“The presence of God is the finest of rewards.” (Yann Martel, Life of Pi 63) In Yann Martel’s riveting novel “Life of Pi” The basic plot of survival unfolds, however, this essay will show how the hidden yet the dominant theme of religion throughout the story is what helped the main character Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi) survive. “Religion is that system of activities and beliefs directed toward that which is perceived to be of sacred value and transforming power.” (James Livingston) In the story “Life of Pi”, the main character Pi practices 3 religions all at once. (Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism) Although the 3 are very different from each other, Pi ignores the clashing views and finds coexistence and equal love for them. Pi born …show more content…
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,
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.
There are many conventional methods to coping with one’s fears but the most effective is by facing it. In the novel, Life of Pi, the main character, Pi, is one of astonishment; even through the darkest points in his life, he is still able to somehow remain both faithful and hopeful. Pi clings to his religious faith as a way of coping with his fears as opposed to acknowledging conventional methods. He is able to do so through praying, storytelling and various interpretations.
‘Charlotte Innes describes Life of Pi as "a religious book that makes sense to a nonreligious person"’ (Stephens, "Feeding Tiger”). Life of Pi concerns the animation of Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi), an Indian young man growing up in Pondicherry in the 1970s. Pi’s father is the owner of the zoological garden at the Pondicherry Botanical Garden, and the family lives within the blissful, conservatory peace of the zoo grounds until at last, in 1977, the political situation in India forced them to sell off their animals and land and move to Canada. On their way to Toronto, their ship--a Japanese loading ship carrying things and animals, from the Pondicherry zoo--sinkhole, and all members of the Patel family, excluding Pi, are doomed at sea (Floating 1). Yann Martel utilizes faith to decide which story of Pi's survival on the lifeboat to believe is true.
Pi has many traits that tend to enhance throughout the story, but we would like to elaborate further on his religious beliefs. It would be an understatement to say that Pi is simply a religious person. Pi’s initial religion was Hinduism, but as time went on he began to practice several ‘separate’ religions. Everyone told Pi that he could only have one religion to which he countered, “Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God.” (87 Martel) At one time he asked his mother for a prayer rug and made this point, “If there’s only one nation in the sky, shouldn’t all passports be valid for it?” (93 Martel) Through all of the tragedy and sorrow that Pi had to endure, even through times of great doubt, Pi always came back to his
...e of the norm, realizes that all religions are one, all religions are equal, all religions, albeit believing and worshipping various Gods, all share one outcome, and one universal force. Life of Pi not only retells the story of a young boy, but also holds a strong theory that could easily change our world. If we as individuals in the twenty-first century realized that we truly aren’t so different, would the Jews have been persecuted? Would the Baha’i people of Iran face unjust racism? If our world sat down and read Life of Pi, many religious persecutions would not have occurred. Our world would be a safe, uninhibited world; people would not be separated by beliefs, but united by religion. When Yann Martel decided to write the mystery that is Life of Pi, he not only inscribed a tale of a young boy, but a philosophy that has the potential to be our world’s motto.
From the beginning of the novel it is pretty clear that religion is a major issue in the life of Pi Patel. “I have kept up what some people would consider my strange religious practices”(3). However, when the Christian and Islamic faiths are presented to him, he can’t decide which practice he wants to call his own. In fact, he wants to know why can’t he be all three of them. The reason Pi can’t decide on which religious practice he will be ultimately faithful to is because he notice so man similarities in the three of them. Mainly the Christian and Islamic practices. When asked why doesn’t he choose between the three he replies, “I just want to love God” (69). Be that as it may, his faith(s) are soon put to the ultimate test.
The Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel, is the story of a young man, Piscine, or Pi for short, who experiences unbelievable and unrealistic events, which are so unrealistic ambiguity is aroused amongst the reader. Duality reoccurs over the course of the novel through every aspect of Pi’s world view and is particularly seen in the two contradictory stories, which displays the brutal nature of the world. Martel wonderfully crafts and image of duality and skepticism though each story incorporated in this novel.
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 is a young man from India, who, like any other teenager growing up, is at something of a crossroads, trying to discover a grand purpose and meaning to life. Through his family and everyday life, Pi is exposed to four different religions during his childhood: Hinduism, Catholicism, Islam, and to an extent, Atheism. After being exposed to the three religions and his father urging him towards Atheism and rational though, Pi comes to the conclusion that he, “just wants to love God”, showing the audience that Pi derives his understanding of the world through God, and his idea of God through each religion. However, Pi’s complacent views of the world are challenged during his meeting with Richard Parker. In this scene, Pi seeks to discover Richard Parker’s soul, believing God will allow him to form a spiritual connection with the tiger. The connection begins to form, as close up shots of both Pi’s and the tiger’s eyes
Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel, is one of Canada's most acclaimed books. It tells the story of sixteen-year-old Pi Patel's journey as he discovers religion and his own determination and strength. This book is highly recommended for many reasons, including the insightful views expressed on religion and life, the interesting facts on zoology, and the author's unique talent in making something that at first glance seemed totally unrealistic become reality - humor inserted along the way! First of all, it is obvious that Pi Patel learns to have a very open mind when it comes to religion as he has embraced three of them, resulting in a unique Hindu-Christian-Muslim identity.
As Pi grows up he takes you through his good and bad times, he takes you through the four religions. Yes, four! He submerges in the realm of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and Atheism. He is a Christian, Hindu, and Islamic, all at once. He says on that, “Atheists are my brothers and sisters of a different religion” (28). Pi isn’t one to judge, he is extremely open to any religion or faith that a person could have.
Throughout the novel, Martel portrays Pi to be a very spiritual soul whose curiosity drives him to explore the different aspects of three religions; Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. Three spiritualties enable Pi to triple his connections to the metaphysical, taking time out of his day to thank whichever higher power he prays to that day. Hence, these moments of prayer allow Pi to experience a linkage to a place where he is separated from his life on Earth, enabling him to reflect on what he has and develop a stronger bond with the outside world. Presumably, the idea of religion and following it has always been important to Pi. One significant example in the novel that indicates the significance which spirituality has on Pi is shown in the quotation “’Religion will save us,’ I said. Since when I could remember, religions had always been close to my heart” (Martel, 27). As has been noted, the reader is shown that Pi is very passionate about his belief in his multiple religion, granting him a mindset that allows him to feel extremely connected to multiple aspects of each spiritual belief. When taking time out of his day to pray, Pi is taken into a different state of mind, with stillness engulfing him as he speaks a meditative-like prayer. Afterwards, Pi concludes his services, and returns to his normal routine, as the stillness which previously affected him slowly vanishes. Martel embeds the quote “Religion too, makes use of stillness….we become busy and stillness vanishes”
Pi enjoys different aspects of each religion which is: Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity. Despite the fact that these religions may contradict each other, Pi finds a way to love and accept each of them. Pi comes across a priest, and Imam, and a Pandit who change Pi 's life forever. These three encounters let Pi into the world of different belief systems, in which he become increasingly interested. Early on in the novel, Pi starts to discover different rituals, and rules of each religion. The reader also gets to see religious objects that have sentimental meaning to religious and faithful groups that allow for comfort. Through Pi 's discoveries of these things the theme of religion becomes more evident. People use religion, beliefs, rituals, and routine to simply make life more enjoyable, easier to live by, and less boring by giving someone something to believe
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.