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Essay life of pi
Essay on religion in life of pi
Life of pi thematic essay
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The philosophy that Pi portrays in this book is to live life with faith. Pi was a very religion man; religion played a big role in his life. Pi was a well-educated man who had lots of education; throughout Pi’s life, he had both formal and informal education, which came in very handy on his journey. Pi’s father played a major role in the personal experiences Pi had. His dad tried to prepare him for the real world. Lastly, Yann Martel stressed the importance of cognitive dissonance on Pi as a way to cope with the death of his family, and the savagery of the chef on the lifeboat.
Religion was one of the key concepts in Pi’s philosophy; he believed in more than one religion all throughout the book. The first religion that he came upon was Hindu, which was preferred by his parents even though they were not religious people. Pi was fourteen when he was introduced to Christianity, he was on a vacation in Munnar, which consisted of many hills; and was home to a Hindu temple, a mosque, and a Christian church. Pi’s Christian leader was Father Martin who was very important to Pi. Pi’s introduction to the Muslim religion was quite interesting; it happened when a man asked, “Would you like one?” “I nearly jumped out of my skin. It’s happened to all of us: there’s sunlight and shade, spots and patterns of colour, your mind is elsewhere-so you don’t make out what is right in front of you”(Martel 59). Even though the man startled Pi at first, he ended up teaching Pi a lot about being a Muslim. Pi’s religion had a lot to do with his philosophy about faith, because with religion he always had someone to believe in and someone to call on in his time of need. With all of the religious experiences and knowledge Pi had, it helped him to ...
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..., that is what Pi does. Moreover, this goes back to show that the story with the animals is the better story, which is a life, lived with faith.
Pi was very involved with religion, and he tried to portray religion in every part of his life. Pi also had lots of education; even though he had a rough couple of years in school, he turned out to be a very smart and productive member of society. Pi’s father played a major role in Pi’s life; he prepared him for the real world and gave him important lessons that were crucial to Pi’s survival on the lifeboat. Lastly, Yann Martel stressed the importance of cognitive dissonance on Pi as a way to cope with the death of his family and all of the bad memories he had with the chef on the lifeboat. In conclusion, this shows how all parts of this book tie together to build the philosophy, that you should live a life with faith.
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
...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.
...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.
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.
While discriminates between religions were still intense, Pi had already stuck his faith in three religions, only because he “wants to love God”. However, it became doubtable if believing in three religions still helps when it comes to surviving with a tiger on the same lifeboat sailing in the center of the Pacific Ocean. In Yann Martel’s “Life of Pi”, religion brings about conflict for Pi, but it also supports Pi’s survival, and ultimately, strengthen Pi’s belief in God.
From the beginning of the novel it is pretty clear that religion is a major issue in the life of Pi Patel. “I have kept up what some people would consider my strange religious practices”(3). However, when the Christian and Islamic faiths are presented to him, he can’t decide which practice he wants to call his own. In fact, he wants to know why can’t he be all three of them. The reason Pi can’t decide on which religious practice he will be ultimately faithful to is because he notice so man similarities in the three of them. Mainly the Christian and Islamic practices. When asked why doesn’t he choose between the three he replies, “I just want to love God” (69). Be that as it may, his faith(s) are soon put to the ultimate test.
Life of Pi begins with an author’s note in which Martel describes being told by the character Mamaji that Pi has “‘a story that will make you believe in God’” (ix). This essentially sets up the basis for the entire theme of the novel. The main character, Pi, claims to practice three religions simultaneously: Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam (Martel 81). Much of Pi’s explanation of his own childhood consists of his own religious journeys. He begins with an explanation of how his aunt introduced him to Hinduism upon ...
“Religion is that system of activities and beliefs directed toward that which is perceived to be of sacred value and transforming power.” (James Livingston) In the story “Life of Pi”, the main character Pi practices 3 religions all at once. (Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism) Although the 3 are very different from each other, Pi ignores the clashing views and finds coexistence and equal love for them. Pi born
In the book the Life of Pi by Yann Martel, religion plays an important role in Pi’s life. When on the lifeboat, Pi used his faith as a way to motivate himself to live. Without his religious beliefs, there is no way to guarantee he would have made it off the lifeboat.
It is said the a person’s process of discovery is shaped by their personality, culture, history and values, however the opposite is also true, someone’s personal, cultural, historical and social contexts and values, their personal aspects, can also be shaped by the discoveries they make, with discovery acting as the journey towards a change in one’s personal aspects. This is true of the film, “Life of Pi,” directed by Ang Lee and the illustration, “Self Help,” by Michael Leunig. The most striking features of the film is Pi’s faith to God and his connection with religion. His discovery and spirituality rely on each other, depicted as a gradual progression that spans his life, his childhood all the way to his time with Richard Parker on the life
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.
“We are all born as Catholics.” (Martel 47) This quote is important because Pi thinks that everyone is born as Catholic, without a religion, until you get introduced to god. Then he says once you meet up with God, people usually know their religion at that point but some will lose God on the way. Pi said he never lost God through all his journeys and God was always there for him. "I kept myself busy. That was the key to my survival.” (Martel 190) Pi’s faith to Christianity created a pathway and routine of praying five times each day. Sunrise, mid-morning, late afternoon, sunset, and night, Pi knew his whole entire schedule for when he would pray. Pi never would skip these prayers because it was a routine and if he messed it up, God would not be with him. “Solitude began. I turned to god. I survived.” (Martel 311) “Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen.” (Martel 148) This quote is important because Pi is all alone and there is not much he can do. So, he puts his life in the hands of God and this is how he survived. Since Pi gave everything to God, in return God saves him and keeps him alive. The religion Christianity helped Pi get through his ordeal at the sea with God always by his
This trait of his is illustrated by a symbol of a candle in a box. Pi does his religions practice almost daily stated in the book, “Sunrise to mid morning: wake up, prayers/ Mid morning to late afternoon: prayers” (240). Even in a arduous situation, Pi shows his humaneness by staying faithful to his religious practices and consistently prays on the lifeboat. Even though he keeps his humaneness for a while, he loses it at a certain point of desperation as shown by an illustration of a cloudy sky. Pi’s faith and belief symbolized by a sun is covered up by the clouds that represent his decisions in this desperational situation of survival. Desperation pushes him to go against his religious beliefs and kills for survival, “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 hand” (231). He realizes that his decision of killing a fish makes him unfaithful to his vegetarian belief, yet it is a decision that he must make in order to live. Moreover, this symbol also indicates his reasonable decision depending on his situation and being open- minded which helps him survive 227 days in the
Pi maintains his religious beliefs while on the life boat through his daily prayers. He takes time aside each day to say the prayers that he always would say. In one instance, he turns where he believes Mecca is located, and prays his traditional prayers towards Mecca. Pi also often states that he will include specific animals in his prayers, such as the zebra aboard his lifeboat, and the first fish that he ever killed. With Pi keeping his ritual prayers going, it helped him to survive.
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...