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India religions and beliefs essays
India religions and beliefs essays
Hindu Indian Culture
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A young boy named Pi was stranded in the middle of the pacific ocean, alone except for the company of a 450 pound Bengal Tiger. Death was imminent and any chance of survival was slim; the only thing the boy had left was faith that he would make it. In the book The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, faith has always been a part of Pi’s life. When he was just a boy, he was torn over which religion he should believe: Christianity, Hinduism, or Islam. Faith came back into his life later when he was stranded out at sea and was stuck only with his belief that he could survive. Later on in his life when Pi somehow survived his adventure, everyone that heard his story didn't believe him. Pi’s belief in himself overall is how he survived his adventure. Pi’s …show more content…
His relationship with God during the sinking of the Tsimtsum is how he got through this experience unharmed, physically and mentally. One time he had a strong relationship with God was when he found the mysterious island. “Green is a lovely colour. It is the colour of Islam. It is my favorite colour.” (257) this is the first thing he said when he reached the island. Religion is always number one when it comes to Pi. He looks for religion in everything to keep him in peace, no matter the circumstance he is in peace because of his faith in his religion. Anything even color is involved in religion when it comes to Pi. “Oh, that I could be like it, rooted to the ground but with my every hand raised up to God in praise! I wept.” This other instances in the island shows that he always thanks God first. He doesn't cheer and celebrate, he gets on his knees and thanks God. He is devoted in his religion and always has faith that God will lead him to Peace. Throughout his travels he had faith that God would save him even when everything seemed hopeless. He has had faith not only during his adventures but
Stranded for 227 days at sea in a lifeboat, with no one else except an adult Bengal tiger. This is exactly what the main character Pi, in "The Life of Pi" went through. "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel is a story about a boy named Piscine Molitor Patel, an Indian boy who survives more than seven months floating on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean, with no one else but a 450-pound tiger (Cooper). Yann Martel was born on June 25, 1963, in Salamanca, Spain. His parents, Emile Martel and Nicole Perron, were both born in Canada. He spent his childhood in several different countries, including France, Mexico, the United States, Canada, and Costa Rica. As an adult, he lived in many other places but one of them was India, which may be where he got inspiration for writing “Life of Pi”. Yann Martel uses the literary elements similes and foreshadowing, to express the theme that believing in religion can give you the faith to want to survive.
Faith is defined by acquiring substantial confidence in something that cannot be explained using definite material proof. Although faith is often mentioned when speaking of religion, one can have faith in anything. In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi and John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, both authors acknowledge the importance of faith in family, friends, and oneself; however, the main focus of faith in both novels is centered on religion. Both novels emphasize that a strong faith is fundamental in overcoming both emotional and physical obstacles. In the novels Life of Pi and A Prayer for Owen Meany, this is expressed through symbolism, characterization, and plot.
His religion helped him cope with the situation he was put into. It gave him stories to believe in, and it served as a distraction for him. Then on page 217 the author writes, “I wore these spots of shine and silver like tilaks, the marks of colour that we Hindus wear on our foreheads as symbols of true divine” (217). At this point in the novel, Pi had been through a lot. His ship got wrecked, he was dealing with a power struggle between him and Richard Parker, and lastly, he had witnessed situations which no one should have to go through alone. Instead of losing hope and giving up, Pi continued to believe in his faith and continued to thrive as a person. Although in his situation, adapting to rituals would be extremely difficult, Pi altered it in order for it to be easier for him, “I practised religious rituals that I adapted to the circumstance’s” (231) If it was not for his religion, Pi would not have been able to handle the ship getting
In the book the Life of Pi by Yann Martel, religion plays an important role in Pi’s life. When on the lifeboat, Pi used his faith as a way to motivate himself to live. Without his religious beliefs, there is no way to guarantee he would have made it off the lifeboat.
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.
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.
They brought me comfort that is certain. But it was hard, oh, it was hard. Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love.” (Yann Martel, Life of Pi, 231) At a certain point in his journey, Pi started to question God because he could not understand why God was not listening to his prayers and in reality if God was with him, how was God letting him go through all this pain. He also started to learn that he could not be completely faithful to what each religion stands for. Pi had to kill a fish and he felt very guilty and sad about doing so but he knew he had to put aside his Hindu beliefs to survive. He had to adapt which consequently added more disbelief into Pi’s head. However his adaptations were not just ignoring rules but it was also him trying to adapt to figure out a way how he could oblige to each religion 's way of communicating with God (Praying). For Islam, he had to figure out which way Mecca was so that he could pray, solitary masses without priests and communion hosts for Christianity, and darshans without murtis for Hinduism. That being said to add more fire to the flame, right before he fully lost belief he found an island, he assumed he was imaging it but after hanging around in the algae-filled land he thought of as a reward. He starts to enjoy his time and eats some of the algae and finds some fresh water. Just as his faith was being restored the island turned out to be a carnivorous island and loses faith once again. He turns to atheism and realizes that the only way to live is if he starts to use science. Despite his doubts, he still continued to follow his religions. He mentions that “The blackness would stir and eventually go away,
Life of Pi begins with an author’s note in which Martel describes being told by the character Mamaji that Pi has “‘a story that will make you believe in God’” (ix). This essentially sets up the basis for the entire theme of the novel. The main character, Pi, claims to practice three religions simultaneously: Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam (Martel 81). Much of Pi’s explanation of his own childhood consists of his own religious journeys. He begins with an explanation of how his aunt introduced him to Hinduism upon ...
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.
In the novel Life of Pi, the author Yann Martel does state that the novel will have a happy ending but when looking more deeply into this idea, it shows that the novel did not in fact have a happy ending for Pi. This can be proven from the fact that all his loved ones left him, from his suffering and the experience traumatized him.
Pi Patel’s parents are scared of the water, which is ironic because he is named after a pool. His full name, Piscine Molitor Patel, was given to him to his uncle who is a fantastic swimmer. Pi is the first one in his family to learn how to swim at the age of seven. Pi grows up to be very religiously curious, and picks up multiple faiths, Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. “‘He seems to be attracting religions the way a dog attracts fleas,’ he pursued. ‘I don’t understand it. We’re a modern Indian family;’” (p. 74) This quote is spoken by his dad about Pi’s many religious faiths, as if they’re a bad thing or as if religion in general is outdated. His many faiths represent passion and openness and a way to let his pureness shine through. The pool is a body of water, which symbolically represents life, rebirth and baptism in the religious sense. A reader can imply that Pi’s family isn’t religious, but it isn’t known if they are atheist. Pi believes that being agnostic, not knowing if there is a God or not, is worse than being religious or atheist because when you’re agnosti...
The ability to alter the way we do things to make ourselves more suitable for a situation is an essential characteristic of all life on Earth. Changes made to our lives, whether they are consciously made or not, are always stimulated by some external factor. This is exemplified in the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel in which Richard Parker becomes a quintessential animal and plays a key role in the survival of Piscine “Pi” Patel. An examination of Richard Parker's behavioral changes and his interactions with the environment will reveal that he symbolizes adaptation.
Once, Pi almost gives up on the sea, but prayers let him take heart of grace again: “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 far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen every day. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, as long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen.’” (Martel p.186). When Pi stays on the lifeboat and hopes for being rescued, he keeps busy with daily rituals. Pi prays more than he does anything else on the raft. He considers prayers just as important as any other physical preparation. Religion is Pi’s emotional anchor, it gives him the sense of belief and hope for survival. Therefore, religion is significant in Pi’s
In conclusion, the main idea in Life of Pi is that having the will to survive is a key component to survival. The three ways this is shown is through symbolism of the colour orange, having religion on the protagonist’s side and the thirst and hunger experienced by the protagonist. Things do not always happen the way one would want them to happen: “Things didn’t turn out the way they were supposed to, but what can you do? You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it” (101) Faith determines ones destiny and nothing can be changed about that, one can live their life to the fullest and enjoy every moment and not regret it. No matter what faith throws at one, as long as they have the will to survive they can pull through anything.
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.