In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi readers get to experience a journey that Pi must survive through to live. After the ship that Pi was on sunk, Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with an orangutan, a zebra, a hyena, and a 450 pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. In the book Life of Pi, one theme that exists throughout the text is the will to survive. Both Pi and Animals among the lifeboat show this theme in the book. One Example when the theme the will to survive is shown is when a very modest and peaceful orangutan named Orange Juice, fights ferociously to survive. The hyena attacks Orange Juice and out of self-defence and the will to survive, a modest and peaceful animal is turned into a ferocious being. Orange Juice delivers a hard blow to the hyena's head but ends up dying from the hyena. Another example where the theme is shown is when the Zebra lands in the lifeboat and breaks his leg. The Zebra first tries to survive through the broken leg but even when the hyena attacks the Zebra with the broken leg the Zebra tries to retaliate because of the zebra’s will to survive. The zebra does not die and give up until the day. …show more content…
Pi has been a vegetarian his whole life but he soon finds himself starving on the lifeboat. Pi then attempts to catch fish while using a leather shoe as bait. Pi eventually fails but is surprised by a school of flying fish. Pi grabs one and hesitates. 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
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.
Pi is alone with Richard Parker on the lifeboat and they both starve and suffer with dehydration. Pi starts catching fishes for both of them. He always gives the biggest share to Richard Parker as he is the strongest. One day, he decides to eat the largest part. He wants to calm his desire for hunger. He does not want to share anything with Richard Parker. Pi starts eating like an animal. Pi tells, “It came as an unmistakable indication to me of how I had sunk the day I noticed, with a pinching of the heart, that I ate like an animal” (Martel 183). The innocent boy is now as dangerous as an animal that can do anything for the food. His yearning for food makes him selfish. It is in pi’s hand not to sacrifices his integrity, but he chooses to sacrifice because he knows that at this critical situation it is right to do. Even though Pi loses his integrity, he gains the power of being the strongest one on the
Even after he kills a fish in a seemingly careless fashion, in his sleep “[his] mind lit up by the…flickering of the dying [fish]” seems to haunt him with resentment (Martel 186). This subconscious image is a product of Pi’s internal conflict with his new methods of survival. Therefore, Pi is unable to completely eliminate his feelings while trying to survive due to his torn thoughts between morality and necessity.
When he was fifteen, Pi became a Muslim, but Pi’s parents figure about his religions as they sit in a restaurant and are confronted by Imam and Pandit. Pi talks to his dad about the 1970’s politics in India, his father moved the whole family to Canada because of the actions that took place. The family did not set sail for Canada until June 21, 1977, Pi’s mother made sure she had her cigarettes since she did not know if she could find her favorite brand in Canada, but she was also nervous leaving a place where she lived her whole life. As they were sailing aboard the Japanese cargo ship, it sunk into the Pacific Ocean and Piscine ended up in a life boat. He saw Richard Parker in the water struggling to stay alive, Pi rushes to save the 450 pound tiger. But then he realized how idiotic that plan was and dives into the
Ultimately, Pi was a sensitive man who did not believe in killing animals, but when left in a life or death situation, Pi killed many fish along the days he was stranded in the ocean in order to live. Although this transformation is not easy, it is necessary for the hero ..... This transformation is displayed in the novel when Pi talks about remorse when killing an animal, " You may be astonished that in such a short period of time I could go from weeping over the muffled killing of a flying fish to gleefully bludgeoning to death a dorado." (Martel 205). In addition, Edward Bloom goes through a different transformation of his own.
He is most likely frighted by this idea because he lived with animals and woke up with them every single day throughout his childhood. However when he is put in a situation where he needs to fight for survival, he needs to change his eating habits. Pi tried for a very long time to stay away from consuming animals, but at one point he realized in order to stay alive, he needed to eat his first ever animal. When reminiscing about the event he said, “You may be astonished that in such a short period of time I could go from weeping over the muffled killing of a flying fish to gleefully bludgeoning to death a dorado. I could explain it by arguing that profiting from a pitiful flying fish's navigational mistake made me shy and sorrowful, while the excitement of actively capturing a great dorado made me sanguinary and self-assured. But in point of fact the explanation lies elsewhere. It is simple and brutal: a person can get used to anything, even to killing” (185). This line is so powerful because he truly does feel bad for the animal. Even through all of the tough times that he is enduring on the boat, he still feels really bad about
Pi kills a fish for the first time and that experience has changed him. At first, Pi was upset about his actions but sees that one must do what they must to survive. Pi desperately will do whatever is needed in order to survive even if that means doing things he never imagined himself doing.
This tone is inaugurated through the contrast between Pi’s previous life in India and his new found life sailing the Pacific. Pi is a “strict vegetarian… [and] [he] descended in a level savagery [he] never imagined possible.” (Martel 218). Once at sea with minimalistic provisions, Pi decided to go against his vegetarian ways to persevere towards his goal of reaching land, eventually getting used to his new ways as “a person can get used to anything, even killing.” (Martel 205).
Pi spends an extended period of time at sea, and becomes quite difficult, especially with a 450-pound Bengal tiger on board with him. Pi break away from his vegetarian beliefs, “Lord, to think I’m a strict vegetarian. To think that when I was a child I always shuddered when I snapped open a banana because it sounded to me like the breaking of an animal’s neck. I descended to a level of savagery I never imagined possible”(Martel 249). Given the life and death situation, Pi loses a part of him in order to survive.
What inspires the will to survive in an extreme environment? The excerpt from Life of Pi by Yann Martel describes how Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger, Richard Parker, and is able to find the will to survive. In Life of Pi, Yann Martel uses events to develop the theme of survival through Pi thinking wisely to survive. Of Course, Pi has to think wisely to survive.
Everyday on the lifeboat poses new struggles for Pi but devotion to carry on keeps Pi alive even if that means looking past his values, this becomes illustrated when: “I will further confess that driven by the extremity of my need and the madness to which it pushed me, I ate some of his flesh. I mean small pieces, little strips that I meant for the gaff’s hook that, when dried by the sun, looked like ordinary animal flesh. You must understand, my suffering was unremitting and he was already dead.” (Chapter 91, Page 322). As observed, Pi goes from crying over eating a fish to eating human flesh, (granted there is a great length of time between the two events) which concludes that as time went on Pi lost his moral values.
THE WILL TO LIVE-life of pi is a story about struggling to survive through incredible odds.The shipwrecked survivors face controversy.Pi abandons his life-long vegetarianism by eating fish to survive.This caused pi to decide what kind of actions are acceptable in life or death
Picture this: You’re stranded on a fragile boat in the middle of the ocean. No food, water, security or even protective clothing. A gush of fear just hovers around you. When existence flow towards uncertainty, and believes shatter due to internal conflicts. When you’re alone. When currents seemed unleashing its rage to engulf the boat for unknown reasons. When instincts play god in assortment. When horizon seems to have painted with vibrant pictures of past. How would you survive? You have no one around you other than an untamed, terrifying tiger, which makes you all the more petrified. What would you do to survive? Would you know how to survive? Or is it possible to sustain the notions of survival by hoping someone would perceive your beats of hope? The movie I have chosen to analyze is Life of Pi. Life of Pi is a movie that revolves around courage, resilience and hope. The protagonist Pi Patel experiences an internal journey of resilience after the unfortunate shipwreck incident. Additionally, the strong bond built between the tiger and Pi generated some trust in each other and that strengthened the courage Pi had through the
“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.
Despite the fact that Pi is a vegetarian, he has to eat raw food in order to survive. Pi realizes that he is becoming similar to Richard Parker in the ways of eating. The descriptions of Pi’s eating habits show Pi’s savage side. Without Richard Parker, Pi would not have had a role model to show him the ways of surviving.