Life Of Pi Hero's Journey Essay

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Life of Pi a Hero's Journey
Yann Martel’s “Life of Pi” shows all three of the main elements of a hero’s journey: the departure, initiation and the return, helping the story to greatly resemble Joseph Campbell’s structure of a hero’s journey. Through the trials Pi has to face, he proves himself to be a true hero. He proves himself, not just while trapped on the lifeboat with Richard Parker, but also before the sinking of the Tsimtsum. His achievement to fulfill the heroic characteristics of Campbell’s model are evident as he goes though the three stages.
The first step into Pi’s journey is the departure. At the beginning of the novel, the reader meets Pi, who seems like the everyday boy living in India (“Life of Pi” SparkNotes). What he does not know at the time is something tragic will change his life forever (“LP” SN). This is how the hero’s journey begins. A young ordinary character who out of nowhere receives a call to adventure (Hero's Journey). Pi lives a comfortable life in his family's zoo where he enjoys being …show more content…

The key elements of Campbell’s model were all within the story: the departure, the initiation, and the return. Despite Pi's initial display of ignorance, his exposure to the several stages of the quest pattern forged him into a typical hero, full of bravery and determination. Henceforth, “Life of Pi” a great example of a hero’s journey.

Works Cited
“Hero's Journey Defined.” Hero's Journey Defined, home.rmi.net/~seifert/id22.html. Accessed 1 Mar. 2017.
“INTRODUCTION.” Hero's Journey, www. thewritersjourney.com/hero's_journey.htm. Accessed 1 Mar. 2017.
“Life of Pi ▾.” Enotes.com, Enotes.com, www.enotes.com/topics/life-pi. Accessed 1 Mar. 2017.
“Life of Pi.” SparkNotes, SparkNotes, www.sparknotes.com/lit/lifeofpi/. Accessed 1 Mar. 2017.
Martel, Yann. Life of Pi: a Novel. New York, Harcourt,

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