Essay On Vegetarianism In Life Of Pi

While on the road to nowhere, Pi starts to acquire water from the rain and obtains food to stock up while he’s worrying about the 400 pound tiger that’s on the lifeboat while Pi is on a small raft. When Pi starts to tame Richard Parker he can finally call him a friend and now has a purpose. As a Hindu, Pi does not eat meat but that went out of the window when he catches a fish and eats it raw to stay alive. When it comes down to survival there is no preference in what to eat.

In Life of Pi, the main character is Piscine Molitor, though people call him Pi. Pi’s family was on their way to immigrate to Canada via ship, though the ship sinks in the middle of the ocean and the only survivors are Pi, an orangutan, a zebra and a tiger stranded on a lifeboat. Later on, the orangutan and zebra die, leaving a hungry tiger that is unpredictable and Pi who has limited resources, in the middle of the ocean. If Pi wants to not die and have a chance to survive, he must stay alive from the ocean and the tiger. Since Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger in the middle of the ocean with limited resources, Pi has to survive mentally and physically throughout the whole ordeal.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel is a story about a 16 year old boy who does not lose hope after the cargo ship he and his family had been traveling on sank. During his 277 day journey lost at sea, Piscine Molitor Patel (known as Pi) was faced with extreme circumstances and had to overcome many challenges. Staying hydrated, finding food and adapting to the harsh weather conditions in the ocean was nothing compared to the challenge of being on board with a Bengal Tiger, also known as Richard Parker. Faith, survival and the will to survive are among the many themes found in this book. Faith seemed to have played a major role in helping Pi to survive. On page 148, his faith in God helped him to stay strong and helped him realize that it was a miracle

In The Vegetarian by Han Kang, what appears to be one insubordinate South Korean woman’s choice to not eat meat, becomes a much larger issue revolving around what is normal, and just how far others should be allowed to impose their own views of reality onto another person’s life. Yeong-hye’s unusual ways, while strange to the mainstream culture’s expectations, present their own rationality in her mind. She sees it as a way to oppose the violent tendencies of human nature, in order to find her own peace in life. Kang takes this idea to the farthest extent with the philosophical question, should a person be allowed to choose to die because their life is just that, their own life? The unique perspective of this novel comes from a South Korean author, which helps to develop her questions based a childhood trauma in her country. This tragedy leads to her novel’s exploration of the idea of what is normal, the impossibility of understanding another individual’s idea of normal, and is it rational to commit suicide if it is connected to one’s idea of normal. All these questions are connected through Yeong-hye’s choice to be a vegetarian, and are presented to the reader to form their own views throughout the novel.

Bengali polymath, Rabindranath Tagore, once said “you can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” In the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the protagonist, Pi, faces many challenges at sea while being accompanied by a tiger by the name of Richard Parker. This tiger, though a nuisance, proves to be essential in the role of Pi’s survival. Throughout the story, Richard Parker symbolizes survival, a reflection of Pi, and a being of God.

When Pi is in life/death situations he takes extreme measures to survive. After weeks at sea Pi is forced to hunt because he is starving for food and he wants to survive. “By the end of my journey I was eating everything a turtle had to offer.” (Martel, 213). Pi had to go against his believes because he was a vegetarian and now he had to eat animals. He also ate everything he could find because his stock of food was empty.Pi changed from vegetarian to eating animals and he had to kill to survive.

At the beginning of Life of Pi, Pi Patel has to adapt to his new situation, and the constant fear of his newfound boatmate, a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Pi, a vegetarian must learn to survive, which in his situation, involves the killing and eating of animals. To preserve his life, he must distance himself from his former life of vegetarianism. “I wept heartily over this poor little deceased soul. It was the first sentient being I had ever killed. I was now a killer. I was now as guilty as Cain. I was sixteen years old, a harmless boy, bookish and religious, and now I had blood on my hands. It’s a terrible burden to carry. All sentient life is sacred. I never forget to include this fish in my prayers.” (Martel, 183). Pi has

Life of Pi shows that humans and animals should do anything necessary to survive whatever challenges they face to live instead of just accepting death. Whatever ways that help one to survive are necessary, even if they compromise personal values, are vicious, or are wicked. Pi, a human; a hyena, and a blind man all fight to survive in a variety of ways that are examples of this thesis.

Pi’s physical isolation causes him to judge his own moral beliefs by eating meat for the first time, even though he is a vegetarian. In this quote, “I fished with a variety of hooks at a variety of depths for a variety of fish,” (Martel 215), it explains him fishing. By being a vegetarian his whole life, his physical isolation made him to go against his own moral beliefs of not eating an animal. But eventually survival kicks-in and being physically isolated in the Pacific Ocean caused Pi to betray his own personal belief.

Pi has been a pacifist and vegetarian his whole life but Pi eventually breaks the fish's neck and eats it. In this situation, Pi is in a near death situation of starving. Pi’s will to survive made him disband his lifelong beliefs and kill and eat the fish. also Pi exhibits the theme the will to survive when he has to kill the cook to

Pi’s faith interacts at times. An example of this would be that Pi’s faith does not allow you to kill things. In order to survive, Pi has to kill the fish. Pi believed that since he had turned to God, he got the reward of surviving.

Pi’s journey to come to love this God was more of a struggle than Hinduism because of his confusion of the Jesus as a sacrifice, but Pi states “The more he bothered me, the less I could forget Him. And the more I learned about Him, the less I wanted to leave him” providing him with purpose, meaning and direction. This quote can be a reflection of Pi’s relationship with Richard Parker as he learns to live with him at sea. Pi could not forget the Bengal tiger because he had to be aware of him to keep himself safe. This forced Pi to learn about Richard Parker and as he learned about him, Pi came to love the tiger, making it easier to live with him. Pi applied Christianity to his very own survival. Not until Pi suffers from hunger and thirst, becomes sad and anxious, is heckled and harassed, and puts up with adversaries who (at first) do not respect him and then is saved after praying for survival does he truly feel the love that Christianity promises. Pi takes the common precept of love, which is ever evident in the Christian faith and applies in order to survive with

It is difficult to talk about the Life of Pi text without making a reference to faith, and the same goes with explaining Pi’s survival. Pi’s belief in pluralism and acceptance of the three religions, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam aid his future and is a crucial part of his survival at sea. His faith in knowing “so long as god is with me, I will not die” gives him the mental strength and will power to survive his ordeal. Even in the middle of the ocean, Pi practices all his religious rituals such as ‘‘solitary masses without consecrated Communion Hosts’’

“Survival is the ability to swim in strange water” (Frank Herbert). Pi demonstrated life on the Pacific as a test of all aspects. Life on the Pacific tested his physical endurance, he was lost for two-hundred and seventy seven days. In that time, Pi demonstrates his faith towards God, himself, and Richard Parker. Pi develops a robust bond with Richard Parker, then connecting spiritually. Survival in the novel Life of Pi is etched in the deepest parts of the story. These aspects of the novel are depicted through personal and self-reflection within himself. Pi survives because of his strength, faith and a close relationship with Richard Parker.

We walk happily through the supermarket isles browsing for the best price on a piece of fresh flesh. Bring it home and smother it in spices and sauces to make it appetizing and devour the juices on a daily basis. Every time we sit down to eat our favorite chicken sandwich we are consuming the bodily remnants of an animal, a creature that once had life but never any rights. Thus, eliminating the consumption of meat is the only logical way forward as a vegetarian diet considerably improves one’s health, benefits the overall environment and greatly lessens the suffering of animals worldwide. Being a vegetarian is beneficial to all aspects of life and is the only morally reasonable way to live life.