Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

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Surviving a tragic situation is a true test of mental and physical strength. It is mainly the use of inner strength to conquer various obstacles through a journey that allow many people to survive. The novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel allows readers to imagine a young boy trying to survive a shipwreck using everything that he learns and experiences. Piscine Patel survives many things such as the lifeboat, dehydration, drowning and the island. The personality traits of Piscine Patel are what enable him to survive and the three most important character traits he possess are hope, intelligence and perseverance. Firstly, the character trait hope is what allows Piscine Patel to transform the negative situation of the shipwreck into a positive situation …show more content…

This creates a form of hope for Piscine as he is able to survive longer now that he has a greater quantity of food as he is surrounded by an abundant amount of sea life in the water. Piscine grows up in a Hindu household, later decides to explore different religions such as Islam and Christianity. Piscine is so enchanted by the faiths and goes to visit a Christian priest, Muslim imam and Hindu pandit and later he practices the rituals of all three faiths. Piscine’s Parents find out that he is following all three faiths at once and Piscine must choose one faith. Piscine does not choose one single religion as he simply replies “I just want to love God.” (Martel, 76) It is Piscine’s idea of loving God that helps Piscine overcome the challenges of being alone and that there someone to call on for help when stranded in the middle of the ocean. Piscine practices the three different faiths on the lifeboat, as his daily agenda consist of praying, Piscine says “I kept myself busy. That was one key to my survival." Praying also forms Piscine comfort and peace that God is listening to him and Piscine hopes that God might answer his prayers. These two ideas of being busy and forming comfort are very important for …show more content…

Piscine’s parents work in their family owned zoo. Piscine is very curious and observant and loves to watch the animals get trained, fed and when they sleep. Piscine knew much more about animals than just an average human. This allowed him use his knowledge that he gains from experiences at the zoo to survive on the lifeboat. An example of an important lesson he learns as a child is when his father takes the whole family to the tiger gate and his father tells him that the tiger has been starved for three days and then the zookeeper releases a got in the tiger’s cage. The goat died suddenly because it becomes the tiger’s meal. This lesson was to show Piscine and his brother that some animals are not to play with and that a tiger is very dangerous. This was a very important reminder for Piscine because most animals are dangerous they can either injure a person or kill them so never try to provoke them. Piscine was reminded of this lesson when he first lands on the lifeboat that he should be afraid of the hyena and stay out of his way because his father said “they have the strongest jaws in nature….They’ll start eating you alive.” (Martel, 40). Piscine also knows what type of dietary restrictions each animal has which animals are alphas and omegas. Also the key features each animal possess to survive like

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