Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

Life of Pi is a novel by Yann Martel about a teenager who goes by the name of Pi Patel, who survived 227 days on a lifeboat filled with animals in the Pacific Ocean. The animals on the boat were an orangutan named Orange Juice, a hyena, a zebra, and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Near the very end of the novel, a story second story is revealed where the animals are replaced with people and the reader is left to choose which is real. I am going to justify both stories because there is clear evidence that one story is based off a religious standpoint and one story is based off an atheistic standpoint. Also, Pi’s reflection on a conversation with his teacher, Mr. Kumar, sheds some light on the situation of the two stories.

The first story, which is the majority of the book, is for religious purposes. Francis Adirubasamy says in the authors note “I have a story that will make you believe in God.”(Martel X). The reader would want to believe in the story with the animals and miracles just as religious people believe in religious books like the

The first story is very hard for Mr. Okamoto to believe which is openly revealed when he says “Mr. Patel, we don’t believe your story.”(Martel 292). Mr. Okamoto and Pi then have a discussion over if his story is true. This is the situation most atheists are in when they are presented with the idea of religion. They can’t believe it just like Mr. Okamoto. It is also hinted when Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chiba are leaving that the second story is true. Mr. Okamoto says “We’ll be careful when we drive away. We don’t want to run into Richard Parker.”(Martel 317) . Pi then replies with “Don’t worry, you won’t. He’s hiding somewhere you’ll never find him.”(Martel 317). It is a mysterious quote but it could mean that Richard Parker was never on the boat with Pi and that is why they won’t run into