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Influence of greek mythology in literature
Mythology in literature assignment
The effect of mythology in literature
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Mythological approach to “Life of Pi”
There are many different characters in “Life of Pi”, and are also two stories within “Life of Pi”, and you decide which one was true. I believe that the first story, with the animals is true. For that reason then all my examples are from that story, not the human version. You have the heroes like Pi himself, the people that found him in Mexico, and arguably Richard Parker. Richard Parker is one of the most controversial topics in the story; he could be a hero, enemy, and friend.
I believe that Richard Parker is a hero, because if he wasn’t in the story then Pi would not have survived. Pi said it himself: “Without Richard Parker, I wouldn’t be alive today to tell you my story.” (page 207). What makes a hero is very controversial, but if someone or something saves another life in the story I think everyone agrees that they would be the hero. Since Richard Parker saved Pi’s life then to me he is a hero. Richard Parker can also be considered the enemy because he is always a threat to Pi and always has to be kept in check. Richard Parker is also a friend to Pi as he keeps him from thinking too much about of his family. Pi is the main hero because he fights the elements (pages 121-360), and a hyena (pages 121-189) which are the “bad” guys in the story, and it
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Pi turns to his multiple religions to help him survive; it takes his mind off his parents and most importantly it gives him hope which can be the difference between life and death. Pi told two stories and of the two stories he told I think that the animal one is the correct story. There are many stages in Pi’s journey and his stages keep going on after the book as he gets his degree, when he marries, and has children. Since Pi and Richard Parker fight the odds and elements to survive together in a lifeboat for 227 days in my opinion is more than enough to qualify them both as
The most obvious characters that can be compared between these two stories are the Grandmother and Pi, and the easiest comparison that one could make between these two strong characters are their fanatical devotion to religion. Its clear that the Grandmother holds true a strict set of Christian beliefs when she tells the person who just murdered her son and grandkids that he is “a good man” and consistently telling the Misfit that Jesus will save him. Even unto her death, she was constantly saying Jesus’s name throughout the ordeal. Pi also seems to follow a strict code of rituals as he continues to practice his religions through his journey. The author even describes how Pi came to practice all of them, further giving detail into Pi’s life as a whole and almost giving the reader a reason to empathize with his insane practice of three religions. Even on the life raft with a dangerous tiger in his presence every day, he continues to consistently follow most of the rituals of each religion with fervor, unless he is unable to physically perform them.
So, the very descriptive details about the events in the book including on the boat, the island, and about Richard parker are one of many reasons why Pi’s original story was the first
One of the most interesting parts of the book so far is when the powerful Richard Parker killed the hyena. In chapter 53 (page 150) “the hyena fell silent. My heart stopped and then beat triple speed. I turned. “Jesus, Mary, Muhammad and Vishnu!” This scene captures just how dangerous tigers and wild animals are. Pi has to live with this tiger for the rest of the time being until they either get rescued or die. If I was in Pi’s shoes I would not know what to do, I would be thinking that I am next, which Pi writes later on page 150. If Pi was praying to Jesus and Muhammad, as religious as Pi is, he probably thought this is the end. Pi really had no choice then either try to kill it or push him off the boat. This shows just how brave Pi was at
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.
Pi miraculous journey was as emotionally draining as physical. Pi animal story gives great insight of his spiritual journey whereas the human story was gruesome, harsh and straight to the point. “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
An id and ego split is also shown between Pi and Richard Parker. Richard Parker is an imaginary tiger that is created by Pi in order to keep him alive and focused on staying alive. Pi eventually abandons his superego and partakes in eating meat, even though he was a strict vegetarian prior to being lost at sea. Over the duration of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, the story relates to Freud’s theories in several ways that are made blatantly obvious; these relations are what makes this story come together to keep the reader involved and interested. Works Cited Martel, Yann.
...h up their session, Pi asks them, “‘So tell me, since it makes no factual difference to you and you can’t prove the question either way, which story do you prefer?’” The factual or provable existence of God is not necessarily relevant to whether someone should believe in Him. This requirement of proof for belief is typical of the agnostic, whose sole belief is that he or she cannot believe either way because there is no proof either way. However, life is a story, and in real life, there must be a story to tell. When it comes to Life of Pi, there is hardly any difference between life and story, so how could the novel not mimic life, being the story of a life itself? A life perhaps embellished to become better, just as readers must embellish their own lives in favor of the better story.
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.
This unimaginable tale, is the course of events upon Pi’s journey in the Pacific ocean after the ship that Pi and his family were aboard crashes, leaving him stranded with a tiger named Richard Parker, an orangutan, a zebra, and a hyena. Pi loses everything he has and starts to question why this is happening to him. This is parallel to the story of Job. Job is left with nothing and is experiencing great suffering and he begins to demand answers from God. Both Pi and Job receive no answers, only being left with their faith and trust. To deal with this great suffering Pi begins to describe odd things which begin to get even more unbelievable and ultimately become utterly unrealistic when he reaches the cannibalistic island. Richard Parker’s companionship serves to help Pi through these events. When the reader first is intoduced to Richard Parker he emerges from the water, making this symbolic of the subconscious. Richard Parker is created to embody Pi’s alter ego. Ironically, each of these other animals that Pi is stranded with comes to symbolize another person. The orangutan represents Pi’s mother, the zebra represents the injured sailor, and the hyena represents the cook. Pi fabricated the people into animals in his mind to cope with the disillusion and trails that came upon him while stranded at the erratic and uncontrollable sea,
First of all, religion is a key component in Pi’s survival because it leads Pi to believe that he has to coexist with other creatures and they are all one entity. When Pi struggles with the storm on the lifeboat, he has the opportunity to abandon Richard Parker, but he doesn’t: “I could see his head. He was struggling to stay at the surface of the water. ‘Jesus, Mary, Muhammad and Vishnu, how good to see you, Richard Parker! Don’t give up, please. Come to the lifeboat. Do you hear this whistle? TREEEEE! TREEEEE! TREEEEE! You heard, right. Swim! Swim!’” (Martel p.121). Although Richard Parker
In the lifeboat, his choices were based on his religion. For instance, Pi hesitated first to kill the fish because he was vegetarian, but he set aside his religion because he believes that he needs to survive since he thinks God is with him. He thanks Vishnu, a Hindu God, for coming as a fish to save him. “Even when God seemed to have abandoned me … indifferent to my suffering, He was watching; and when I was beyond all of hope of saving, He gave me rest, and gave me a sign to continue my journey.” This quote portrays how Pi felt that God was with him every time, and that is why he is willing to live and not give up.
In Life of Pi, Pi is influenced by the decisions that animals make while onboard the lifeboat and the humanlike characters that they represent in Pi’s factual story. Many readers believe that the story of the animals is just a figment of Pi's imagination and that it was just something to keep him alive. Others believe that the story of the animals really did happen in Pi's time on the Pacific Ocean. No one will ever know what the real story of Pi's journey was, but everyone who has heard about Pi's multiple stories will have their own opinions and interpretations of what really happened.
In the first place, Pi spends more time telling the animal story, instead of the true account, which shows that he prefers a zebra, a tiger, a hyena, and an orangutan over the real people involved because with real people the tragic events must also be real. While telling his story to the two Japanese men investigating him once he
Life of Pi , by Yann Martel , is an exceptional story by means that in reality , it is a story inside a story . Through out the entire Part II , Piscine tells the reader about his long and difficult time aboard the life raft with a zebra , orangatang , hyena and even a tiger . The reader only truly discovers at the end of the novel upon an interview with the two Japanese interviewers , that the entire story been told by Piscine , had been alternated . Reality being that each animal illustrated , were actually a real survivor from the sinking . “Which do you want to believe ?” said Piscine to the two interviewers. He had done so to separate himself from the horrifying , yet true reality , that he was forced to be faced with , including the loss of his family . The most fascinating of all the characters is Richard Parker , who in reality turned out to be Piscine . All this was done by himself to keep in a healthy state of mind and to retain hope in survival as opposed to having to think back to the reality and go into a state of possible depression . The fiction versus reality which is created is to back up Piscines statement on “ which do you want to believe ?” , as it changes the format of the story from dull , into an adventure full of life .
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel was a fascinating and exciting narrative that described the journey of a young boys life starting with the formation of his beliefs moving all the way through an adventure that changed his life forever. I found it extremely engaging on both a philosophical level and a psychological level as I saw Pi, a young boy, curious about life, discover both religion and go through an extremely traumatic experience. I found Pi's devotion to God to be an uplifting example that many people throughout the world should see. Although I do believe that Pi was confused about how to best love God, I admire his efforts and believe that his dedication is sincere. I also found the psychological aspect of Pi to be almost as fascinating as religion. I could see from the beginning that Pi was quite thoughtful and always tried to think before he acted. However, what I found even more fascinating than his pre-planning cognitive abilities was how he thought when he was under great stress. Perhaps the best example of how he coped with stress was towards the end of the book when he tells what may be the true story, and we can see that he may have represented everyone as an animal in order to deal with the situation. This provides valuable insight into Pi's mind and opens a whole new area of possibilities when considering how Pi thinks. This ending leaves how Pi thinks open to interpreting which adds a intriguing aspect to the book. Beyond the religious and theoretical aspects of the book, the adventure seen kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. Every time it seemed Pi was about to die or give up hope, an astounding miracle would suddenly save him. I found the effect of these suspenseful moments to cause me to want to...