Throughout the book “The Life of Pi” by Yann Martel, the main character, Pi, experiments with many different religions. He starts out as a Hindu by birth, but as time progresses and he becomes older, he pledges himself to Christianity and Islam as secondary and tertiary religions. Regardless, he practices them all at the same time and in equal measure. These religious beliefs affect the way Pi behaves while he is a castaway, alone at sea with a tiger, a trickle effect that ultimately affects the outcome of his challenges.
Some feel that Pi followed so many religions because he wanted to be a better person and be more accepting and educated about the world around him and who would keep him safe. Others may think it’s just a hobby for him, a vain and self-centered decision he made about how he wants to live. But clearly the amount of religious doctrines he amassed had some say in how he conducted himself. The story would have been entirely different if he had only stuck with one religion or held no religion in his heart.
The first religion Pi learned to love was Hinduism because his mother had followed it. On page 49 he says that he is Hindu because of the
…show more content…
He isn’t necessarily looking for a new religion to sink his teeth into, but from the other religions that he’s practicing, he is open to the idea of learning about and loving yet another god, since they all preach similar topics. On page 60, Pi challenges anyone to understand Islam and not fall in love with it. They believe in an omniscient God, who never tires or becomes weary and is too pure and therefore doesn’t have a human form. When all three of Pi’s religious teachers gather on page 67, the man who taught him about being a Muslim defends his religion against the preacher, saying that Muslims stick to the essential miracle of existence, and that they do not need divine intervention in the way that God
He talked about school and how he came to have the nickname Pi. The majority of these stories take place in his father's zoo in the city of Pondicherry, India. He tells multiple stories about the different animals within the zoo and speaks about their many different behaviors and tendencies. He talks about how man doesn't always understand the animals. Pi also tells stories about how he comes to worship three different major religions of the world, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity.
Piscine Patel was born and raised in an Indian town, this is where he began his own hero’s journey. Pi’s journey started out in his own ordinary world where he studied zoology and religion studies at the University of Toronto. Pi then went on to St. Michael’s College and graduated at the top of his class with awards from the Zoology Department (Martel 6). Pi was also very interested in his father’s zoo animals (Riley). In the ordinary world, Pi came across many circumstances that would later trouble him. While in India he began to practice four different religions. Pi spent a great deal of time in prayer and in the temples. Once all the priests found out about his multiple religious practices he was told not to take part in all religions and that he had to make a choice between them (Martel 85). Pi chose to still take part in all practices, but he tended to stay in the back of the temples. One day Pi’s father announced that they were moving to Canada, this is when Pi heard the call to adventure. He
Pi’s journey starts out in a town in India known as Pondicherry. Here he finds a great interest in both Zoology( the study of animals), and religion. Pi also as well shows much knowledge in Zoology as shown in this quote from the book. “I got every possible student award from the department of Zoology.” (Pg.6) Pi, relating to religion(his other great interest), believes in multiple religions of which include Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. Pi also finds great enjoyment in going to the Zoo, a zoo in which his own father owns. Pi’s great home life before his journey doesn’t last too long however. Soon the Tamil
He begins with saying how “an oaf chased” him away from “the Great Mosque,” continues with “the priest glar[ing]” at him as to feel uncomfortable, and finally ends it with how “a Brahmin sometimes showed [him] away from darsan” (71). The diction used by Martel shows how Pi is persecuted for his unique religious beliefs. The words “chased”, “glared”, and “shooed” are all words that give the reader a sense that Pi’s presence is unwanted. Each of the words connote a negative but non violent reaction. Together, each of the diction words show that Pi is being persecuted by his own religions. He wholeheartedly believes in all of them, and is shunned for it. Finally, the final paragraph of the chapter shows how Pi still pursued his own beliefs in the face of ridicule. After noting how “religion is about dignity,” Pi simply begins to list on what exactly he did. Specifically, he “stopped attending mass” but “[instead went] to Our Lady of Angels” (71). For Islam, he “no longer lingered [among brethren]” (71). Even for his first religion, he came “when the Brahmins were too distracted” (71). Parallelism in this paragraph also shows Pi’s clear headed determination to follow his own
As Pi is an active disciple of three separate religions, one would assume he has a shifting opinion on reality and it’s roots. Despite seeing himself as a practicing Hindu, Christian, and Muslim, he believes that there is a unity of all things. This contradicts
In “The Life of Pi” and “The Scarlet Letter”, religion plays a major role in the story as well as the lives of the main characters, Pi and Hester. Although the religions between books are different with “The Life of Pi” containing Christianity, Hinduism, and Muslim, and “The Scarlet Letter” containing strict Christian beliefs, they all affect the characters in various ways through the entire story. Hester has gone against her religion and is punished for it. Pi on the other hand acknowledges many religions, claiming he “just wants to love God”. In either situation, their faith gets them through an extremely tough encounter. In both stories religion is a major part of their lives. However, while Pi is learning through his religious beliefs and using God as a motive to survive, Hester h...
In the book The Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the main character, Pi, is deeply religious and often times the 10 incarnations from Hinduism can be directly seen in Pi’s life. Although the order is skewed, there is an eerie resemblance between the two texts.
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.
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.
Life of Pi begins with an author’s note in which Martel describes being told by the character Mamaji that Pi has “‘a story that will make you believe in God’” (ix). This essentially sets up the basis for the entire theme of the novel. The main character, Pi, claims to practice three religions simultaneously: Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam (Martel 81). Much of Pi’s explanation of his own childhood consists of his own religious journeys. He begins with an explanation of how his aunt introduced him to Hinduism upon ...
Pi, short for Piscine, meaning a rational source of water, is a rational man living in the irrational world, who believes in not one, but three religions, which some may say is irrational. Pi, whose family owned a zoo, faced many hardships
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
Pi is an indian, but except Hinduism, he also believes in Christianity and Islam. It is pretty unusual. However, these three religions save his life when he meets storm on the sea. Religion is a key component in Pi’s survival because it lets him understand that he has to coexist with other creatures, it leads Pi to accept that even if he did not survive he would be redeemed, and it gives Pi the hope for survival.
The author left the reader thinking about how religion and faith can have an impact in our lives positively. Religion can affect our choices in life, and faith In the novel, Pi grows up to be a religious man, growing up in a place with diverse culture. He believes that “religion is about choosing the better story”. Therefore, he learns to worship three religion - Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam.
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...