Life Of Pi Religion Analysis

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Life of Pi by Yann Martel is about Piscine Molitor Patel's belief and faith. It’s also about his journey and survival on a lifeboat. These challenges helped deepen Pi's religious fate. You can see the analogy between religion and fiction throughout the novel. From the beginning Patel claims the tale will make you believe in god. In "Life of Pi" Yann Martel uses Piscine Patels stories of his religious encounters and journeys to make Martel believe in God.

Pi is put through many tests on his journey. He is tested on his spirituality on the mysterious island he comes upon on his journey. “He must endure his most profound spiritual test in the form of a mysterious island, which proves to be a symbol of the failure of blind faith as an uncritical framework for understanding the world.” (Dyer 148). Pi realizes he has self-deception by believing that the island will provide for him. He then realizes that the island will lead him to his own death and won’t be able to provide for him. Throughout Pi's journey he applies his religious beliefs from Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. The ideas of these religions helped him survive on the lifeboat. Pi uses his faith as a tool for survival when his faith is tested on the island. When he approaches the island he hopes it will be able to provide for him more than the lifeboat he is on with Richard Parker. When Pi steps off his life boat onto the island it maybe a leap of faith because of his not knowing what will happen on this mysterious island. Pi praises god for this island, for the trees and the ground. He links the trees to Islam, the weave of fabric and his faith. He states the trees grew right out of the algae. When Pi rethinks his faith in the island he sees the once stable ground is ...

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... believe in god. "This readerly disbelief is more explicitly analogized in the initial skepticism of the two Japanese interviewers when faced with the story of Pi's survival for 227 days in a lifeboat with the tiger Richard Parker" (Cole 150). In the novel Pi addresses "Animalus Anthropomorphicus how an animal is seen through human’s eyes." it is not to be confused with human characteristics to animals.

Pi was interested in a trinity of religions and his fate in these religions helped him survive his journey across the Pacific Ocean with Richard Parker. These challenges helped secure Pi’s fate in these religions. He says because of his belief in God he survived. Yann Martel tells Piscine’s story wonderfully because of him betraying the story through adolescent Pi’s eyes.

Works Cited

Martel, Yann. Life of Pi: A Novel. New York: Harcourt, 2001. Print.

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