Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

In Life of Pi, author Yann Martel’s demonstrates the literary theme of how wonder helps us transcend our experiences, either by enabling us to understand them thoroughly or by distorting our observation to make sense something else. Martel also motions towards the theme of the human desire for companionship and how it is vital to our saneness and survival, especially in times of disturbance resembling multiple scenes in Life of Pi. Throughout the novel, there are various possible climactic moments that incorporates both character development and a portrayal of the story’s themes. In Martel’s Life of Pi, the scene where Pi helps Richard Parker aboard the lifeboat after the Tsimtsum sinks can be perceived as climactic as it shows a quick realization and change in Pi’s mindset through the realization of Richard Parker’s animalistic nature during this dramatic experience which further promotes the novel’s themes of how wonder helps us transcend our experiences and the human desire for companionship.

This particular scene is exemplifies Pi’s characterization gravely. Since the beginning of the novel, Pi can be interpreted as a modest-minded, humble young man. He shows he has respect and great value for all animals and beings as a result from living amongst both species throughout his childhood in his family’s zoo. This character trait is further observed when Pi first sees Richard Parker from the lifeboat, and immediately responds to treat him as a fellow human being. Note that this is our first encounter with Richard Parker in the whole novel, however we only discover that Richard Parker is actually an adult Bengal tiger at the end of the scene. With statements such as “how good to see you, Richard Parker!” (121) and referrals to animals such as birds, beasts, and reptiles as his extended family (122), we can comprehend that Pi