In the novel “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel, the contrast between science and religion is introduced and it is up to the readers to decide what they believe is the “Better Story”. Pi Patel’s journey on the Pacific Ocean brings many controversial discussions concerning if he was truly on a lifeboat for 277 days with a Bengal Tiger or was it all in Pi’s imagination. Pi knew two people growing up who had a substantial impact on him and coincidently had the same name, Mr. Kumar. However, they were extremely different in their values and beliefs. One Mr. Kumar was Pi’s biology teacher and an extreme atheist who taught Pi everything he needs to know about science. The other Mr. Kumar was a Sufi baker who was Muslim and introduced Pi to faith. These two men had a great impact on Pi; however, the knowledge that the baker taught Pi about faith and …show more content…
Pi never lost faith in God and that is why God continued to guide him throughout his journey to help him survive. The animals in the story are very symbolic and are a huge part in what helped Pi survival. Throughout Pi’s journey he experienced many different animals on the lifeboat including a zebra, hyena, orangutan, and of course a Bengal Tiger. The animals kept Pi very alert and cautious, which helped him keep his days busy. “[The orangutan] came floating on an island of bananas in a halo of light, as lovely as the Virgin Mary” (pg. 123). The orangutan symbolized Virgin Mary and was a gift sent from God to remind him to have hope and not give up on his journey. The orangutan was a mother figure to Pi and brought him hope. However, the hyena was constantly battling the other animals and eventually killed the orangutan and the zebra. With Pi being left on the boat alone
Despite not agreeing with his biology teacher, Mr. Kumar’s beliefs, as he stated “There are no grounds for going beyond a scientific explanation of reality and no sound reason for believing anything but our sense experience.” (Life or Pi, p.34.), and “religion is darkness” (Life of Pi, pg.34.), Pi stated that Mr. Kumar went on to become his favorite teacher and the reason he studied zoology. Kumar was a critical person in his life that enabled Pi to see life through a different lense. He impacted Pi in a another, more abstract way. Mr. Kumar represents Pi’s logical aspect, which in the end impacts Pi in life saving way. Adding logic and reason to Pi’s spiritual wheel empowered him to solve problems that came his way on the lifeboat, and also taught him to develop a relationship with someone who thinks noticeably different than him. Pi’s view on truth and belief is consummated as Pi tells the story in the concluding portion of the novel. Each version contains a different genus of truth. As one story is supported by facts, and the other has an emotional truth that cannot be proven right nor wrong. This moment culminates Pi’s outlook on the concept of truth and the way he relates it to his spiritual aspect of his
Pi hears sounds during the night and gets up to check what is going on. The crew members, who don’t speak English, realize the ship is sinking and throw Pi overboard with a life jacket to distract the wild animals that had already been thrown overboard so that they could make their escape. On the lifeboat, Pi, without realizing the true effects of his actions, calls the Bengal tiger, Richard Parker, onto the lifeboat. There were also a hyena, zebra, and orangutan on the boat, and the hyena ended up eating the zebra and the orangutan. The tiger ended up eating the hyena.
His passion and love for animals is mentioned throughout all the phases of his life. Being born into a family which owns a zoo, Pi has a very strong connection to animals from his childhood onward. “Every animal is ferocious and dangerous. It may not kill you, but it will certainly injure you” (Martel 22). This is a valuable lesson which Pi and his brother are taught by their father when they are young. Pi’s curiosity and compassion toward animals are nurtured at a young age despite being forewarned and educated by his father of the difference between human and animals. When Pi undergoes the roughest patch of his life as he loses his entire family, his accomplice on the life boat is a Bengali tiger, referred to as Richard Parker. Pi struggles to survive whilst caring for the tiger by feeding him, although he is well aware that the tiger could harm him. “We have survived. Can you believe it? I owe you more gratitude than I can express. I couldn 't have done it without you. I would like to say it formally: Richard Parker, thank you. Thank you for saving my life. And now go where you must” (Martel 155). Given the fact that Pi survives with a tiger in a life boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, he thanks him for saving his life. This is evidence of a strong connection and compassion toward the animal. Finally, after Pi’s loss of all his living relatives, Pi still grasps onto his connection with animals and he chooses to attend the University of Toronto to study Zoology. Proving that Pi didn’t change at all because his love for animals still prevails even after his episode of struggling on the life boat with a tiger. “My zoology thesis was a functional analysis of the thyroid gland of the three-toed sloth. I chose the sloth because its demeanor-calm, quiet and introspective-did something to soothe my shattered self” (Martel, 4). When Pi explains how the sloth was a
Religion is and always has been a sensitive topic. Some choose to acknowledge that there is a God and some choose to deny this fact to the death. For those who deny the presence of a higher being, “Life of Pi” will most likely change your thought process concerning this issue. Yann Martel’s, “Life of Pi”, is a compelling story that shows the importance of obtaining religion and faith. Piscine (Pi) Patel is both the protagonist and the narrator of Martell’s religious eye-opener who undergoes a chain effect of unbelievable catastrophes. Each of these catastrophic events leaving him religiously stronger because he knows that in order to endure what he has endured, there has got to be a God somewhere.
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.”
They brought me comfort that is certain. But it was hard, oh, it was hard. Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love.” (Yann Martel, Life of Pi, 231) At a certain point in his journey, Pi started to question God because he could not understand why God was not listening to his prayers and in reality if God was with him, how was God letting him go through all this pain. He also started to learn that he could not be completely faithful to what each religion stands for. Pi had to kill a fish and he felt very guilty and sad about doing so but he knew he had to put aside his Hindu beliefs to survive. He had to adapt which consequently added more disbelief into Pi’s head. However his adaptations were not just ignoring rules but it was also him trying to adapt to figure out a way how he could oblige to each religion 's way of communicating with God (Praying). For Islam, he had to figure out which way Mecca was so that he could pray, solitary masses without priests and communion hosts for Christianity, and darshans without murtis for Hinduism. That being said to add more fire to the flame, right before he fully lost belief he found an island, he assumed he was imaging it but after hanging around in the algae-filled land he thought of as a reward. He starts to enjoy his time and eats some of the algae and finds some fresh water. Just as his faith was being restored the island turned out to be a carnivorous island and loses faith once again. He turns to atheism and realizes that the only way to live is if he starts to use science. Despite his doubts, he still continued to follow his religions. He mentions that “The blackness would stir and eventually go away,
To begin with, the animal story is the true story because it shows how Pi’s faith in religions and God helped him survive the tough circumstances on the lifeboat. Martel dexterously prepares the reader for the seafaring section in the first part of the book, which describes Pi’s sunny childhood in the Pondicherry zoo and his triple conversion to Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. Pi’s faith in god helped him survive on the boat. Pi started to become animal like in a way that he has to give up his vegetarianism and learn to fish. Hi encounter with the vast sea can be read as an encounter with the numinous. Pi does see the immensity of the sea and sky as divine. He calls the thunderbolt a ‘miracle’ and ‘an outbreak of divinity’, praising Allah. In moments of desolation, he tries to seek comfort in the divinity of that which is around him, ”I would point to the lifeboat and say aloud, “THIS IS GOD’S ARK!”...
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.
In the first place, Pi spends more time telling the animal story, instead of the true account, which shows that he prefers a zebra, a tiger, a hyena, and an orangutan over the real people involved because with real people the tragic events must also be real. While telling his story to the two Japanese men investigating him once he
First of all, religion is a key component in Pi’s survival because it leads Pi to believe that he has to coexist with other creatures and they are all one entity. When Pi struggles with the storm on the lifeboat, he has the opportunity to abandon Richard Parker, but he doesn’t: “I could see his head. He was struggling to stay at the surface of the water. ‘Jesus, Mary, Muhammad and Vishnu, how good to see you, Richard Parker! Don’t give up, please. Come to the lifeboat. Do you hear this whistle? TREEEEE! TREEEEE! TREEEEE! You heard, right. Swim! Swim!’” (Martel p.121). Although Richard Parker
I have always been an atheist. In all my life, I never questioned my religious beliefs. I saw religion as a way people justified their intolerance with primitive theories, which undermined the advances of modern science. Recently, my opinion has drastically changed. The instigator for this change was my reading of the novel Life of Pi by Yan Martel. I met the author in Saskatchewan during the summer of 2013. His wife is a colleague of my father’s, so we went to their house for a visit, and I was excited to tell him how much I had enjoyed the film adaptation of Life of Pi, which had recently been released. In response, he told me to read the novel, half-joking that it was “better” than the film. I am glad I did. It’s one of the best books I have ever read. Reading it changed my life. In the beginning of the novel, Pi’s uncle, who he calls Mamaji, says, “I have a story that will make you believe in god.” (Martel, viii) In my reading, the story lived up to this claim. Life of Pi made me believe in god.
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.
Piscine Molitor Patel, this name carries great significance throughout the novel Life Of Pi. Associations of Pi 's name with water is very clear to the reader. Pi was named after a pool in Paris, Piscine Molitor, Mr. Adirubasamy 's favourite pool, Mr. Adirubasamy also taught Pi how to swim. He then became a skilful swimmer. I believe that the author has incorporated this connection to make Pi 's story of the shipwreck seem more realistic, because Pi is a good swimmer, then he has a skill to aid him in living on an ocean. This is used to enhance the authors credibility and make the fantasized story feel more realistic. Another thing that is interesting about the name Pi, is that it is a very unusual name, we don 't regularly see people with