Pi Narrative Analysis

To start off, the notion of storytelling signifies the theme in a narrative frame, and the nature of religious belief, supports the development of the story from part one in a significant manner. Martel has implemented the theme of storytelling from the beginning of the novel in the author’s note. Mr. Adirubasamy introduce Pi’s story as “…a story that will make you believe in god” (Martel x). The readers come to think of Pi’s survival as a fictitious story, told by a fictitious author. Martel uses the author’s note to originate the notion of storytelling and using the interpretation of storytelling to reveal the painful, uninteresting, and horrific experiences in Pi’s journey. This is crucial since in part two, when the readers come across Pi’s exceptional botanical discovery. The island is carnivorous covered in algae, which both Pi and Richard leave once Pi makes the shocking discovery. The island is literally Pi’s hallucination, as he gets weaker by the minute. However, figuratively speaking, the island leads into Martel’s main idea behind storytelling: to hold on to the will to live and keeping both faith and hope alive. The protagonist in the novel: Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi), is a strong believer in god. In part one, the adult Pi tells us his story about his introduction to Christianity and Islam. Upon learning about these religions and listening to their fables, Pi becomes reconciled with god and decides to practice these three religions simultaneously. We even come across him asking his parents for his own prayer rug that proves that he is serious about practicing three distinct religions. He develops a habit of praying and attending the mosque, church and the mandir, regularly. He remembers the Imam saying to him, “If yo...

... middle of paper ...

...ve to survive and stays reconciled with God. Pi also says, “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, so long as God is with me, I will not die” (Martel 163-164). Despite the circumstances where Pi felt like giving up, he remembers god in his heart and choses to live. He doesn’t lose hope and holds on to the will to survive because he believes that God is with him. Both thematic topics of storytelling and religious belief accumulate Pi’s survival at sea as a youth because of his religion, his fables and his will to survive because of God.