When Pi was on the lifeboat it was one of the hardest trials he had endured in his life, barely making it out alive. Pi’s strength and capability to survive on the lifeboat came from the importance of religion, surviving with animals and the value of life; all lessons Pi learned while in India. In India, Pi learns about the importance of religion. He was raised Hindu but soon becomes enthralled with Christian and Muslim religious beliefs, practicing all three religions at once. While Pi was in India , religion seems to be one of the most important things to him. In the book , Pi is mocked by his brother for following his spiritual path by practicing all three different religions. Even though this berating Pi continues to follow all three faiths. Pi desire to follow Catholicism dicated that he be baptized, and his Muslim beliefs encouraged a prayer rug for his devotions, which again were discouraged by another member of his family, his father. Even though his father and mother decide him following three religions was a false, Pi still stuck with what he believed and didn’t sway his views. Throughout the …show more content…
Every day Pi would pray five times a day so he could keep himself busy. Pi having strong religious beliefs is important because without them he might not have survived. Like Pi said, “I kept myself busy. That was one key to my survival” (Matel 190). Pi’s religious beliefs also offered him hope. After months of not having any human interaction or any sign of being rescued his religions gave him hope. Whether it was his hope to be rescued or hope that he would catch a fish it was one of the things that kept him going. Throughout the book Pi also thanks god for the “good things” that happened to him. For example when he landed on the floating mericat island one of the first things he did was thank god and right before he landed in Mexico Pi said “I should turn to God” (Martel
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
All in all, In Life of Pi there has to be sacrifices to achieve the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. To grow as a person you have experience the things you thought you would never do. Everybody has a certain duty and would do anything to stay true to that duty. During Pi’s journey, he experiences fish for the first time, killing for the first time and finds a friend that no one would come close to named Richard Parker but at the end of the day he would still call himself a Hindu, Muslim and a Christian. Pi adjusted to his surroundings to stay alive but he would still stay true to his religion no matter how many times he had to break his oath to that religion.
At the start of novel, and when Pi is a child, he is extremely religious. He devotes his life to loving God, and even practices three religions to do so. He practices Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. His explanation for practicing all three is that according to Bapu Gandhi, “‘All religions are true’”(69). Pi explains that he practices all three religions because, “[he] just wants to love God”(69). Pi’s major religious values and faith in God continue to shape his life daily, until the shipwreck leaves him stranded on the Pacific, with a tiger for 227 days. Although Pi still remains religious and continues to praise God most days, the shipwreck does change Pi’s religious morals. Richard Parker is the factor that begins this change in Pi, because Pi knows that in order to survive he will have to fish to provide for Richard Parker if he wants to avoid being eaten himself. Fishing, however goes against the religious practice of Hinduism, which requires vegetarianism. Also, killing animals goes against Pi’s whole religious morals to not hurt another living being. Pi says the idea of killing a fish, and of “beating a soft living head with a hammer [is] simply too much”(183). It goes against everything he believes in. So, he decides to instead cover to fish’s head and break its neck (183). He explains that, “he [gives] up a number of times.
Pi found hope through himself. He found ways to survive that ultimately did work. He first noticed the recurring theme of orange all around him. The color orange brought hope to everything around him. For example, the lifeboat was orange, the life jackets were orange, Orange Juice was named Orange and the life raft was orange. Alter on in the novel orange is also the color cat that Pi’s daughter Usha has. Pi also learns that religion is tried together so strongly with hope. If he prays to the gods and hopes they hear and respond, the end result ultimately turns out successful. Every day he prays to the gods and hopes they listen. Not one day goes by where he doesn’t pray to the gods to help him. He wishes that his hope will be transferred into something positive. For example he says, “ Praise to be Allah, Lord of All Worlds, the Compassionate, the Merciful, Ruler of Judgment Day! This is a miracle. This is an outbreak of divinity. This is…This is…” He is praying to the gods to help him in his struggle to survive. The theme of hope is also very strongly conveyed through Pi’s thoughts. “I was giving up. I would have given up- if a voice hadn’t made itseld heard in my heart. The voice said, “ I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen every day… Pg 148” This quote show how Pi’s character refuses to give up hope. He has this small ounce of hope that won’t give up. He learns hat hope is with in him if he chooses to take advantage of it. He believes in himself throughout whatever happens and he does survive. He is Pi, the ambassador of life. He never ceases to believe in
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
Pi is a very religious person who had many beliefs, which causes some issues with his family. At one point, all of his religious teachers were in an argument over Pi’s beliefs, in which he replies “Bapu Gandhi said ‘all religions are true’ I just want to love God.” (Martel, 69). This furthered Pi’s bravery when he was able to stick up for himself in
His daily routine included prayer five times a day: sunrise, mid-morning, late afternoon, sunset, and night. “I practised religious rituals that I adapted to the circumstances – solitary Masses without priests or consecrated Communion Hosts, darshans without murtis, and pujas with turtle meat for prasad, acts of devotion to Allah not knowing where Mecca was and getting my Arabic wrong.” Although he was in a predicament, Pi still found a way to show his faith to all the religions. This speaks volumes for Pi because he never stopped believing in faith; since he never gave up on his higher powers, they did not give up on him. “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-but sometimes it was so hard to love” (Martel 208). Although it was hard, he made it. He never stopped believing, he questioned, but never stopped. The duo suffered; with no fat and bad nutrition, the two were weak and in bad shape. Pi was faced with major tragedy when going blind (so he thought) due to poor hygiene. He started to see mainly black, and then eventually all black, besides one small crack. This was very depressing for Pi, and his emotional well-being took a huge blow. By this point Pi was ready for death. He saw no hope for living life, especially now that he could not see, but yet he still keep true to his religious devotions.
In the novel, Pi grows up to be a religious man, growing up in a place with diverse culture. He believes that “religion is about choosing the better story”. Therefore, he learns to worship three religion - Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. In the lifeboat, his choices were based on his religion. For instance, Pi hesitated first to kill the fish because he was vegetarian, but he set aside his religion because he believes that he needs to survive since he thinks God is with him. He thanks Vishnu, a Hindu God,
Pi is an indian, but except Hinduism, he also believes in Christianity and Islam. It is pretty unusual. However, these three religions save his life when he meets storm on the sea. Religion is a key component in Pi’s survival because it lets him understand that he has to coexist with other creatures, it leads Pi to accept that even if he did not survive he would be redeemed, and it gives Pi the hope for survival.
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 first major theme in Life of Pi is the nature of God. One of the most important lines in the story is when an old man in Pondicherry tells the narrator that he has a story that will make him believe in God. This introduces the nature of God theme, and throughout the novel, Pi is open about his religious beliefs and makes it clear to the readers that his love for God is so strong that he worships as a Hindu, Christian, and Muslim. While he does not understand the reasoning behind agnostics, he has respect for atheists. He sees their total lack of faith as a type of belief because he believes that it takes a lot of faith to not believe in, or accept any god.
Firstly, the theme of storytelling helps keep Pi alive at sea through his belief and faith in stories of religion, through his fear of the two hundred and fifty pound Bengal tiger he conjures up in the raft alongside him, and through journaling his day to day experiences to preserve his sanity. Pi’s belief and love in higher powers, in the stories of God, becomes the only thing he realizes he still possesses after losing everything. He knows him being alive and surviving the sinking of the Tsimtsum is a miracle, which meant to him God was on his side. Pi realizing this, pre-occupies himself with many daily rituals and prayers, and relies on God to be listening in, like the time when Richard Parker was making his way to the raft after the wreck of the ship: “My heart stopped and then beat triple speed. I turned.
Pi enjoys different aspects of each religion which is: Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity. Despite the fact that these religions may contradict each other, Pi finds a way to love and accept each of them. Pi comes across a priest, and Imam, and a Pandit who change Pi 's life forever. These three encounters let Pi into the world of different belief systems, in which he become increasingly interested. Early on in the novel, Pi starts to discover different rituals, and rules of each religion. The reader also gets to see religious objects that have sentimental meaning to religious and faithful groups that allow for comfort. Through Pi 's discoveries of these things the theme of religion becomes more evident. People use religion, beliefs, rituals, and routine to simply make life more enjoyable, easier to live by, and less boring by giving someone something to believe