Animal Symbolism in Life of Pi Essay

Being narrated by an older version of the main character, Life of Pi is a story about a man named Pi Patel. Most of the beginning of the novel includes all the history of his life; it introduces topics such as his major, the definition of his name, and his family. His majors are religion and Zoology, which comes back later in the book. It also gives the reader the interesting background of the meaning of his name, based off of a swimming pool. These larger topics and more were shared with the readers. A prominent part of all of this is the fact that it almost always comes back to animals.

In Life of Pi, his long journey and ardent will to stay alive can alone discribe pi’s transformation from a confused and sheltered boy, into a young man who is now mentally broke but somehow uses his psychological experience to strengthen himself. Pi’s spirituality and religion pushes the reader to shift its perspective.

In Life of Pi, the author Yann Martel utilizes symbolism throughout the novel to illustrate the adaptive path one goes through to cope with conflict; succumbing to a lower morale, seeking hope through religion, and self conformity.

In human and animal nature, many similarities are portrayed in Life of Pi as well as a strong relation between the two. In contrast, humans and animals share the same sort of lifestyle, just living a different life according to Pi’s thoughts. In a tragic situation that one is in, such as Pi they must find a way to pass time and keep themselves busy by using their circumstances,

Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel, is a novel about a young boy, Pi, trapped with a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker who survive together in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days. The central theme of the novel is Pi’s faith in God, which proves to be a crucial part of his survival during the extreme situation. In the book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster, the author talks about the importance of literary elements such as symbols, geography, and stories to a literary piece. These elements are used in Life of Pi to develop its compelling story about growing up.

In the beginning, God created the Earth. He created the land, the sea, the sky, and all that live among them. In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi a young boy named Pi Patel encounters the Earth in its rawest form when he is stranded at sea with only a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker and a handful of other animals as shipmates. Through the use of biblical allusion, the significance of water, and symbolism, Life of Pi shows readers that God is present in all things and through faith, one can overcome all trials.

Yann Martel offers two accounts of Pi’s survival story so that Pi is able to personify animals and also give animalistic qualities to humans. This exchange is only seen after both accounts are read. The reader is able to determine which he or she accepts as reality, but since the facts of the story go unchanged and both tales are primarily the same, the sole purpose is to highlight the traits humans and animals posses. Yann Martel exemplifies human traits in animals and animal traits in people through his claim in passage A by telling the two stories of Pi’s survival.

Throughout Yann Martel’s Life of Pi many elements of the novel blur the lines of reality and fantasy. This leaves multiple facets of perspectives in his readers. I Patel is thrust to the forefront of a catastrophic ordeal resulting in the loss of everything he knows s and loves. As this occurs we begin to see the total brutality of survival in both stories. Martel’s phenomenal use of symbolism, dualism, and religious allegory eloquently convey this imaginative world of brutality, savagery, and thirst for survival.

Yann Martel, the author of Life of Pi, he uses animals to represent a person off the the ship that sunk. What the author is trying to represent is that each person has a significance in a specific religion that Pi is trying to practice. Maybe the real reason why Pi is stuck with those specific animals is because each play a part in a religion and some state that Pi is Richard Parker . Also he has to face each religion in order to survive in the ocean. Also the significance of the ocean is actually Pi’s mindset how he sees the world.

To begin with “The life of Pi” is a story on how a boy survived a sunken ship which was caused by a massive storm. After the storm he is placed on a raft with 4 different animals that includes zebra, tiger, orangutan, and hyena. In order to survive he would fish for his food something the Native Americans would do. The Native Americans would let their prisoner John Smith

People may think that humans and animals have many differences, but when comparing and contrasting, a person’s existence can relate to an animal’s existence in many ways. Life of Pi is about a religious man and his physical and spiritual journey. Also, he knew a lot about animals and definitely cared for them. He tended to visit his father’s zoo which extended his knowledge about animals. However, Pi ends up stuck out in the middle of the ocean with animals. He is then essentially put to the test on his knowledge and how a person will become when constantly with savage animals. Yann Martel structures Life of Pi in such a way to show the beginning intelligence of how one may act when under pressure, all the way to the desperate low of one when under pressure.

Pi uses animals to symbolize characters inn such strait, and animals play an important role in this story. Using animal imagery in Life of Pi shows that animals have emotions, human are more dangerous than animals, and Pi’s affection in animals. Animals have basic emotions of humans. Animals sometimes are like human actually. Pi observes that emotion in Orange Juice’ s eyes, “To the end she reminded me of us: her eyes expressed fear in such a humanlike way as did her strained whimpers”(Yann Martel 164).

In order to fully understand Pi, it is necessary to understand the animals and their connection to him. The zebra is the first to die at the paws of the hyena, and stands for Pi’s initial fear of the open ocean and the animals on board. The orangutan, Orange Juice, is said to have been kind, innocent, and maternal,

The novel “Life of Pi” illustrates the life of a character named Pi during his 227 days lost at sea. There is a strong connection between the author Yann Martel and the characters and setting in the story “Life of Pi.” Martel’s time spent in India was the major influence for this book as many of the characters and story are influenced by his experiences in India. The animals in the book, which play a major part in the story, are influenced primarily from Martel’s visit to the Trivandrum Zoo, which contains all the animals in the story except the orangutan. Religion also plays a major role in the story, which is influenced from Martel’s visit to India as he learned about the religious culture of India. Although Martel did not directly experience the events that occurred in “Life of Pi,” his time spent in India helped to influence his work.

Authors anthropomorphize animal characters to allow readers to fully understand an animal’s actions or thoughts. By doing so, the reader is able to comprehend why an animal does a certain action or how an animal behaves towards a human or another animal. One novel that employs anthropomorphism of animals is Yann Martel’s Life of Pi. In the novel, Pi Patel, the main character, is stranded on a boat with a variety of animals. Pi then relates his daily experiences with these animals throughout his journey across the Pacific Ocean, especially with a tiger named Richard Parker. Based on a through reading and analysis of the novel, the use of anthropomorphism is integral to Pi surviving his experience on the open water because it allows Pi to understand how animal behavior can help him survive at sea.