Dualism In Life Of Pi

“It is true that those we meet can change us, sometimes so profoundly that we are not the same afterwards, even unto our names.” This mighty quote, plummets out of the novel Life of Pi. Its idea of the story that Yann Martel tells in this novel is of a journey that makes the story sound realistic. It’s undoubtful that only a master storyteller, like Yann Martel himself, could write such dominant and lifting quotes. Martel gives us the novel Life of Pi, which is a coming of age story about a young boy who reaches maturity through tragic, but uplifting loss and miraculous survival. The story, Life of Pi, is reflected apron on a wild journey that comes with many adventures, tragics, some laughs, and also survival.

“Without Richard Parker, I wouldn’t be alive today to tell you my story.” The significance of this quote is that the presence of Richard saves him from the effects of loneliness. “The lower you are, the higher your mind will soar.” This quote is important because when Pi is at his lowest point, he reaches for his only remaining sources of salvation, which is his faith and imagination. “Life on a lifeboat isn’t much of a life. It is like an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The element couldn’t be more simple, or the stake higher.” The quote significance is that the few that survive the ship are force to face each other in a strategic battle of wits to see who will

1. The main characters in Life of Pi are Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi) and Richard Parker the Bengal tiger. Pi is the protagonist he is hopeful and believes that things get better. He is very optimistic which gets him through a lot of his troubles. In the beginning of the book Pi seemed to have things the rough way and continues that way but he was very hopeful. In the beginning of his lifeboat journey he was sure things would get better but as time went by he wasn't sure anymore but he had things to remind him to keep going. I also think he became more grownup and stronger by the end of the book. Richard Parker is the tiger on the lifeboat with Pi he is there every step of the way with Pi. He helps Pi get through things. Richard Parker is very

"It's the plain truth: without Richard Parker, I would not be alive today to tell my story" (Martel 89). Richard Parker is, realistically and symbolically, what kept Pi alive throughout the novel, Life of Pi. Richard Parker not only illustrates Pi's emotions of innocence, fear, and savage, but he also symbolizes Pi's id. Id is a part of a human being's unconscious personality that is always present from birth. It is based off of the pleasure principle, which “is the idea that needs should be met immediately” (Cherry, What is the id?). Richard Parker symbolizes Pi's id and the dual nature of mankind by acting as a ‘little devil’ on Pi’s shoulder.

Pi and Richard Parker grow a special bond and he uses personification to talk to and treat Richard Parker like a human, showing how much he values him. Both Richard Parker and Pi have a unique chemistry together that helps make the story what it is. Richard Parker allows some comedy, and helps Pi reach his full religious potential and stay alive. Pi’s dialogue shows us how important Richard Parker is. "I love you!" The words burst out pure and unfettered, infinite. The feeling flooded my chest. "Truly I do. I love you, Richard Parker. If I didn't have you now, I don't know what I would do. I don't think I would make it. No, I wouldn't. I would die of hopelessness. Don't give up, Richard Parker, don't give up. I'll get you to land, I promise, I promise!" Pi needs Richard Parker to survive. I believe Yann Martel includes Richard Parker to build the plot and setting around his main idea and

On its surface, Martel’s Life of Pi proceeds as a far-fetched yet not completely unbelievable tale about a young Indian boy named Pi who survives after two hundred twenty-seven days on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. It is an uplifting and entertaining story, with a few themes about companionship and survival sprinkled throughout. The ending, however, reveals a second story – a more realistic and dark account replacing the animals from the beginning with crude human counterparts. Suddenly, Life of Pi becomes more than an inspiring tale and transforms into a point to be made about rationality, faith, and how storytelling correlates the two. The point of the book is not for the reader to decide which

On the other hand, Pi uses Richard Parker as a way to separate his ID and superego. Richard Parker is the part of Pi that does not have a moral conscience, it is his animalistic instinct. Pi is a devout vegetarian, until it comes down to survival. Richard Parker is quick to kill flying fish, yet Pi gets emotional when killing anything. In the novel Pi says, "Lord, to think that I'm a strict vegetarian.

In this empathic response task, I assume the role of Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel, the narrator and protagonist of Yann Martel’s novel, Life of Pi, directly after his unexpected coincidental encounter with three religious leaders on a seaside esplanade in Chapter 23, which led to the astounding revelation that Pi was not only a Christian, Muslim, or Hindu, but all three at once. This revelation prompted a heated discussion between Pi’s priest, imam, and pandit, the religious leaders whom Pi had been practicing Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism with. The heated discussion was about which religion was the ‘true religion’. I attempt to share with readers Pi’s opinion of religion and faith after the encounter by writing a diary entry from Pi’s perspective that reflects the musings of Pi Patel after the three religious leaders confronted him and demanded that he choose between being a christian, a muslim and a hindu, his opinion of religion and faith, his experiences with different religions, and how he rationalizes his decision to believe in all three religions simultaneously. In this novel, imagination helps to present an alternative perspective of religion and faith.

In Yann Martel’s novel, Life of Pi, two narratives are presented to describe how Pi survived his journey on a life boat to Mexico. The difference between the truths of both stories is the difference between faith and reason. Both the author and Pi recognize the importance of trust and nature of truth in this novel has to do with a form of blind faith instead of doubt. “To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transport” (Yann Martel, 28). The early religious influences from Pi’s childhood contribute to the formation of his story involving Richard Parker.

In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, Piscine “Pi” Patel goes on a journey that tests him in unimaginable ways. As Pi tells the story of his life, the reader is shown the battle that Pi faces and the settings they take place in. Martel specifically uses the setting of the lifeboat, island and Pi’s home to reflect Pi’s inner self.

In our everyday lives, we have rarely been faced with situations where we had to fight to live. Whereas, in nature, the only law is survival of the fittest. When you apply “Horror” to Life of Pi, you will recall multiple events that demonstrated how wild animals use survival to live. Yann Martel uses the theme, of violence being a metaphor, to convey that in nature you have to fight to live.

In conclusion, Yann Martel being a creative author tried very hard to make readers of Life of Pi believe in God. As these points prove, God helps Pi through his journey, Faith is used as the core theme of the book and Pi as the narrator gives the readers a choice of two stories which determines what faith the readers follow. Therefore, as elusive as Yann

In Part II of Life of Pi, Richard Parker appears for the first time on the boat transforming Pi from being a weak boy that he was back in India to being a boy able to kill a man that physical strength cannot do. Before Pi had Richard Parker, he was very timid and fearful of committing a sin or

Yann Martel’s awe inspiring fantasy-adventure novel, the Man Booker Prize winning ‘Life of Pi’ (2001) tells of a Tamil boy living in Pondicherry who is left to survive the harsh oceans on a lifeboat, with a tiger as his companion. Through the adventures of the protagonist, Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel, Martel explores how the notions of science and religion work in unison to cultivate a deeper understanding of the world as we know it. Pi’s struggle to stay alive amid saving an orangutan, hyena and zebra reflect the wordly thematic concern of survival.

The novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel is an immensely intriguing and fascinating story of a teenage boy, a tiger, and the perils they face while stranded on the Pacific Ocean for 227 days. In the novel, there is a collection of literary elements that help blur the line between fantasy and reality. Martel uses zoomorphism, allegory, and divergent thinking to convey the novel’s fantastic world, its gruesome nature, and the essential truth it represents.