Figurative Language In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

In the book, Life of Pi, Pi suffers the loss of his father and brother in the sinking of the Tsimtsum, and surviving the majority of 227 days. During his time on the lifeboat, Pi created the better story to dissociate from the trauma he experienced, the immediate loss of his mother, and the effects of solitude on his mind. While in the lifeboat with the others, a dynamic was formed. The chef was the Expert, the one who knew how to cook, fish, and survive on the boat. The sailor with his broken leg became the most dependant on the boat.

Without morals civilization would crumble, but take away everyone and losing your morals might just save your life. In the book Life of Pi, Yann Martel creates a storyline that follows a boy’s life and the events that occur before, during and after being stranded on a life raft with a tiger. The main character, Pi, undergoes horrendous events that challenge him to change his ways to survive. In times of difficulty, man can lose his morals and values in exchange for survival. Martel exhibits this theme through Pi’s hunger, the cook in the human story, and the slaughtering of Pi’s fellow shipwrecked acquaintances.

Considering the book is set during the French Revolution, similes are used in order to portray the zeitgeist of this time period to modern readers. This also is used to set a specific tone and atmosphere in the novel:

In our everyday lives, the words that come out of our mouths are our natural understanding to communicate with each other. Words explain the necessities and response we seek out for. Needless to say, human life deeply revolves around an orbit of personal and collective narrative interpretations that explain our ways of life - the principles of storytelling if you will. The Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel, is about a young boy that goes on a life-changing journey on the Pacific Ocean in the account of a first person narrative. At the end of the novel, Pi is questioned by two Japanese officials that confront him about the fate of the boat.

“Life of Pi,” by Yann Martel, is a story told from the perspective of Pi Patel. Pi spent his childhood living at a zoo with his family. He also follows three separate religions and, therefore, has very strong opinions on the subject of spirituality. Within the novel, Pi counters the common misconception that freedom always has a positive effect or that it always results in happiness.

If faced with great challenges would you choose to stick by your morals, or do whatever it takes to survive? This is the same question Piscin Molitor Patel or “pi” as he likes to be called faced. From being stranded at sea for 227 days, to losing his family, Pi’s story is truly extraordinary. Through the use of personification, similes and metaphors, Yann Martel describes Pi’s journey with great detail making a story that will truly make you believe in god. Yann Martel uses personification throughout the book to make certain details come alive.

Beliefs that an individual or society hold can become a moral code, one to judge actions on and to adhere to. In this way, beliefs become actions. People behave in such a way that their beliefs are brought clearly to light. An individual’s belief shapes not only their behavior, but their intrapersonal thoughts and feelings as well. A belief becomes a pillar that holds up all consequent behavioral aspects of an individual.

Vampires are attractive and strong yet evil and selfish due to their bloodlust. Many believe that vampires greatly differ from mortal humans, but Yann Martel uses the vast differences between Richard Parker and Pi Patel to reveal how even humans can have two different sides to themselves.

In Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel, a young boy named Pi decides to differ from the religious path he is intended for. Instead he decides to embrace three religions even though he is ridiculed by his parents and religious leaders. The three religions he decides to put his faith in are Christianity, Hindu, and Islam. When his family decides to board a ship to Canada, the trip seems to be going well until the storm. The ship sinks leaving Pi as the only survivor, or so he thinks.

In this novel we are presented with two stories of Pi’s journey on the lifeboat. One is an unbelievable tale of how he survived with a Bengal tiger and for a time a hyena, an orangutan, and a dying zebra. The other is a traumatizing story with similar events, but instead of animals it is humans who kill and feast on one another's flesh, and fight to the death. Suddenly, you realize how changing

When originally reading the description of the algae island it seems impossible to have such an odd and deadly island. It is even weirder that no one has ever come across this island, making it seem fake. Pi describes the island to be made of of algae, no soil or grass, “The fabric of the island seemed to be an intricate, tightly webbed mass of tube-shaped seaweed” (Martel 257). Upon reading part three of the novel, it becomes apparent the island may have not actually existed, but instead it is a representation of a lesson Pi is trying to teach. The island conveniently came into the story when Pi and Richard Parker were no longer hoping for survival, but instead they accepted death. Once on the island, Pi restocked supplies, ate all the algae

Religion is a very significant aspect of life which shapes one’s ideas, judgements, and actions. Sadly, there are instances in which some religions undermine other religions, which can be damaging to the way someone views themselves in conjunction with the religion they identify with. In the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel, religion plays a major role in Pi’s life, and it influences his beliefs and actions. In the poem Religious Diversity Is Celebrating God’s Creativity by Gregory Allen Uhan, the author emphasizes how every religion should be celebrated, not undermined. In both texts, the idea of religious acceptance is used to convey how one religion is not inherently better than another, and all that religions express God.

In a lot of cases fiction outshines the truth. In today's world there is often an emphasis on telling the truth and only the truth, however in some cases fiction is the better option. Fiction is better than truth in quite a few cases in both Yann Martel's book "Life of Pi" and my own life; including distraction from events, not being led down the wrong path, and escaping from bad situations.

In this passage, Pi is talking about how much he has change throughout the story. This is based on the fact that before this event took place. Pi couldn’t eat anything meat related because he was a vegetarian at the beginning of the book. But, when he got lost at sea. His mentally of not eating got changed due to him wanting to live. As a result of that, now he can eat anything he wants without feeling guilt about it because “[s]ometimes [he] just didn’t have the time to consider what was before [him]. It either went into [his] mouth that instant or was lost to Richard Parker” (Martel 249). Another thing about his character is that he treats the tiger as his pet, knowing full well that his father told him never to get close to one.

“One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.” Certainly, the Life of Pi novel by Yann Martel describes the fears, religious struggles, and most importantly, growth of Pi Patel in one such year of struggle, as noted by Sigmund Freud. In Life of Pi, a boy tells two accounts of his isolation at sea on a lifeboat. In one of his versions of the story, Pi is on the lifeboat with a zebra, hyena, orangutan, and a tiger. In the other version, he is trapped with his mother, the cook of the ship that sunk, and a sailor on the ship who died on the lifeboat and was eaten by the cook.