Religion often enriches people’s lives and impacts their attitudes towards the world. Everyone in the world may believe in gods, and whether they believe or not, miracles do happen. In the book “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel, multiple religions inspire the protagonist Pi as a child and ultimately save his life as a castaway after a shipwreck in the Pacific Ocean. As Pi is introduced to Hinduism, Christianity, and Islamic in his early childhood, his mind becomes preoccupied with love, compassion, and gratitude. The elements of love, compassion, and gratitude support this spiritual young man to endure and triumph over the chaos left by the aftermath of the shipwreck. Overall, religion plays a significant role in Pi’s devastating journey by providing …show more content…
Religious beliefs offer hope to Pi. In the story, Pi links the details of his life as a castaway to his gods. For example, at the time he sees his beloved orangutan, Orange Juice, advancing towards the lifeboat on a pile of bananas, which he regards the scene as the “Virgin Mary”(p123) coming in a “…halo of light.”(p123). Pi is relieved when he connects the scene with Orang Juice, who is a family member in Pi’s mind, to his own Christian belief, which produces a stronger desire to live through the upcoming desperation. Furthermore, Pi relates the orange colour, the Hindu colour of “survival”(p153), to the inside of the lifeboat, the tarpaulin, lifejacket, lifebuoy and other emergency items to his Hindu beliefs in order to survive. Pi also “evaluates”（p231) himself when hopelessness approaches, which he points randomly at items on the lifeboat and establish them as god’s possession. For example, he will “point at the sky”(p232) and shout, “ THIS IS GOD’S EAR!” (p232) in order to remind himself that “ The blackness would stir and eventually go away…”(p232) and “…god would remain, a shining point of light in his heart.” (p232) “Blackness”(p232) is referred to as despair as “a shining point” stands for hope and faith. Additionally, …show more content…
As a Hindu, Pi is a vegetarian; therefore, dismembering the bodies of sea creatures is proved to be a challenge and a fear for him. However, Pi faces an even greater fear, starvation. The first time he murders a fish on the lifeboat, guilt runs over him; nevertheless, he dismisses the guilt through appreciation to Lord Vishnu, the supreme god of Hinduism, by shouting,“ Once you saved the world by taking the form of a fish,” (p204) and “ …you have saved me by taking the form of a fish.”(p204/205) It is Pi’s religious beliefs that give him the inner strength to face the difficulties during his voyage. At the time his life is threatened by the beasts on the lifeboat and in the sea, he prays to all his gods from Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam by saying, “ Jesus, Mary, Muhammad and Vishnu!” (p166) or just simply，“God preserve me!”(p155). After receiving mental relief from the gods, Pi is able to take actions to counteract the danger, which he develops plans to establish his superiority over Richard Parker. For example, he trains Richard Parker like a circus animal by blowing his whistle as loudly as he can. He also makes strong eye contacts with Richard Parker during the tense moments. Generally, Religion helps Pi to abandon his vegetarian status and to gain superiority over Richard Parker during his
Martel introduces multiple implicit symbols throughout his novel that, though are able to be interpreted in multiple ways depending on one’s perspective, highlight the importance of religion. When confronted with the ferocity of tiger aboard his lifeboat, Pi must flee to his raft handcrafted with remnants of life jackets and oars gathered from the boat. This raft may be symbolically interpreted as a representation of his faith throughout his journey. After a dauntless attempt at training Richard Parker in order to “carve out” his territory, Pi is knocked off the lifeboat into shark infested waters with a great blow: “I swam for the raft in frantic strokes... I reached the raft, let out all the rope and sat with my arms wrapped around my knees and my head down, trying to put out the fire of fear that was blazing within me. I stayed on the raft for the rest of the day and the whole night” (Martel 228). Like the raft, Pi’s faith, constructed of portions of three separate religions, trails diligently behind his survival needs and instincts –symbolized by Richard Parker and the...
The projection of Richard Parker helps Pi to be aware of this current situation, which was him being stranded in the ocean on a lifeboat in comparison to his beliefs in his religions. His fear towards Richard Parker was one of the reasons of his survival. Pi says, “Fear and reason fought over answer. Fear said yes. He was a fierce, 450-pound carnivore. Each of his claws was sharp as a knife” (Martel 108). Pi describes Richard Parker as an extremely dangerous, fearful, and vicious predator. This causes Pi keep aware because he is on a boat with a deadly carnivore. He tries to keep awake at night while being on the lifeboat with Richard Parker from the fear of being attacked and eaten by the Bengal tiger. However, since Richard Parker is Pi’s id, it was actually him keeping himself aware and alive. Pi states, “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” (Martel 164). This shows how Richard Parker occupies Pi’s mind and influences his thoughts about the tragic incident that has happened. The will to live for Pi is no longer his family, but Richard Parker, his id. Richard Parker taught Pi how to survive based on his instincts an...
He also realizes that continuing his strict vegetarian diet will not give him the sufficient amount of nutrients needed for survival. Pi ultimately has to resort to eating meat. Eating the fish was not the problem, killing the fish is what stood strictly against his morals. Pi states, “ I wept heartily over this poor little deceased soul. It was the first sentient being I have ever killed. I was now a killer[…] I never forgot to include this fish in my prayers”(Martel 183). It is clearly shown that killing went against what Pi stood for. Pi states how “He will never forget this fish in his Prayers”(Martel 183), which is quite symbolic in that he would never forget that first fish. After this event, Pi killed many other sea creatures, but the first fish he killed was the largest sin he had. He felt the need to constantly pray to his Gods for a sense of relief for committing his sins. Pi quickly adapts to his new lifestyle of eating meat. Even though his morals see this as wrong, he quickly realizes that it is necessary for survival. “It is simple and brutal: a person can get used to anything, even to killing”(Martel 185). Understanding that killing
At the start of novel, and when Pi is a child, he is extremely religious. He devotes his life to loving God, and even practices three religions to do so. He practices Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. His explanation for practicing all three is that according to Bapu Gandhi, “‘All religions are true’”(69). Pi explains that he practices all three religions because, “[he] just wants to love God”(69). Pi’s major religious values and faith in God continue to shape his life daily, until the shipwreck leaves him stranded on the Pacific, with a tiger for 227 days. Although Pi still remains religious and continues to praise God most days, the shipwreck does change Pi’s religious morals. Richard Parker is the factor that begins this change in Pi, because Pi knows that in order to survive he will have to fish to provide for Richard Parker if he wants to avoid being eaten himself. Fishing, however goes against the religious practice of Hinduism, which requires vegetarianism. Also, killing animals goes against Pi’s whole religious morals to not hurt another living being. Pi says the idea of killing a fish, and of “beating a soft living head with a hammer [is] simply too much”(183). It goes against everything he believes in. So, he decides to instead cover to fish’s head and break its neck (183). He explains that, “he [gives] up a number of times.
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.”
“The presence of God is the finest of rewards.” (Yann Martel, Life of Pi 63) In Yann Martel’s riveting novel “Life of Pi” The basic plot of survival unfolds, however, this essay will show how the hidden yet the dominant theme of religion throughout the story is what helped the main character Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi) survive.
Pi turns to God and says aloud, “‘Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die.’” (Martel, 148). Instead of giving up, he used a miracle that God gives him and turns it into a routine. His belief of God watching over him gave him a lot of motivation Pi explains his struggles when he says “You might think I lost all hope at one point. I did. And as a result, I perked up and felt much better. We see it in sports all the time don’t we?” (Martel 134). At this moment, Pi decides to disregard Richard Parker and focus on his thirst. He thinks back to how when Jesus was crucified, that his only complaint was thirst. This gave Pi a reason to help himself by letting go of his worrying. As he slowly becomes more depressed, Pi comes to the realization that “God’s hat was always unraveling. God’s pants were falling apart. God’s cat was a constant danger. God’s ark was a jail. God’s wide acres were slowly killing me. God’s ear didn’t seem to be listening.” (Martel, 209). Whenever Pi starts to upset about his situation, he yells about how everything symbolizes God. Although sometimes it did not help, Pi says that he will continue to hope and love
Pi is a young man from India, who, like any other teenager growing up, is at something of a crossroads, trying to discover a grand purpose and meaning to life. Through his family and everyday life, Pi is exposed to four different religions during his childhood: Hinduism, Catholicism, Islam, and to an extent, Atheism. After being exposed to the three religions and his father urging him towards Atheism and rational though, Pi comes to the conclusion that he, “just wants to love God”, showing the audience that Pi derives his understanding of the world through God, and his idea of God through each religion. However, Pi’s complacent views of the world are challenged during his meeting with Richard Parker. In this scene, Pi seeks to discover Richard Parker’s soul, believing God will allow him to form a spiritual connection with the tiger. The connection begins to form, as close up shots of both Pi’s and the tiger’s eyes
First of all, religion is a key component in Pi’s survival because it leads Pi to believe that he has to coexist with other creatures and they are all one entity. When Pi struggles with the storm on the lifeboat, he has the opportunity to abandon Richard Parker, but he doesn’t: “I could see his head. He was struggling to stay at the surface of the water. ‘Jesus, Mary, Muhammad and Vishnu, how good to see you, Richard Parker! Don’t give up, please. Come to the lifeboat. Do you hear this whistle? TREEEEE! TREEEEE! TREEEEE! You heard, right. Swim! Swim!’” (Martel p.121). Although Richard Parker
In the beginning of the book, Pi has a strong love and a deep belief in God. Later in the book, but in this chapter Pi begins to doubt God. After Pi has been floating in the lifeboat for about a week, he is experiencing extreme hunger, blisters, swollen ankles and great physical suffering. Then
The only possible way to survive a 227-day odyssey on a lifeboat with a tiger, hyena, orangoutang, and a zebra is to maintain an ideal balance of faith and reason. Yann Martel dissects this balance in his novel, Life of Pi. Throughout the exhausting journey of a young man named Piscine Molitor Patel, Martel tactfully displays the importance of God in a world that focuses on reality and rationality. In doing so, he provides justification to questions like: “Why can’t reason give greater answers? Why can we throw a question further than we can pull in an answer? Why such a vast net if there’s so little fish to catch?” (Martel 98) Though Martel is a “secular writer with sympathies for the religious imagination,” the incredible Life of Pi encourages
Pi maintains his religious beliefs while on the life boat through his daily prayers. He takes time aside each day to say the prayers that he always would say. In one instance, he turns where he believes Mecca is located, and prays his traditional prayers towards Mecca. Pi also often states that he will include specific animals in his prayers, such as the zebra aboard his lifeboat, and the first fish that he ever killed. With Pi keeping his ritual prayers going, it helped him to survive.
His belief was what kept him grounded in his time of despair and hopelessness, helping him to push through and continue to survive. While on the lifeboat while Pi did sometimes put his faith and beliefs on the backburner, he did always come back to them. Such as when his food began to run out he had to kill a fish. The first time he killed a fish he was in a state of hysteria. His emotions ran rampant, not only having to kill a living thing but eat it as well did not come easily to the vegetarian Pi. He said, “I was sixteen years old, a harmless boy, bookish and religious, and now I had blood on my hands. It’s a terrible burden to carry” (183). However, as time went on and the boy became more desperate, he killed easily and clinically, without hesitation and only thinking of his survival. He says, “I stuck finger into eyes, jammed hands into gills, crushed soft stomachs with knees, bit tails with my teeth--I did whatever necessary to hold a fish down until I could reach for the hatchet to chop its head off” (195). Even though at times Pi had to give up some of his beliefs to survive at the time, he never truly gave up. He always came back to
The colour orange can symbolize many things such as happiness, success, determination but in Life of Pi, it represents the survival. Pi has to suffer through many things such as living in the ocean, finding food, making sure he is protected from the sun, and most of all living with a Bengal tiger, all of this to make it through until he finds land. Firstly, there are many things inside the boat that are orange that represent survival: “It seems orange- such a nice Hindu colour- is the colour of survival because the whole inside of the boat and the tarpaulin and the life jackets and the lifebuoy and the oars and most every other significant object aboard was orange. Even the plastic, beadless whistles were orange” (Martel 153). All of these orange obje...