In the readings Life of Pi by Yann Martel and “The Story of Keesh it is explained what they do to survive but not necessarily how they get the feeling to survive. They go through aching pain in these stories and still manage to work hard to do what they need to do to survive. In Life of Pi and “The Story of Keesh” the idea of survival in extreme environments is communicated through the character’s intelligence and through the emotions for their loved ones. In Life of Pi, Pi is desperate to see his family and live another day and this helps him get through this situation and makes him use all he has, including his intelligence, to survive. Pi feels like he has nothing to lose and thinks that gambling his life is worth satisfying his body’s …show more content…
needs. This is revealed in Life of Pi, it says “And so I pushed aside all thoughts of Richard Parker and fearlessly went exploring for fresh water “(Martel 81). Pi’s action seems to make sense because if he had never got the fresh water he would have never survived. To survive you need to use your mind and be resourceful. Pi uses his skills to survive in the reading by opening a can of water an unusual way because there isn’t a can opener, this is told in the story “Holding the can with both of my hands, I sharply brought it up against a hook. A good dint. I did it again” (Martel 87). Pi seems desperate at this point to quench his thirst and finds a way to do it. To survive in a harsh environment you need to use your knowledge also. Pi’s knowledge gave him an advantage and benefited the situation he was in. According to Life of Pi it says “According to the instructions, each 500-gram carton was supposed to last one survivor three days. That meant I had food rations to last me-31x3-93 days! The instructions also suggested survivors restrict themselves to half a liter of water every twenty-four hours. I counted the cans of water. There were 124. Each contained half a liter. So I had water to rations to last me 124 days” (Martel 91). Pi plans out for the future so that he can survive and his knowledge gives him a big boost to keep on living. In “The Story of Keesh”, Keesh feels like he needs to help his mother survive and this makes him more ambitious to go and get the meat.
Since his father is not there he has to step up to the plate to protect his mother. Keesh is inspired by his dad who was a hunter to go hunt for his mother and wants to prove the council wrong. In the article “The Story of Keesh” it says “I, too, his son, shall go hunt the meat that I eat” (London 61). This describes how his father was also an inspiration to him. Keesh was very clever and shrewd went he went hunting. According to the reading the author says “One takes a small chunk of blubber, thus, and thus makes it hollow.Then into the hollow goes the whalebone, so, tightly coiled, and another piece of blubber fitted over the whalebone. After that it is put outside where it freezes into a little round ball. The bear swallows the little round ball, the blubber melts, the whalebone with its sharp ends out straight, the bear gets sick” (London 73). Keesh uses a unique type of way to hunt animals and it is far from what the other men of the village do. This explains how he uses his mind to kill the bear and get meat for his tribe and mother. Keesh’s village also uses an intelligent strategy to get meat for their village. For example, in the “Story of Keesh” it says “Go, ye men, with the dogs and sledges, and take my trail for the better part of a day’s travel… “ “Never does he take a dog with him, and dogs are such great help, too.” (London
65). This shows also how the village was also brilliant and this could’ve helped Keesh create the idea of his strategy. In Life of Pi and “The Story of Keesh” the idea of survival in extreme environments is communicated through the character’s intelligence and through the emotions for their loved ones. This matters because without this will to survive the people would become hopeless and desperate, and after becoming hopeless they would probably give up and die.
The demand to survive in an extreme environment encourages certain individuals to proceed to live their life despite the hardships they may face. In the novels, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, and Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the individuals must discover what it takes to obtain the will to survive in these extreme environments they are presented with. Thus, resulting in comparisons between their mental states (internal challenges), and contrasts between their physical states (external challenges) by Louie Zamperini and Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi).
In conclusion, this is why I believe the book “Life of PI” is a story about a hero’s journey in the book. Pi is thrown into the situation without doing anything wrong. Pi doesn’t deserve this, infact he is a bright and smart kid as mentioned in earlier pages from the book. You want Pi to live, mainly because Pi doesn’t deserve to die. This, in the end, is why I believe Pi’s journey of survival in the harsh Pacific Ocean is a hero’s journey type of
Pi miraculous journey was as emotionally draining as physical. Pi animal story gives great insight of his spiritual journey whereas the human story was gruesome, harsh and straight to the point. “I was giving up. I would have given up – if a voice hadn 't made itself heard in my heart. The voice said, "I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so
In drastic situations, human psychology uses coping mechanisms to help them through it. In the novel, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Pi’s coping mechanism is his religions and his projection of Richard Parker. Martel’s Life of Pi shows how the projection of Richard Parker played a greater role in keeping Pi alive in comparison to his beliefs in his religions. During the period in which Pi was stranded on the lifeboat, Richard Parker kept Pi aware, helped Pi make the right decisions, and was Pi’s sub-consciousness.
Survival, something we hear almost daily in TV, movies and shows but we never realize what survival truly implies, what it truly requires of someone. Survival is a feat humans have been accomplishing for many hundreds of thousands of years but in this age we are starting to forget what survival truly means and what it requires from a person. Most of us may not put much thought on exactly survival is we just know that it means to try to stay alive but that is far from the full definition. There are many hundreds of books in which discuss the requirements of survival such as Is Survival Selfish? or in a book which the main character has to survive challenging obstacles such as The Hunger Games, and Night. Throughout these books we get to see the main characters survive several horrifying concentration camps or battle arenas thanks to the strength they had to get back up, determination to keep them fighting even when it seemed that they lost and the resilience to survive the
In the book “Life of Pi” the protagonist, Piscine Molitor, “Pi” Patel who is the only human survivor, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. He later then survives a shipwreck after 227 days and was stranded on a boat in the ocean with a tiger named Richard Parker. Pi’s isolation allows him to gain faith in himself, and trust himself to take care of both him and Richard Parker. Pi also learned to have faith that he would be saved. In a way Lt. Jimmy Cross and Pi both come together because of the way they think, but come apart because of how they think. Everyday Pi is able to get up everyday faithfully thinking that one of those days someone will come and rescue him. Also, the tiger, Richard Parker is an inspiration to Pi to get up and get going. So is Martha to Cross. Pi and Cross have both dealt with pain and suffering. Later in the book RP dies and left Pi with so many unanswered questions and doubts. “I still cannot understand how he could abandon me so unceremoniously, without any sort of goodbye, without looking back even once” (Martel, 7). He says, “that pain is like an ax that chops at my heart.” (Martel, 7). In The Things They Carried, O’Brien talks about how Lt. Cross and other members of the platoon were thinking about Lavender’s death. Because of Lavender’s passing, Cross reached into his rucksack and he got Martha’s letters and two
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.
“You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” Adapting to a new situation or experience like violent crashing waves can be difficult. Nevertheless, a person needs to learn how to surf in order to outlast the pounding waves. In a similar fashion, individuals need to learn how to adapt to a challenging situation in order to survive. This idea of the significance of adapting to new situations is often explored in literature. In the novel, Life of Pi, Yann Martel makes powerful use of character development to suggest that individuals may be able to adapt to situations in life through a sense of determination, or through denying reality and using their imagination instead.
The novel, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, talks about a sixteen-year old man named Pi Patel, who unbelievably survives a dreadful shipwreck after 227 days with the animals in a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean. Different ideas and themes in the book can be found in which the readers can gain an understanding about. The author communicated to the reader by using an ample amount of symbolisms to talk about the themes. The main themes of this novel are religion and faith. His religion and him being faithful have helped him throughout the journey, and this eventually led to an incredible precedent.
Yann Martel’s “Life of Pi” shows all three of the main elements of a hero’s journey: the departure, initiation and the return, helping the story to greatly resemble Joseph Campbell’s structure of a hero’s journey. Through the trials Pi has to face, he proves himself to be a true hero. He proves himself, not just while trapped on the lifeboat with Richard Parker, but also before the sinking of the Tsimtsum. His achievement to fulfill the heroic characteristics of Campbell’s model are evident as he goes though the three stages.
Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, is a fictional novel written in 2001 that explores the primacy of survival by employing symbolism, foreshadowing and motifs. This story follows the life of the protagonist, Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel, as he embarks on his journey as a castaway. After boarding the Tsimtsum which carries Pi and his family along with a menagerie of animals, an abysmal storm capsizes the ship leaving Pi as the only survivor, though he is not alone. The great Bengal tiger, Richard Parker, also survives the shipwreck and during the 227 days that Pi and Richard Parker are stranded at sea together, the two must learn to coexist and trust one another for survival. Through Pi and Richard Parker’s struggles to remain alive, Martel explores the primal idea of survival by employing literary techniques.
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.
People don't truly accept life for what it is until they've actually tasted adversity and went through those misfortunes and suffering. We are put through many hardships in life, and we learn to understand and deal with those issues along the way. We find that life isn't just about finding one's self, but about creating and learning from our experiences and background. Adversity shapes what we are and who we become as individuals. Yann Martel's Life of Pi shows us that adverse situations help shape a person's identity and play a significant role in one's lief by determining one's capabilities and potential, shaping one's beliefs and values, and defining the importance and meaning of one's self.
Imagine being stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in a lifeboat, not alone but with some carnivorous animals, as company. The chances of survival do not seem so high, but when one has the will to survive, they can do anything to attain it. Pi Patel and his family are on their way to Canada from Pondicherry, India, when their cargo ship the Tsimtsum sinks. Pi is not the only survivor of the ship, along with him is a hyena, an injured zebra, an orangutan and a 450-pound orange Bengal tiger. Pi travels across the Pacific Ocean in only a lifeboat, with food dwindling quickly, he needs to find land and most of all survive the voyage. In Life of Pi; Yann Martel develops the idea that having the will to survive is a crucial key to survival; this is demonstrated through symbolism of the colour orange, having religion on the protagonist’s side and the thirst and hunger experienced by the protagonist.