Pi Religion Characteristics

Pi has many traits that tend to enhance throughout the story, but we would like to elaborate further on his religious beliefs. It would be an understatement to say that Pi is simply a religious person. Pi’s initial religion was Hinduism, but as time went on he began to practice several ‘separate’ religions. Everyone told Pi that he could only have one religion to which he countered, “Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God.” (87 Martel) At one time he asked his mother for a prayer rug and made this point, “If there’s only one nation in the sky, shouldn’t all passports be valid for it?” (93 Martel) Through all of the tragedy and sorrow that Pi had to endure, even through times of great doubt, Pi always came back to his

religions. It seems as one may say that religion was Pi’s rock, it was the rock that kept him afloat and gave him the strength to fight for life.
“From these religions he has developed a deep sense of mortality and a kindness towards all living things.” (Jonathan R.

Durden) In the first days that Pi is stranded at sea he knows that he must make a plan of what he will be doing for food when the biscuits run out. Pi realizes that he’ll need to fish to feed both Richard Parker and himself. Though it does not seem to occur to him at the time that he’ll have to kill another living creature to do so. All the brutality and murder that had played out in front of his eyes would not compare to the pain and strength it would take to kill his first fish. At first Pi was going to kill the flying fish with a hatchet but decided he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Pi decided next he would use the back of the hatchet to bash the fish’s head in, but again chose another way. Lastly, Pi decided that he would kill the fish by breaking its neck. He wept over the fish as he applied pressure and had to keep himself from stopping until he heard the cracking of the creature's neck. “I was sixteen years old, a harmless boy, bookish and religious, and now I had blood on my hands.” (230-231 Martel) While stranded at sea Pi is forced to put all his ideals behind him and fight to

survive.
While at sea, Pi comes across an island made up completely of algae. The island never likely existed and was meant as a metaphor of Pi’s religious beliefs. The island in the story acted as a safe haven where Pi had a feast, shelter, and others to surround himself with. Many religions provide food and shelter such as the island did when it provided Pi with an endless feast of algae. The island also provided him with a place to rest and protection from the formidable weather. The island also gave him the company of meerkats. The meerkats in this instance were meant to represent religious followers who provide him comfort and metaphorical warmth. The island turns carnivorous at night, at one time Pi breaks the rule and steps onto the island at night and it burns his feet. This burn represents the betrayment he feels of god through all of his ordeal. Towards the time that Pi came upon the island he had witnessed another lone survivor get killed. This turned into a feeling of betrayment for Pi by God who had allowed all of this to happen. (Suparna Vivek Gharpure)