Religion Triumphs Over Science in Life of Pi

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Recommended: Bonds between humans and animals

George W. Bush once said, “I think you can judge from somebody's actions a kind of a stability and sense of purpose perhaps created by strong religious roots. I mean, there's a certain patience, a certain discipline, I think, that religion helps you achieve” (“Religion”). This quote means that religion can affect people in their attitudes in daily life and help them to achieve success in life. The novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel portrays how religion is important and helps the protagonist of the story, Piscine Molitor Patel or Pi to survive during 227 days of difficulties and sufferings at the sea after a shipwreck. He encounters so many afflictions at the sea and time after time, his faith is tested. Pi is able to survive because he is able to forge a deep relationship with God. Moreover, Pi’s undying hope and faith in God enables him to survive all the ordeals. Thus, religion plays an important role in helping Pi to get through all of his sufferings and finally be saved even though it is undeniable that reason or science also plays its role.

By establishing a close relationship with God, Pi is able to endure his difficult moments at sea. Relationship means “the way in which two people or two groups feel about each other and behave towards each other” (“Relationship”). Pi is left alone with Richard Parker, an adult Royal Bengal Tiger in the tarpaulin. The presence of the tiger is seen as a symbolic presence and figure of God. At one point of the story, back in India, Pi is taught by his father to fear the tigers. This means that Pi should fear God. At the sea, although he distant himself from the tarpaulin and stay in the raft, he still ties his raft to the tarpaulin where Richard Parker is. This is because Pi knows that he has ...

... middle of paper ...

...andhi once said, “Religion is a matter of the heart. No physical inconvenience can warrant abandonment of one's own

religion” (“Religion”).

Works Cited

"Faith." Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English. 7th ed. Oxford: Oxford

UP, 2005. 527. Print.

Good News Bible: with Deuterocanonical Books/Apocrypha. [Mumbai]: St. Pauls, 2001.

Print.

"Hope." Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English. 7th ed. Oxford: Oxford

UP, 2005. 720. Print.

Martel, Yann. Life of Pi: a Novel. Edinburgh: Canongate, 2008. Print.

"Prayer Secret #1 - Your Personal Relationship With God." Bible-Knowledge.com. n.d. Web.

23 Mar. 2011.

"Relationship - Definition from Longman English Dictionary Online." Longman English

Dictionary Online. n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.

"Religion Quotations - BrainyQuote." Famous Quotes at BrainyQuote. n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.

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