Life Of Pi And The Trial Of God

Yann Martel manipulates the narrative style and structural devices within this passage to support the will to survive theme that is present in Life of Pi. Before the shipwreck, Pi was a spiritual individual with a strong appreciation for the joy and peace in life. Pi commonly experienced cruelty and doubt from his family and friends; however, he remained calm by following the guidance from his three religions. After the shipwreck, the spirituality within Pi’s life was tampered with because the chaotic and brute actions of the animals threatened to separate Pi from his peaceful demeanour. At first, Pi maintained his interaction with God, but as the days passed and the conditions worsened, Pi’s animal instincts began to develop.

People often choose to believe in a higher power to find meaning in life and because of life experiences that lead them to God. Pi’s experiences as a child meeting Father Martin on vacation and the Muslim baker attract Pi to the love and devotion demonstrated by these people of different faiths. Pi’s faith and belief in God only strengthened when he was lost at sea, he knew that he must have meaning in life if God kept him alive through

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.

The will to live is a strong urge of survival that occurs when one’s life is threatened. The novel and film Life of Pi is about a boy named Piscine Molitor Patel who is lost in the middle of the Pacific Ocean due to a shipwreck with a 450 pound Bengal Tiger. The theme that fits the novel and film the best is the will to live. The novel and film effectively prove the theme by using symbols to portray how badly Pi wants to live. Characterization also plays an important role in proving the theme as the novel and book show how Pi and his tiger have to change themselves to live. Cinematic techniques such as different types of camera angles are used as well to prove that the will to live is the essential theme in the film. In the novel, Yann Martel shows how the camera angles prove what they prove. The film and novel Life of Pi effectively capture the theme of the will to live by the effective use of symbolism, characterization, and cinematic techniques.

In the Life of Pi, Piscine Molitor Patel is a teenage boy who goes through this dynamic journey to survival. But he doesn't do it alone. He is also stuck with a wild Bengal tiger, Richard Parker. He goes through this dynamic journey to survival. Pi explores issues of facing the reality of survival, being resourceful and even after all he’s been through he reflects on the struggles of what he faced in the wild.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along’”. Yann Martel’s novel, Life of Pi, chronicles the life of Pi Patel, a young boy who lives in Pondicherry, India. During his childhood he discovers his growing ambition towards practicing three religions, and develops a curiosity for zoology.

Yann Martel’s theme of truth being relative is again established when Pi experiences a shipwrecked. On the lifeboat, Pi continues to survive living with a bengal tiger, he survives after seeing the other animals on the boat kill each other, and he survives by eating fish even though he is a vegetarian. Inspite of all the suffering Pi is going through he still turns towards God. This is proved when Pi says, “I practised religious rituals that I adapted to the circumstances – solitary Masses without priests or consecrated Communion Hosts, darshans without murtis, and pujas with turtle meat for prasad, acts of devotion to Allah not knowing where Mecca was and getting my Arabic wrong. They brought me comfort, that is certain. But it was hard, oh, it was hard. Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love – but sometimes it was so hard to love. Sometimes my heart was sinking so fast with anger, desolation and weariness, I was afraid it would sink to the very bottom of the Pacific and I would not be able to lift it back up...The blackness would stir and eventually go away, and God would remain, a shining light in my heart. I would go on loving” (208-209). Through this quote, Yann Martel is showing how Pi continues to worship God even though he was suffering and struggling with his faith. Pi still believes that God is the most important to him inspite of what his is going through emotionally

All of these factors influenced Pi’s survival while he was stranded at sea. “God preserve me! No supplication was ever more passionate yet more gently carried by the breeze” (Martel, page 140) This quote shows that Pi was very passionate about his prayers and religion while at sea. This is because he did not have anything else to believe; his religion was all he had left to place his hope in.

Pi goes through many obstacles on his journey. All the obstacles that Pi encountered, were because he has faith in God and in himself. Pi´s faith in God helped him at the time he was stuck on the lifeboat with Richard Parker and all the other zoo animals. The faith that Pi has in God developed the faith he has in himself.

Imagine being Pi and knowing your whole family died in a shipwreck. You have nothing left but faith in God and a few animals. One of the animals of which is a Bengal Royal tiger named Richard Parker whose ready to pounce at any given second, and a snarling hyena with a bone shattering bite. And on top of that, having a feeling of immense aching hunger and thirst while being surrounded by nothing but a vast ocean. Not to mention the blistering heat and violent storms. In the book “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel, Pi relies on his strong religious faith to help him survive through hardships while he is stranded on the sea.

Through this ordeal, his faith is tested. His religion gives him hope and sanity and the relationship he forms with the tiger helps him through his journey. In order to survive his ordeal at sea, Pi calls upon his beliefs from a number of different religions. The religions that he relies on are Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, and Atheism. Pi prayed three times a day thus placing his survival in God’s hands, while still using his scientific knowledge.

In chapter 86, Pi looks out over the expansive ocean, towards the horizon, and realizes there is a ship steaming towards him. All the trials and difficulties Pi has experienced up to this point were gone and “all hurt and frustration fell away and I positively blazed with joy” (Martel 123). Pi knew he was going to be saved and immediately began thanking the Hindu god Ganesha and the Islamic god Allah. Even in the most desperate time in his life, Pi never lost his faith and

Most would assume that floating through the Pacific Ocean is not as bad as it sounds but floating across the Pacific with a Bengal Tiger is a completely different story. Pi must battle all the elements, and the Bengal Tiger, Richard Parker, to make it safely back to land. In the text “Life of Pi,” Yann Martel employs several literary devices, including theme, throughout the text to connect to the reader and keep them interested. Martel introduces many themes into the story through Pi and his lessons learned. In order to support the theme Martel introduces symbolism into the text.

Pi is a devoted follower of three faiths. You would expect most people to give up on religion and life under Pi’s circumstances. He did the complete opposite by adapting to his environment. Even in Pi’s delusional mind he stayed true to his faiths. Bringing turtle meat for Prasad that probably kept him alive. When talking to Richard Parker about eating a leather boot he still didn't because “[he] is a Hindu and Hindus consider cows sacred”. His faith was motivation to live and what he kept him going.

“All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways.” ‘Life of Pi’ written by Yann Martel, is a figurative novel that tells the story of struggling to survive through seemingly insurmountable circumstances. Within ‘Life of Pi’, there are many key elements of symbolism and motifs that are repeatedly explored throughout, that reflect the struggle of survival when it is threatened. These elements are explored as the protaganist, Pi Patel, faces the obstacle of loss, the significance in establishing territorial dominance, and the importance of storytelling through the epitomy of survival expressed through the character of Richard Parker. Consequently so, Martel is able to convey his ultimate message of the need for belief and faith in something in order to survive with the aid of these symbolic elements.