Life Of Pi By Yann Martel

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.

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.

Everyone must learn to overcome, or acclimate to fear. It is an unavoidable part of life. People do not usually address all of their fears at one time, but occasionally, unlikely situations occur. In Life Of Pi, by Yann Martel, Piscine (Pi) Patel overcomes many fears, in a slight 227 days aboard a lifeboat, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. He and his family are in the process of moving, when the Tsimtsum, the boat they are boarding, mysteriously sinks. Pi is the only survivor, along with an orangutan, a zebra, a hyena, and a Bengal tiger. Although many themes are present, the most prominent through the whole book is learning to live with and overcome the very thing that causes the most grief, the most anxiety, and a lot of reflection; Fear.

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

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.

An author’s use of figurative language enables a better understanding of the story and its characters. Yann Martel 's use of metaphor and allegory in his novel Life of Pi gives a better insight into Pi and his story. The events of Pi 's journey are not necessarily to be taken literally; instead, it is important to think about what they represent. Pi 's ordeal itself and the experiences and places he encounters on the way are fantastical concepts that symbolize realistic themes. Examples of Martel 's use of figurative language are the island and Richard Parker 's presence on the boat.

Throughout Yann Martel’s Life of Pi many elements of the novel blur the lines of reality and fantasy. This leaves multiple facets of perspectives in his readers. Patel is thrust to the forefront of a catastrophic ordeal resulting in the loss of everything he knows and loves. As this occurs, we begin to see the total brutality of survival in both stories. Martel’s phenomenal use of symbolism, dualism, and religious allegory eloquently convey this imaginative world of brutality, savagery, and thirst for survival.

In the last section of Yann Martell’s, Life of Pi, there are many interesting literary device aspects shown throughout the story, mostly revolving around imagery, symbolism, and allegory. After observing Pi suffer greatly from deterioration, lack of sustenance, and loss of faith, hope finally resurrects itself! Pi’s life boat comes upon an island made of pure vegetation. Everything is paradise to Pi, however, as the days pass, Pi starts to notice some peculiar events going on. One day, as Pi climbs a tree on the island, he discovers a human set of teeth wrapped in leaves.

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.

Surviving a tragic situation is a true test of external strengths and, more importantly, internal strength. The use of mental strength allows for many people to conquer various obstacles throughout a journey. The novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel allows readers to imagine a young boy named Piscine Patel trying to survive a shipwreck using everything that he learns and experiences. Piscine Patel survives many things such as dehydration, starvation, living on a lifeboat with animals, drowning, and crashing on a foreign island. The personality traits of Piscine Patel are what enable him to survive and the three most important character traits that he possesses are optimism, intelligence and perseverance.

"You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it." In the fiction novel, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Survival is a major topic. Personally, I feel this is one of the biggest themes of the book. It is easily identifiable based on the various settings, characters and events.

Every problem we face we are given a choice, face it, or run away from it. Often times we choose to face it. With facing it comes integrity, responsibility, and more importantly will and determination. In the Life Of Pi by Yann Martel, Pi is in a shipwreck and stranded at sea for 227 days. Although he is faced with many challenges and the odds are greatly against him, his strong will and determination allow him to live.

For a book claimed as “a story that will make you believe in God,” Yann Martel’s Life of Pi does not fall too far from that claim. Being the son of Indian zoo owners, Piscine Patel always grew up in close proximity with animals. However, this could not prepare him for being adrift in a lifeboat for 277 days, with a full grown 450 pound adult bengal tiger. All the while, Pi manages to juggle being faithful to three religions at the same time. While the plot of the story may seem to grind to a complete stop early on, Martel finds a way to speed it up just in time to provide a thrilling conclusion. Pi must fight many internal conflicts, like being faithful to his religion or doing what he must in order to survive, even if it conflicts his beliefs.

As time wears on, the only two animals left on the boat are Pi and a hungry, 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. At first Pi gives up, he believes that it is unrealistic to hope and believe but, like from night to day, Pi is filled with hope. He finds a daily routine consisting of prayer, eating, feeding richard parker, more prayer, and general inspection of the boat. After 274 days Pi finally finds land and is forced to find new ways of finding food. “Tears flowing down my cheeks, I edged myself on until I heard a cracking sound and I no longer felt and life fighting in my hands. I pulled back the folds of the blanket. The flying fish was dead.”(Life of Pi 183) This is the first time Pi has killed another living creature. It should be known that Pi had been a vegetarian for most of his life so killing the fish was very hard on him. As the story continues Pi is forced to overcome his human instincts and give into his animal instincts because if he doesn’t he will have no food. “Killing was no problem.” (Life of PIe 185) In a short amount of time Pi overcame his guilt and sadness over killing the

Yann Martel, the author of Life of Pi, tells a miraculous survival story that everyone will want to believe. He tells readers about the life a boy, who later in the story gets stuck on a lifeboat with fierce companions for 227 days. Piscine Molitor Patel, otherwise known as “Pi”, accompanies his family in moving to Canada from India, though the ship sinks and he then tells his journey twice. Pi told his journey in two versions, an animal version, and a human version. In both versions Pi is accompanied with a zebra/sailor, a hyena/cook, his own mother/orangutan, and himself/tiger (Martel 311). Though the characters in the novel, like Pi, the Chinese officials, and the writer, preferred the animal version, the preferred version would be the human version.