Determination and Perseverance in Life of Pi, by Yann Martel

701 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Life of pi character analysis creative essay

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. The main protagonist, Piscine Patel displays an innate desire for survival as he demonstrates his versatility through to the absence of refinement. His morality is shattered, as he comes across the dire circumstances of his ordeal. This is evident when Pi abandons his vegetarianism and transforms into a blood-thirsty carnivore, in order to stay alive. "… driven by the extremity of my need and the madness to which it pushed me, I ate some of his flesh … my suffering was unremitting and he was already dead." (Martel 322). Pi's desperation leads to insanity brought on by hunger and costs him every morsel of the dignified and socialized part of him. The urge to live on takes charge and descends him into a level of savagery and violence due to the means of survival. Pi's animalistic instinct is projected through the character of Richard Parker, that eventually becomes a reason for him to live. It proves to be the driving force behind his uncivilized acts as he dominates the foreign environment. "If I still had the will to live, it was thanks to Richard Parker … Without Richard Parker, I wouldn't be alive today…" (... ... middle of paper ... ...nt in the barbaric acts executed by the hyena as it demonstrates its will to live. The will to live depicted through the actions of characters such as Pi, the zebra and the hyena, provides insight to the idea of survival. This is apparent as the individuals are pushed to the brink of their powers of endurance, confronting the struggles of abandonment and starvation. Driven by the expedition of suffering, they demonstrate their persistence and undertake the harsh trial of their journey. In contrast to the use of cannibalism made by Pi and the Hyena, the zebra illustrates the notion of vulnerability and willpower as it fights against the odds of survival. It is evident that the struggle to live is essential for survival whether it is disguised as a barbarous or heroic act. Works Cited Martel, Yann. Life of Pi: A Novel. New York: Harcourt, 2001. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Use of Literary Devices in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Rattler essay

    677 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author uses diction in the passages to signify the effect of the author¡¯s meaning in story and often sway readers to interpret ideas in one way or another. The man in the story arrives to a ¡°[dry] desert¡± where he accosts an animal with ¡°long-range attack¡± and ¡°powerful fangs.¡± The author creates a perilous scene between the human and animal in order to show that satisfaction does not come from taking lives. With instincts of silence and distrust, both of them freeze in stillness like ¡°live wire.¡± In addition, the man is brought to the point where animal¡¯s ¡°tail twitched,¡± and ¡°the little tocsin sounded¡± and also he hears the ¡°little song of death.¡± With violence ready to occur, the man tries to protect himself and others with a hoe, for his and their safety from the Rattler. The author criticizes how humans should be ¡°obliged not to kill¡±, at least himself, as a human. The author portrays the story with diction and other important techniques, such as imagery, in order to influence the readers with his significant lesson.

    Read More

  • Life Of Pi Idealism And Truth Essay

    948 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the novel, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the notion of how the concepts of idealism and truth mold an individual’s life are vividly displayed. This is emblematized as Pi questions the idea of truth and the affects it has on different aspect of life, as well as his idealistic values being transformed due to the contrast between taking action and sheer belief. The messages generated will alter the way the reader thinks, as well as reshaping their overall perception of truth.

    Read More

  • The Role of Richard Parker in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi

    1248 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. At all counts, it forms an unconscious snag, thwarting our most well-meant intentions” (Carl Jung). The archetype of the shadow self is the darker, animalistic self that a person represses and is forced into the unconscious by the ego. In Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the protagonist, Piscine Molitor is stranded in the middle of the Pacific with a Bengal tiger. It is on this journey that Pi encounters his shadow self. Unfortunately, in an effort to survive, Pi goes against most of his beliefs; and resorts a level of savagery by giving in to his shadow self, Richard Parker. Thence, Pi’s plight is quite challenging for his fruitarian, gentle, kind hearted persona; therefore, Pi would not have survived if he repudiated his shadow self, projected as Richard Parker.

    Read More

  • A Freudian Examination of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi

    1764 Words  | 4 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... The orangutan is seen looking out over the water for her two sons who had obviously drowned can be seen as a Thanatos when Pi begins to get depressed about losing hope for his own survival. Thanatos is also displayed when the orangutan becomes aggressive while the hyena is eating the zebra alive in Chapter 45. Another example of Thanatos is shown when the hyena bites a hole into the zebra and Pi feels a sense of hatred towards the hyena for hurting the zebra and he even considers attacking it.

    Read More

  • The Role of Richard Parker in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    In drastic situations, human psychology uses coping mechanisms to help them through it. In the novel, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Pi’s coping mechanism is his religions and his projection of Richard Parker. Martel’s Life of Pi shows how the projection of Richard Parker played a greater role in keeping Pi alive in comparison to his beliefs in his religions. During the period in which Pi was stranded on the lifeboat, Richard Parker kept Pi aware, helped Pi make the right decisions, and was Pi’s sub-consciousness.

    Read More

  • A Freudian Examination of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi

    2074 Words  | 5 Pages

    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. Mr. Patel continues explaining how his father contracts a Japanese ship to transport his family, along with a number of their zoo animals, from India to Canada in order to avoid political upheaval. While traveling the ship began sinking and Pi was the only one to manage to make it onto the life boat and survive the wreck. The disaster left Pi along with a fe...

    Read More

  • Lord Of The Flies, An Analysis

    634 Words  | 2 Pages

    This tribe brings nothing but death and destruction to the island. Moreover, the newly formed group of warriors even develop a dance that they perform over the carcass of the dead pig. They become so involved in this dance that that warriors kill one of their own kind. By chance, Simon runs from the forest towards the group that is already shouting “‘Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!’” (152).

    Read More

  • Zoomorphism In Life Of Pi

    1024 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is not unlikely that in severe circumstances, humans use the company of one another to survive. For example, in Night, Elie Wiesel uses his father to motivate him to live during his terrifying stay at Auschwitz. However, not all cases of this “survival relationship” necessarily involve two humans. In Life of Pi by Yann Martel, when he is shipwrecked at sea for 227 days, Pi Patel faces life-threatening circumstances every minute of the day. After his rescue,though, he tells two different stories to explain this incredulous journey. One involves loneliness and brutality,while the other involves animals and faith, the latter being the true story. Pi’s explanation involving animals is the true story because it vividly and descriptively displays

    Read More

  • The Better Story in Life of Pi by Yann Martel

    1775 Words  | 4 Pages

    On its surface, Martel’s Life of Pi proceeds as a far-fetched yet not completely unbelievable tale about a young Indian boy named Pi who survives after two hundred twenty-seven days on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. It is an uplifting and entertaining story, with a few themes about companionship and survival sprinkled throughout. The ending, however, reveals a second story – a more realistic and dark account replacing the animals from the beginning with crude human counterparts. Suddenly, Life of Pi becomes more than an inspiring tale and transforms into a point to be made about rationality, faith, and how storytelling correlates the two. The point of the book is not for the reader to decide which story he or she thinks is true, but rather what story he or she thinks is the better story. In real life, this applies in a very similar way to common belief systems and religion. Whether or not God is real or a religion is true is not exactly the point, but rather whether someone chooses to believe so because it adds meaning and fulfillment to his or her life. Life of Pi is relevant to life in its demonstration of storytelling as a means of experiencing life through “the better story.”

    Read More

  • Adaptation In Life Of Pi

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    “You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” Adapting to a new situation or experience like violent crashing waves can be difficult. Nevertheless, a person needs to learn how to surf in order to outlast the pounding waves. In a similar fashion, individuals need to learn how to adapt to a challenging situation in order to survive. This idea of the significance of adapting to new situations is often explored in literature. In the novel, Life of Pi, Yann Martel makes powerful use of character development to suggest that individuals may be able to adapt to situations in life through a sense of determination, or through denying reality and using their imagination instead.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Dualism In Life Of Pi

    943 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel, is the story of a young man, Piscine, or Pi for short, who experiences unbelievable and unrealistic events, which are so unrealistic ambiguity is aroused amongst the reader. Duality reoccurs over the course of the novel through every aspect of Pi’s world view and is particularly seen in the two contradictory stories, which displays the brutal nature of the world. Martel wonderfully crafts and image of duality and skepticism though each story incorporated in this novel.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Survival In Life Of Pi

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, is a fictional novel written in 2001 that explores the primacy of survival by employing symbolism, foreshadowing and motifs. This story follows the life of the protagonist, Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel, as he embarks on his journey as a castaway. After boarding the Tsimtsum which carries Pi and his family along with a menagerie of animals, an abysmal storm capsizes the ship leaving Pi as the only survivor, though he is not alone. The great Bengal tiger, Richard Parker, also survives the shipwreck and during the 227 days that Pi and Richard Parker are stranded at sea together, the two must learn to coexist and trust one another for survival. Through Pi and Richard Parker’s struggles to remain alive, Martel explores the primal idea of survival by employing literary techniques.

    Read More

  • Adversity in Yann Martel's Life of Pi

    1107 Words  | 3 Pages

    People don't truly accept life for what it is until they've actually tasted adversity and went through those misfortunes and suffering. We are put through many hardships in life, and we learn to understand and deal with those issues along the way. We find that life isn't just about finding one's self, but about creating and learning from our experiences and background. Adversity shapes what we are and who we become as individuals. Yann Martel's Life of Pi shows us that adverse situations help shape a person's identity and play a significant role in one's lief by determining one's capabilities and potential, shaping one's beliefs and values, and defining the importance and meaning of one's self.

    Read More

  • Symbolism and Survival in Life of Pi, Yann Martel

    940 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Determination and Perseverance in Life of Pi, by Yann Martel

Open Document