Life Of Pi By Martel

The Life of Pi, an award-winning novel by Yann Martel, tells the story of Pi Patel, a young boy stranded at sea with an adult Bengal tiger. Marooned on a tiny lifeboat adrift in the Pacific Ocean, Pi finds himself struggling to survive. Faced with imminent suffering and death brought on by hunger, thirst, and an unending battle with the elements, Pi must make a decision between upholding his and society’s strict set of morals and values, or letting his survival instincts take over. Through compelling language and imagery, Martel gives Pi’s conflict between morals, fear, and survival a sense of excitement, suspense, and climax.

In Shakespeare’s, “The Tragedy of Hamlet”, the protagonist, Hamlet, is a highly intelligent and perceptive man. His life turns awry after the death of his father and Hamlet faces his greatest moral dilemma. Likewise, Yann Martel’s “Life of Pi” chronicles the life of a young Indian boy stranded on a boat with a Bengal tiger for 227 days with only his faith to keep him going. Both Piscine Patel and Prince Hamlet were deeply religious, however, their outlooks and philosophies on life were vastly different. Hamlet struggled to trust others, having only a true confidant in Horatio. Whilst Pi on the other hand, befriends everyone, even those who have opposing beliefs to him.

Have you ever been in a life or death situation? If you have; then you know two sides of you come out. The positive and negative or the happy and evil. In the story Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, Pi ends up stranded in the ocean for 227 days with a tiger. He makes decisions throughout his journey on the lifeboat that affect his survival. Pi, lives with his evil side and during the journey his evil side shows through as much as his good side. When people strive for survival in life or death circumstances, they must compromise their values and come to terms with their inner evil.

The book starts with Pi recounting his youth and where he grew up along with the many things that shaped his character. He tells stories of his teachers, insults that made him change his name, and his faith in three religions. I made the assumption that Pi was living an upper-middle-class lifestyle in India because Pi attends a good school as he says, “After St. Joseph’s, I went to Petit Seminaire, the best private English-medium secondary school in Pondicherry.” (Martel 21) and the quality of

Life of Pi begins with an unique hook in its author’s note. In the author’s note, the fictional author is struggling to come up with a new book concept. He travels to India for inspiration and this is where he meets Francis Adirubasamy, or better known as Mamaji in the book. Adirubasamy claims that he has “a story that will make you believe in God”. After he recounts on the story, the author is determined to meet up with the main character, and he was reeled into the amazing world known as the Life of Pi. As the author listens into Mr. Patel’s adventure, his main objective was to believe in God and this was obviously completed from a quote in the author’s note. “...I agreed with Mr. Adirubasamy that this was, indeed, a story to make you believe in God.”

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

In the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel, we see Pi’s character develop both emotionally and spiritually through the process described in Joseph Campbell’s the Hero’s Journey. Throughout the journey, we see Pi find his faith in his Ordinary Life, lose it during his Ordeal, and rediscover it when he has his Return with the Elixir.

In contrast to the background of Lord of the Flies, Pi, the main character in Life of Pi, has a relatively peaceful childhood. He grows up in the 1970s in Pondicherry, South India, during a time of peace and prosperity. Except for school bullies, he is largely ignorant of violence, bar the time his father exposed him and his brother to the dangerous tendencies of the zoo animals. Furthermore, Pi explores religion for himself, and while he does have values impressed upon him by his parents, such as not eating meat, he is largely responsible for creating his own unique set of values that revolve around three major religions.

Damaged people are dangerous Because they know they can survive. This quote was said by Josephine Hart. I have chosen this quote to express the idea that people who have gone through something usually are able to find closure and get past that obstacle. “Life Of Pi by Yann Martel” describes a teenage boy named Pi whose parents died in a shipwreck. After that tragedy it landed Pi on a Lifeboat with Richard Parker a Bengal tiger, Orange Juice a Hyena and a Zebra in the Middle of the Pacific ocean.In order for Pi to survive, he has to use intelligence and creativity. Although both the film and the book show pi overcoming his obstacles. The film does not stay faithful to text Life Of Pi because there were many differences and few similarities.

On its surface, Martel’s Life of Pi proceeds as a far-fetched yet not completely unbelievable tale about a young Indian boy named Pi who survives after two hundred twenty-seven days on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. It is an uplifting and entertaining story, with a few themes about companionship and survival sprinkled throughout. The ending, however, reveals a second story – a more realistic and dark account replacing the animals from the beginning with crude human counterparts. Suddenly, Life of Pi becomes more than an inspiring tale and transforms into a point to be made about rationality, faith, and how storytelling correlates the two. The point of the book is not for the reader to decide which

When writing, authors need to think of their audience and involve an element of surprise. Authors use plot twists in their writing to help them accomplish surprising the audience, allowing them to keep their audience’s interest. Not only do plot twists help keep the audience’s attention, they also make the audience question their beliefs about what they think of the story. Authors can use this tool to advance their themes. Yann Martel uses a crazy plot twist in his book, the Life of Pi, to suggest to readers that truth is relative.

B) Pi is a very brave and religious character. Pi being brave kept him alive throughout the story. He lasted 7 months stranded on a boat with just himself and a Bengal tiger! Even though in the beginning of the story, when he was young, he kept to himself; in the second half of the book he became extremely powerful. His three-way religion comes into the story for more hope he’ll live. Religion kept him sane; it gave him something

Hinduism deeply changes Pi for the good, although people don’t believe his story, Pi is convinced that through his faith, he survives crossing the Pacific Ocean. There is also a great amount of symbolism in Martel’s novel, from the Tiger, to even the travel itself, symbolism plays a great deal in the Book.

A person needs many things to survive; like food, water and shelter. People also need to be mentally stable to make good decisions when necessary. In the novel, The Life of Pi, the author, Yann Martel, puts the main character, Pi Patel, in a survival situation where he needed to acquire all these things to survive. Pi Patel’s mental needs are the most important part to his survival because once his mental needs are met he makes smart decisions and then can proceed to fulfill his other needs. Pi’s mental needs are more important than his physical needs when he invites Richard Parker onto his lifeboat.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel is a compelling, profound, and a well written book. The main character, Piscine Motor Patel is a particularly loving and caring boy, especially for animals. When Pi was younger, he “always shuddered when [he] snapped open a banana because it sounded to [him] as the breaking of an animal's neck.” (page 197). Throughout chapter 61 in Life of Pi, Pi demonstrates how humans act more as animals when put under the right circumstances.