Isolation In Life Of Pi

The impact of isolation on an individual and their resulting response is examined throughout two texts, John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Yann Martel’s Life of Pi. The two authors communicate the significant initial negative responses the characters have to their specific isolation. In their texts, both Boyne and Martel express how learning to trust others and building unlikely relationships can lessen the impact isolation has on an individual. The difference of behaviour as a result of isolation of an individual is distinct and the contrast between the behaviours of certain characters awakens the reader to the impacts isolation has on an individual.
Boyne and Martel effectively communicate a similar initial negative emotional

In The Boy in Striped Pyjamas, the conditions Bruno’s family lived in at Auschwitz were horrific and ‘unsuitable for children.’ (Check quote). As a result of this, Mother’s behaviour as a response to isolation was extremely negative. She fell into a deep state of depression and had an affair with Lieutenant Kotler, a younger Nazi soldier. She calls Kurt [Lieutenant Kotler] ‘precious’ and when Kurt is sent away there is ‘lots of shouting between Mother and Father. Mother relied heavily on the ‘medicinal sherries’ she constantly drank. These tell-tale signs of depression show just how horrendous and ghastly the conditions of Auschwitz were for the Jews. In Life of Pi, Pi heavily contrasts with Mother, because he trains and tames Richard Parker. This is significant because it signifies that Pi and Richard Parker are learning to trust each another. Pi realises that even though Richard Parker could have killed him, ‘he did not want to attack [him]. Pi knows it is Richard Parker who ‘gave [me] a life, my own.’ These contrasting characters and situations show the different responses individuals can express as a result of isolation. The drastic difference between the two responses is evident to the reader, causing them to acknowledge and value the relationships that have been built, and will be built in the