Pi’s survival with Islam In The Life of Pi, Yann Martel creates a dynamic character who becomes shipwrecked at sea, stuck with nothing but his varied religions and a tiger. The exceptionally strict rules of the religion of islam, and the need for routine helped Pi to keep moving on and give him a reason to live. It gives him a routine to follow every day and a real reason to go on. At his darkest times, when Pi felt as if he had no reason to carry on, Islam gave him reason. To understand why Islam was so important to Pi, it is important to realise what Islam is in itself. Islam originated in the world thousands of years ago. At its creation the basic beliefs, that people still carry out today, were too. These basic beliefs are the Five pillars. …show more content…
Each one has its own beliefs based around one central God. The largest group are the Sunnites. They are a very traditional group, focusing on the sayings of Muhammad and reinforcing the community. The Shiah are their “rival” group, being much more strict and believing that no one can understand the word of the Quran, are much smaller than the Sunnites. Community leaders known as Imams are the only to understand the Quran according to them. The newest sect and fastest growing one are the Sufis. Pi’s teacher was a Sufi so it is probable that Pi got his Sufi beliefs from …show more content…
Yet on top of this and his 2 other religions, he seemed to love it more than anyone could understand. He seems to take an early liking to the religion, saying “I challenge anyone to understand Islam, its spirit, and not to love it. It is a beautiful religion of brotherhood and devotion.” (Martel, 77). What appealed to Pi the most was the “deep religious contact.” (Martel, 77). Another reason Pi enjoys studying Islam is the simplicity of it. Few deities and complete devotion, leaving no room for Skepticality. It is this construct that draws Pi to the
At the beginning of the novel, Pi’s story is described as “a story that will make you believe in God.” Writer himself Yann Martel was going thru his writers crisis, traveling world looking for a good story to write something about. Martel found a man who told his story. His man named Piscine Molitor Patel who is a practicing follower of three religions: Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. For this reason, extremely mature boy must constantly fight the lack of tolerance and understanding in his surroundings. While in the case of adult people the lack of a specific decision on the faith can be perceived as humiliating, but Pi is fully justified because of his young age. His desire is to find the road to the creator will be seriously tested during
The Life of Pi is a book filled with many fantasy adventures that will have an excellent impact on what you may or not believe in. This novel was published in 2001 by author Yann Martel. Yann Martel is a writer who is trying to make sense of life, just like any other human being trying to deal with everyday obstacles. In this book we see that the protagonist, Piscine Molitor also known as Pi takes us through an adventure that will question our faith in religion. Pi is not pleased by only following his ancestors’ beliefs; he believes that there is much more to religion. In The life of Pi we see that Pi argues amongst his family in what he wants to believe in. His father is not at all religious and Pi has taken up religion as a hobby. Now Pi is a Hindu, Muslim and a Christian and he undergoes a tragedy, a shipwreck with his family on voyage to Canada from India. As he goes through this process it puts his faith to the test. At the time of this voyage he is a teenager exploring different beliefs and he sees nothing wrong with believing in three different religions. We can argue that there is a war between religion and science. Pi on the other hand does not argue with those of other beliefs, he calls the atheists his brethrens as well. “It was my first clue that atheist are my brothers and sisters of a different faith, and every word they speak speaks of faith. Like me, they go as far as the legs of reason will carry
Piscine Montair Patel was a firm believer in God through Hinduism beliefs. As he begins to grow up and experience new things, Pi stumbles upon Christianity when visiting a church at age fourteen. The Father there explains to Pi about the story of Christ to which he listens in with horror. Despite his negative reaction to the story, Pi grows fascinated with the religion and asks to be become a Christian. That wasn’t all though. At the age of fifteen, he happen to come across a Muslim bread baker, Mr. Kumar, who intrigued him when Pi saw him do his daily prayers in the midst of the conversation. This would then lead to his conversion of Islam, along with his Hindus and Christian beliefs. Even though Pi is satisfied
“I have a story to make you believe in God” (Martel ix). However, the interpretation of “God” is very fluid. There are hundreds of religions throughout the world, each of which has thousands of followers. The four main ones however, are Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism. All but one, Buddhism, focus on one or more God(s). In Yann Martel’s book, Life of Pi, Pi breaks the social norm and follows all four religions as opposed to one. Throughout the novel, Pi follows Christianity, Hinduism and Islam, while subconsciously practicing Buddhism.
Pi feels it is okay to practice all three religions because they all have one goal or purpose which is the belief in God. Since each story he has heard is different, it does not take away from the main moral. This ties in with the imagination aspect because no matter how a story is told, the end result is the same. An example of this is when he is confronted and surrounded by the Priest, Pandit, and Imam. His response as to why he was practicing Hindu, Christian and Muslim faiths was, “Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God.”(Page 76) Believing in all three religions is something Pi feels is important to him because he is just trying to love and pray to God in as many ways as possible. Although the stories are interesting, it doesn’t really matter how you got to the ending if the purpose of the story is the equal. The important of Pi’s imagination is triggered by this and has later gone into great effect. The religions he practices represent hat behind every reason, everyone has their own way of saying it, whether it be fiction or non-fiction.
In the book Life of Pi the author Yann Martel wrote about a young boy named Pi Patel surviving on a lifeboat by himself. Throughout the entire book Pi was very close to religion and in the end his religions were the main reason he had survived. At the start of the book Yann Martel introduces three religions, Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism. There are three main points that aided in Pi’s survival. One being that Pi was open to religions and started to follow the Islamic faith. The second reason is that Islam believed that one should pray five times a day, and Pi did exactly this. The last reason is that the religion
The way Pi acts throughout his journey suggests that having faith is one of the most important practises to learn as it can give an individual hope. Pi has a strong connection to all his practising faiths: Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Society is set to have many unspoken rules that we must abide by to
Due to Pi’s devotion to all of his faiths, particularly Hinduism, not only changed how he thought about his current situation, but also changed how he would think about every single situation after in Martel’s Life of Pi.
As explained in the book, Pi follows three different religions; Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. Pi is extremely interested in all three religions and tries to find himself through religion. Although, he does not understand why he can’t follow all three religions. “But he can’t be a Hindu, a Christian and a Muslim. It’s impossible. He must choose.” (76) This thread represents that he dedicates himself to the things he believes in and will fight for what he believes in. Even when his family disagreed with his decision of following all three religions, he still fought for what he believed.
Pi practices three religions: Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. “But he can’t be a Hindu, a Christian and a Muslim. It’s impossible. He must choose” (Martel 90). Pi follows
The evident motif of religion plays a major factor in Pi’s life; however the author chooses not to focus on one religion specifically but instead enforces a glorification of more religions. Martel creates a main character who is a curious young boy who decides to learn about Christianity, Hinduism and Islam all at once. Even though Pi is primarily
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’’
(62), Pi, Pi thinks this one day after talking to Mr. Kumar. B. This quote shows the religious part of Pi. After learning about the Muslim faith he notices how everything is related to each other. This is important to the story because religion is what kept him alive on the
I think that faith plays a significant role in shaping Pi´s personality of Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. Pi was born in Hindu and at the age of 14 Pi met Jesus Christ. When Pi met Jesus Christ he became a christian and began attending church. A year later Pi decided to change his religion and become a Muslim. He became a Muslim because he met a baker and the baker told him all about his religion and Pi decided he wanted to be a Muslim. Pi continues with his three religions Hinduism, Catholic and Muslim. He attends certain events when they have then for each religion. When everyone found out the Pi was in three different religions they didnt seem to like it but they couldnt stop him from believing.
In the book the life of Pi religion was a big part of how Pi lived his life and how he survived out on the ocean for the two hundred twenty seven days that he was there for. (p.g 110)