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A human has a strong desire to survive and ready to transgress his inner borders and break his principles to save his life. There are three aspects of survival: psychological, emotional and physical survival. They are all related to each other and in order to sustain one has to go through all three stages. A person has to struggle with themselves: they have to breakdown their internal principles such as high morality and deep religious commitment in order to come through Psychological, Emotional and Physical survival.
The most significant level is psychological because it is very important to a person’s emotional and physical survival. In order for someone to survive, he or she must have a positive mind with faith and determination in every action they take, Despite the fact that having high hopes with slim chances of survival is not as easy as it seems. “In its general form such a requirement insists that important relations (survival, identity, psychological connectedness)”. (Brennan 225). Trying to survive, Pi has to struggle with himself mentally: he has to go against his ethics like rectitude and religion pledge. To do that easily Pi finds his animalistic part which he called in his story as Richard Parker. May be because of his religious grounds he would have never done things like killing people eating fish or cannibalizing humans as done with just imagining himself as a Bengal tiger and he admits that “If I still had the will to live, it was thanks to Richard Parker. He kept me from thinking too much about my family and my tragic circumstances. He pushed me to go on living. I hated him for it, yet at the same time I was grateful.” (Martel, 219) This quote shows that he used this imagination to kill his loneliness boredom...
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...h shows the human steadiness, belief, and will to survive. Such difficult physical, psychological, and emotional trial requires a character to sustain. Only the people with strongest will can survive; however, he or she should be ready to do things which seem to be impossible, disgusting and inacceptable for this purpose.
Works Cited
Andrew A. Brennan Analysis , Vol. 47, No. 4 (Oct., 1987), pp. 225-230 published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Analysis CommitteeArticle Stable URL;http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.taylors.edu.my/stable/3328797
Della Quercia Acopo, Rivera Ricardo. (April 20, 2013). The Marathon Runner Who Got Lost in the Sahara. Retrieved from; http://www.cracked.com/article_20367_5-insane-true stories-that-prove-humans-can-survive-anything.html
Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 2012. Print.
In Martel’s novel, “Life of Pi” the castaway Pi witnessed the horrible death of a fellow castaway within the confines of a lifeboat adrift at sea. This death was brought about by another companion from a shipwreck, but this one was not the human type of castaway. This shipwreck survivor was a tiger that went by the name of Richard Parker. By comparison in O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” Kiowa, a soldier in Vietnam, sees Lavender, a man in his platoon, suddenly get shot and killed by a random sniper.
In Daniel Wallace’s novel, Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions and Tim Burton’s film, Big Fish, the relationship between the dying protagonist, Edward Bloom and his estranged son, William Bloom, is centrally to the story in both the novel and film. Like many fathers in today's society, Edward Bloom wishes to leave his son with something to remember him by after he is dead. It is for this reason the many adventures of Edward Bloom are deeply interwoven into the core of all the various stories Edward tells to mystify his son with as a child. Despite the many issues father and son have in their tense relationship as adults, Daniel Wallace and Tim Burton’s adaptation of Wallace’s novel focalizes on the strained relationship between Edward Bloom and William Bloom. In both Wallace’s novel and Burton’s film, they effectively portray how the relationship between Edward Bloom and William Bloom is filled with bitter resentment and indifference towards each other. Only with William’s attempt to finally reconcile with his dying father and navigating through his father fantastical fables does those established feelings of apathy and dislike begin to wane. With Burton’s craftily brilliant reconstruction of Wallace’s story does the stories of Edward Bloom and his son blossom onto screen.
The human condition may contain the sense of great heights, achieving great dreams and great lives, but it also contains the hellish experience that many call the limit of man. No matter the intensity of the desire or pain, cowardice and selfishness will always creep down from its dark cave, ravaging at the man before the crossroad. As a result, more often than not, man will take the path of less resistance, aware but unaware of his weak spirit. Traveling down the road, the man will soon realize that he has lost something important: his free will. He weeps, but weeps of his weakness, his lack of strength to stand up to his desires, to fight his inner demons and cowardice, to seek the light he has always desired. He dreams shortly of what could have been, the cruelty of the double-edged sword called the human condition, then falls on his knees to become his own
Survive, to remain alive or existent, to function and prosper, to prevail. The true definition of survive, is none other than remaining alive, at all cost, people can go to lengths they thought was not possible. Some survive because maybe they have strength, smart, or just because they did what they must’ve needed to do, to prolong their hour of death, that will end their legacies.
...ction of Richard Parker kept Pi aware, by showing Pi the reality of the current situation, assisted him with making the right decisions, committing certain actions, and is his sub-consciousness, his id that fights for survival. In Martel’s Life of Pi, Pi’s coping mechanism has been proven more useful in his projection Richard Parker rather than his beliefs in his religions, which has done nothing for Pi and was useless at that time. Humans and animals are very alike in certain aspects. When it all comes down to survival, humans and animals are almost alike. The human mind brings back the inner id from the human consciousness while in drastic situations to help them cope with it in order to survive. The human psychology has a very interesting way of creating coping mechanisms.
A quick glance at Life of Pi and a reader may take away the idea that it is an easy read and a novel full of imagination, but take a Freudian view of the work and it transforms into a representation of the human psyche. Martel’s novel takes the reader on a journey with Pi as he struggles for his own survival. Pi experiences a breakdown of each component that makes up one's personality, according to Freud throughout the novel. One by one, ego and super ego both express a huge factor in Pi’s choices and emotions throughout his story. Readers are also introduced to an alternate ending to choose from.
Imagination played a large role behind the scenes in the book Life of Pi. “This was the terrible cost of Richard Parker” As the reader, this passage makes you think that Richard Parker was a burden for Pi, that there was nothing positive that came from this tremendous creature. Richard Parker was more than just an idea that Pi thought up, Richard Parker was Pi’s Conscience/himself. The first line of this passage represents imagination, since Richard Parker is Pi’s imagination it would translate to this was the terrible cost of my imagination. When Pi witnesses Richard Parker attack the cannibal he says “Something in me died then that has never come back to life” This has a more spiritual meaning than a literal meaning in the way Pi says it. This means that when he “imagines” this man being killed this shows how cruel life can be even when he looks to god for answers. The reason that Richard Parker is Pi’s imagination is because during the course of this book Richard Parker mimicked exactly what Pi did. For example the moment that they bot...
Survival is a necessity that individual needs to know and it needs to be done daily to ensure that humans are able to live on. There are many people in the world that are living well off, yet many people suffer from deadly diseases, food, and the impact from the war. In the following literature, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, The Kite Runner by Khald Hosseini, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, and “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant all show that survival is a key element. Survival is significant for us as human beings; it would is shown differently in the four literatures.
Survival is indeed a word that can change a human’s perspective on what they need to do to remain alive. In order to survive, people have been known to go to great lengths and to do things they would not ordinarily do. I have noticed this throughout my life by watching movies, and reading books. Most of the time, it is the main character who comes face to face with death, and does anything to keep themselves alive. I have set up a few great examples that show’s people in their survival situations, and what they will do to get out alive.
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.”
... itself uniquely for each person in each situation, it is clear that the human spirit has an insatiable desire to survive in any and all conditions. Each person has the fundamental intent of ultimate survival. When that survival is tested, it is the human spirit that allows people to fight in all conditions. While the spirit is not always successful in garnering that survival, it always tries in some way. It is not always easy to know how one will react when put in a life-threatening situation. But in a period like this, where people everywhere were experience a threat on their lives in some way, it is possible to truly examine the depth at which the inclination to live is embedded. Though it manifests itself uniquely for each person in each situation, it is clear that the human spirit has an insatiable desire to survive in any and all conditions.
Having just experienced the sinking of his family’s ship, and being put onto a life boat with only a hyena, Pi felt completely lost and alone. When he sees Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger from his family’s zoo, it is a familiar face to him. His initial reaction is to save the life of his familiar friend so that he may have a companion, and a protector aboard the lifeboat. Suddenly Pi realizes just what he is doing. He is saving the life of Richard Parker, by welcoming him, a 450 pound Bengal tiger, onto the small lifeboat. He experiences a change of heart when helping the tiger onto the boat. Pi realizes that he is now posing a threat on his own life. With Richard Parker on the boat, Pi is faced with not only the fight to survive stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but the fight to survive living with a meat eating tiger. The change of heart that Pi experiences might possibly mean that he is an impulsive thinker. It may mean that he often does something on impulse without thinking it through, and then later regrets his actions.
To survive is to continue to live despite dangerous situations. There are many circumstances that could threaten the survival of a person or a group of people. People have gone to great lengths in order to live one more day. Survival reminds me of a movie ,directed by Philippe Falardeau , The Good Lie.
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel was a fascinating and exciting narrative that described the journey of a young boys life starting with the formation of his beliefs moving all the way through an adventure that changed his life forever. I found it extremely engaging on both a philosophical level and a psychological level as I saw Pi, a young boy, curious about life, discover both religion and go through an extremely traumatic experience. I found Pi's devotion to God to be an uplifting example that many people throughout the world should see. Although I do believe that Pi was confused about how to best love God, I admire his efforts and believe that his dedication is sincere. I also found the psychological aspect of Pi to be almost as fascinating as religion. I could see from the beginning that Pi was quite thoughtful and always tried to think before he acted. However, what I found even more fascinating than his pre-planning cognitive abilities was how he thought when he was under great stress. Perhaps the best example of how he coped with stress was towards the end of the book when he tells what may be the true story, and we can see that he may have represented everyone as an animal in order to deal with the situation. This provides valuable insight into Pi's mind and opens a whole new area of possibilities when considering how Pi thinks. This ending leaves how Pi thinks open to interpreting which adds a intriguing aspect to the book. Beyond the religious and theoretical aspects of the book, the adventure seen kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. Every time it seemed Pi was about to die or give up hope, an astounding miracle would suddenly save him. I found the effect of these suspenseful moments to cause me to want to...