How Does Yann Martel Use Religion

Religion is “the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods” (Dictionary). In society, many people follow the ethics of certain religions in order to make decisions about their life. The author Yann Martel uses Piscine Molitor Patel in the novel Life of Pi to send a message to readers about using ambiguity to create a theme about morality through the use of religion as spiritual beliefs can stabilize and nourish one in times of hardship. The use of religion, story-telling and science compared to religion resulted in ambiguity and therefore illustrated the theme of the importance of morality.

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

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.

“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.

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

Martel describes Pi as a gentle boy with many curiosities and a great interest in variety, especially multiple religions, those of which are Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity, and shares that the adult Pi studies cosmogony, any theory concerning the coming into existence or origin of the universe, or about how reality came to be. Pi’s

There are two people in Martel’s book “Life of Pi” that truly represent this. Martel uses the same name for those two people. Both characters are named Mr. Kumar. The first Mr. Kumar that is introduced is a teacher. He has his own unique perspective on the world and chooses not to “believe in religion” (Martel 29).

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

Prior to the sinking of the Tsimtsum Pi Patel, the protagonist, deals with criticism from the “holy men” because they have different perceptions of the others religions which is influenced by their knowledge. To explain Pi is a devoted follower of 3 different religions: Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. In India it is common to be hinduist, so naturally he was brought up that way. Then one day during a visit to a tea plantation he falls upon the story of Jesus christ and is perplexed by god’s sacrifice. Unable to rationalise God’s actions he spends 3 days learning more about god and his world. Consequently he too becomes a christian with the help of his new friend in church. Hardly a year later while walking near the zoo he meets Mr. kumar who prays in front of Pi. The way a muslim prays touches Pi deeply to see that level of devotion. ‘Quick, necessary, physical, muttered, striking’

Yann Martel establishes in the beginning of Life of Pi in the author’s note that the claim to the heart of the novel in this story will “make you believe in God.” Since God is an identity that exists in a fiction or non-fiction realm, the audience is led to believe that the story to be told is true, opening the reader to the idea that belief in anything can be belief in God. Pi makes sense of his life through the expressions of Hinduism, Christianity and Muslim, “That which sustains the universe beyond thought and language, and that which is at the core of us and struggles for expression.” (Pg.68) This emphasizes Pi’s dedication and devotion to his religions and God. Martel is opening up to Pi’s story to convince the reader to find faith in Pi’s words.

In the beginning of the Life of Pi, Yann Martel establishes his theme of truth being relative through the main character, Pi. When Pi was confronted about worshiping three different religions, he says,

The illustration of belief and behavior is well maintained as Pi incorporates a religious aspect to his life. His choice in practicing three religions is key to his behavior. As it is portrayed, Pi does not see a reason to follow just one religion, instead he wants to be able to practice three.

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 I mature into a young adult, my thoughts and feelings about certain topics have changed. One of those topics is religion. I started out as a very devout Christian when I was younger, but as I got older I began to disagree with a lot of the things I followed. Over time, I stopped liking Christianity altogether and only believed that people followed it because it gave them a higher moral ground above everyone else. However, Yann Martel’s novel gave me the epiphany that religion meant so much more than this.

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