The Unusual Religious Convictions of Pi Patel in Martel’s novel, Life of Pi

At a very young age, Pi Patel, the main character in Martel’s novel, Life of Pi was introduced to religion. Unlike the typical child, Pi had experiences in his life that made him believe in certain religions. By the time he was a teenager he practiced Christianity, Islamic, and Hinduism faith and had no doubt that was what he was meant to be doing. He began to be judged by practicing three religions at once. An example of this is when his father would say that it was just as bad to dabble in multiple religions than to not believe in any. Both his father and the religious leaders agreed Pi needed to be faithful to one in order to be accepted. This is not what Pi wanted, and ultimately stayed true to the morals he had that all religion was true. He continued following those religions against his surrounding judgments and that was the first “test of faith” “that Martel focuses on throughout the book. Pi believed in “the better story” to best aid him in his childhood to make him feel safe against life’s cruelty. (e.i. being bullied)

As Pi’s journey from India to Canada due to his family’s move began, he was hesitant of leaving his homeland and would soon be in a whole part of the world. Pi’s true test of faith is when he finds himself stranded on a lifeboat--witnessing death, experiencing starvation, and trying to keep faith when all hope is lost. Whether Pi witnessed a Zebra being eaten alive, or a Japanese sailor slowly suffering due to injury, the circumstances that surrounded him could lead any religious person to go against their beliefs and think, “how could there be a God if he is letting this happen?” Pi was not one of those people and again continued to pray, thank, and keep all his faith with God and practice his religions. Pi is no longer surrounded by religious leaders or family members since he is now on a lifeboat and no longer has anyone telling him that practicing multiple religions is wrong, however, now his challenged due to various other circumstances.

When Pi soon ends up with just himself and Richard Parker (the Bengal tiger) on the lifeboat, he begins to depend on Richard Parker to survive. He needs something to keep him sane and to entertain himself. Whether this tiger is a figment of Pi’s imagination or he is truly trapped on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic with only a tiger to keep him company; he has little chance to survive and actually has to go against his morals of not eating meat.