Life Of Pi Theme Of Religion

738 Words2 Pages

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. ‘Jesus, Mary, Muhammad …show more content…

Oh, the size of him! The hyena's end had come, and mine” (Martel, 82). Richard Parker being a carnivorous tiger could have killed Pi but miraculously a mouse appears from nowhere and Richard Parker takes it as an offering and retreats away. This comes to show that Pi has great dedication to faith and he trusts and relies upon his beliefs to ensure his survival at sea, while also busying himself with prayers to pass the time and keep a strong connection with God. Adding on, storytelling in “Life of Pi” gives Pi the ability to project his survival instinct as none other than Richard Parker, which Pi sees as the biggest threat to his survival, and puts an urgency to overcome it. Pi fears Richard Parker for the wild animal he is: “Richard Parker turned and started clawing the shark's head with his free front paw and biting it with his jaws, while his rear legs began tearing at its stomach and back. [...]. Richard Parker's snarling was simply terrifying” (Martel,244). His fear of the tiger eating him leads Pi to spend all his time, energy and effort into training, feeding and making a companion out of

Open Document