Life of Pi, by Yann Martel

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Recommended: Note on life after death

One of life’s many unanswered questions is life after the end of mortality. The only plausible way humans are able to conjure up an answer is through religion. Since the forbidden fruit was picked of the calamitous tree, millions of religions have brewed and been thrown into the everlasting pot of humanity. This quest for answers of the unknown and the unique struggle of finding oneself within faith is lucidly mirrored in Life of Pi. This inimitable and emotionally exhausting novel is set in the 1970’s, when the ghastlier side of Gandhi began to emerge, and religious freedom was limited. Although our world has changed quite a bit from those drastic times, people in our world today still struggle with the stereotypical notions that are etched onto all, if not most of our world’s pieties. In Life of Pi, a young boy with a mind of a magnet explores the meaning of life, and through out his saddening, valiant journey, he realizes that although different hands crafted our world’s religions, these hands were created by one universal force. Yann Martel expresses his personnel motif through symbolism, ideology, and characterization so boldly; it was as if Agni claimed he was our mortal savoir.

From the dawn of time, archaic humans have always fabricated some sort of ‘superior’ being. The Egyptians had Isis, Osiris, Horus, and countless other deities. The Hebrews claim Yahweh as the creator of all, while the Hindus say gods like Lakshimi, Brahman and Vishnu determine our earth’s well being. Each ancient civilization had their own unique god(s) who formed unity in communities, something that pushed forth a set of laws for people and made society run so smoothly. Religion was everything for our ancestors, and they have so audibly giv...

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...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.

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