Ocean for a period of time. At the zoo, Piscine does not directly face confinement, but he witnesses it with the animals his father keeps in captivity. “Closed and locked” cages with “bars and a trapdoor separate” the animals’ dwellings from one another (Martel 34). The creatures remain dependent on their keeper’s to supply them with the essential amount of food, water, attention, and care since they are unable to fend for themselves in their new habitat. Pi later experiences all that the zoo animals do as he becomes stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in a lifeboat after his family’s boat sinks while moving to Canada. Confinement possesses a different meaning in his experience. He relies heavily on what few resources he has been graced with on the lifeboat. His situation escalates as he realizes that a Bengal tiger, which he refers to as Richard...
The plot of Pi is an examination of genius and madness and how one can
“The presence of God is the finest of rewards.” (Yann Martel, Life of Pi 63) In Yann Martel’s riveting novel “Life of Pi” The basic plot of survival unfolds, however, this essay will show how the hidden yet the dominant theme of religion throughout the story is what helped the main character Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi) survive.
Pi, short for Piscine, meaning a rational source of water, is a rational man living in the irrational world, who believes in not one, but three religions, which some may say is irrational. Pi, whose family owned a zoo, faced many hardships
The most significant level is psychological because it is very important to a person’s emotional and physical survival. In order for someone to survive, he or she must have a positive mind with faith and determination in every action they take, Despite the fact that having high hopes with slim chances of survival is not as easy as it seems. “In its general form such a requirement insists that important relations (survival, identity, psychological connectedness)”. (Brennan 225). Trying to survive, Pi has to struggle with himself mentally: he has to go against his ethics like rectitude and religion pledge. To do that easily Pi finds his animalistic part which he called in his story as Richard Parker. May be because of his religious grounds he would have never done things like killing people eating fish or cannibalizing humans as done with just imagining himself as a Bengal tiger and he admits that “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. He pushed me to go on living. I hated him for it, yet at the same time I was grateful.” (Martel, 219) This quote shows that he used this imagination to kill his loneliness boredom...
...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.
A quick glance at Life of Pi and a reader may take away the idea that it is an easy read and a novel full of imagination, but take a Freudian view of the work and it transforms into a representation of the human psyche. Martel’s novel takes the reader on a journey with Pi as he struggles for his own survival. Pi experiences a breakdown of each component that makes up one's personality, according to Freud throughout the novel. One by one, ego and super ego both express a huge factor in Pi’s choices and emotions throughout his story. Readers are also introduced to an alternate ending to choose from.
Imagination played a large role behind the scenes in the book Life of Pi. “This was the terrible cost of Richard Parker” As the reader, this passage makes you think that Richard Parker was a burden for Pi, that there was nothing positive that came from this tremendous creature. Richard Parker was more than just an idea that Pi thought up, Richard Parker was Pi’s Conscience/himself. The first line of this passage represents imagination, since Richard Parker is Pi’s imagination it would translate to this was the terrible cost of my imagination. When Pi witnesses Richard Parker attack the cannibal he says “Something in me died then that has never come back to life” This has a more spiritual meaning than a literal meaning in the way Pi says it. This means that when he “imagines” this man being killed this shows how cruel life can be even when he looks to god for answers. The reason that Richard Parker is Pi’s imagination is because during the course of this book Richard Parker mimicked exactly what Pi did. For example the moment that they bot...
In the lifeboat, his choices were based on his religion. For instance, Pi hesitated first to kill the fish because he was vegetarian, but he set aside his religion because he believes that he needs to survive since he thinks God is with him. He thanks Vishnu, a Hindu God, for coming as a fish to save him. “Even when God seemed to have abandoned me … indifferent to my suffering, He was watching; and when I was beyond all of hope of saving, He gave me rest, and gave me a sign to continue my journey.” This quote portrays how Pi felt that God was with him every time, and that is why he is willing to live and not give up.
...ction of Richard Parker kept Pi aware, by showing Pi the reality of the current situation, assisted him with making the right decisions, committing certain actions, and is his sub-consciousness, his id that fights for survival. In Martel’s Life of Pi, Pi’s coping mechanism has been proven more useful in his projection Richard Parker rather than his beliefs in his religions, which has done nothing for Pi and was useless at that time. Humans and animals are very alike in certain aspects. When it all comes down to survival, humans and animals are almost alike. The human mind brings back the inner id from the human consciousness while in drastic situations to help them cope with it in order to survive. The human psychology has a very interesting way of creating coping mechanisms.
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...