Life Of Pi By Yann 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 Life of Pi, the author Yann Martel utilizes symbolism throughout the novel to illustrate the adaptive path one goes through to cope with conflict; succumbing to a lower morale, seeking hope through religion, and self conformity.

Karanvir Dhami Ms. Yu ENG3U March 7, 2011 Symbolism in Life of Pi In Life of Pi there are many literary devices used to present the different themes in the novel. The main literary device used in Life of Pi is symbolism. Symbolism is often used to represent an object to something else, either by association or by resemblance. Most of the names of animals, objects and even humans in this novel have a symbolic meaning. In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, symbolism such as pi’s name, the colour orange and the algae island, are used throughout the novel to provide Pi with protection to help him either survive or overcome his emotional pain. The mathematical pi is undefined, infinite and unable to be understood, just like Piscine Patel.

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.

Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel, is a novel about a young boy, Pi, trapped with a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker who survive together in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days. The central theme of the novel is Pi’s faith in God, which proves to be a crucial part of his survival during the extreme situation. In the book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster, the author talks about the importance of literary elements such as symbols, geography, and stories to a literary piece. These elements are used in Life of Pi to develop its compelling story about growing up.

1. The main characters in Life of Pi are Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi) and Richard Parker the Bengal tiger. Pi is the protagonist he is hopeful and believes that things get better. He is very optimistic which gets him through a lot of his troubles. In the beginning of the book Pi seemed to have things the rough way and continues that way but he was very hopeful. In the beginning of his lifeboat journey he was sure things would get better but as time went by he wasn't sure anymore but he had things to remind him to keep going. I also think he became more grownup and stronger by the end of the book. Richard Parker is the tiger on the lifeboat with Pi he is there every step of the way with Pi. He helps Pi get through things. Richard Parker is very

There are many instances in Pi’s story in which symbolism plays an important role in communicating meaning to readers. At the end of the novel, Pi reveals to Japanese investigators a story that details his journey of survival that replaces the animals with humans. In this retold story, Richard Parker is replaced by Pi. The idea of Pi and Richard Parker being one and the same indicates that a part of Richard Parker is present in Pi’s true character. Pi makes this comment on fear: “It is a clever, treacherous adversary...It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy” (Martel 161). This description of fear sounds an awful lot like how one could describe a feral tiger. Richard Parker, then, is symbolic of Pi’s fear and of how he is able to eventually control it. Another example of symbolism is the lifeboat. The lifeboat, his salvation from the perils of sea, is symbolic of his faith in God. He clings to the lifeboat when he is in need just as he clings to God in his time of dire need. The boat, and therefore his faith, is what eventually carries him to safety. Richard Parker and the lifeboat are examples of symbolism that reveal hidden aspects of Pi’s true

Yann Martel's novel (2001) and Ang Lee's film adaption (2012) of Life of Pi harbour themes such as isolation and the extent one would go to in order to survive. The story is split into two parts, the first part focuses on Piscine "Pi" Patel's background and his religious journey. Part two focuses on Pi's predicaments while he is stranded out at sea for 227 days. The second section of the story is renown for Pi's situation with a tiger named Richard Parker. Not only does the protagonist have to focus on his own survival, Pi needed to be attentive of the Bengal tiger; all whilst dealing with his loneliness. Martel and Led convey the ideas of isolation and survivability through the use of several literary and stylistic features throughout the texts.

In addition to personification, Pi creates an emotional bond with Richard Parker through their journey, so when he leaves Pi is confused as to “how he could abandon [him] so unceremoniously, without any sort of goodbye, without looking back even once” (Martel 6). Richard Parker’s depart is characteristic of how a tiger should react, but since Pi has personified the tiger, he expects an elaborate emotional goodbye since he thought they built up a relationship. Through personification, Pi is able to create a relationship with Richard Parker that cannot be reciprocated because in truth he is just a tiger. While Pi denies it, he personifies both Orange Juice and Richard Parker in the first story giving them human qualities in order to build relationships with the

To begin with “The life of Pi” is a story on how a boy survived a sunken ship which was caused by a massive storm. After the storm he is placed on a raft with 4 different animals that includes zebra, tiger, orangutan, and hyena. In order to survive he would fish for his food something the Native Americans would do. The Native Americans would let their prisoner John Smith

In addition, Pi decides to feed a “450-pound” (Martel 61) bengal tiger named Richard Parker for his own self preservation. He acknowledges, “I had to tame him. It was at that moment that I realized this necessity…More likely the worst would happen: the simple passage of time, in which his animal toughness would easily outlast my human frailty” (Martel 164). This means that Pi fears that the fierce animal strength and power of Richard Parker would eventually kill and eat him for food.

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.

Everyone can pick an animal that they believe describes themselves or symbolizes themselves, but in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi he takes those characteristics to a new level. The symbolism of a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and a tiger all contribute to the characteristics of Pi and his journey through the sea, together, on a life boat.

Earlier in the novel, Pi said that God followed love. Pi's first story was about him loving Richard Parker. Yet in his second story, there was little love to be found. If the second story, the one with the savage butcher and cannibalism, were true, then it would be obvious why Pi tried to hide it at first, as it is the sadder story, not the better one. So with this theme, the audience learns that imagination can create happiness in us when there was none. Finally, the theme of man's coexistence with nature is one of the most important theme in the novel. Martel seems to illustrate this theme with an Again and Again signpost when he has Pi describe how animals find routine to be best, then has Pi gain a routine when he is surviving on the lifeboat. He also illustrates this theme through a Contrast and Contradiction moment when he has Richard Parker, a beast several times larger than Pi, be the one thing that comforts Pi and basically offered to let Pi train him as shown through his prusten. With this theme, readers are taught that humans may not be so different from wild animals, considering how we are animals in a