Life Of Pi Religion Essay

679 Words2 Pages

Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam, Oh My!
In Yann Martel’s story, Life of Pi, Martel presents the main character as a boy who acts willingly to retain his faith no matter what gets thrown into his path. Piscine Molitor Patel’s faith endures tests not only in his struggle on sea, but throughout his entire journey of life. Pi’s belief in three religions sustains him with enough hope to endure his journey as he makes clear that one faith cannot stand sufficient alone.
The loyalty Pi shows towards three controversial religions cause problems to emerge when his teachers find out about his involvement in each one of these. Demanded to choose only one religion, Pi responds by saying “Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love …show more content…

Through Islamic beliefs, Pi is able to find companionship with Richard Parker, a Royal Bengal tiger. Richard Parker displays that Pi does not stand alone in the position he finds himself in. Instead of going completely insane having nobody human present, Pi’s mind always remains occupied finding means of survival not only for himself, but for Richard Parker as well.
When Pi finally returns back to society after times of struggle, interviewers question his journey on sea. After hearing Pi’s story, the interviewers say, “I’m sorry to say it so bluntly...you don’t really expect us to believe you...These things don’t exist.” (Pg. 294) Pi responds back to this by saying that the interviewers have never seen anything like it before, which makes such a remarkable detail unrealistic. They choose to believe in factuality than considering the possibility of such story.
Pi’s openness in his religions lead him to find equality in three different religions. The variety of religions show evidently throughout his journey and have changed throughout the entire novel. He starts off as a loyal believer wanting to find a way to love God, to a boy whose faith hinders, losing hope, and finally to a survivor who evolves his faith more stronger than ever before. Without these multiple religions, he’d have lost hope and possibly have changed the outcome of his

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