Two Extraordinary Journeys Life standed on the sea is very grueling and risky. Only a few are able to face the
When Pi gets stranded on the boat with the animals, this quakes his perfect reality from events going as planned to what he should do in order to stay alive.” He then had to accept the death of his parents and also his brother. pi being so haunted by the thoughts of Mortality, brought him to create mental blocks in order to eat raw meats and raw fish. The biggest obsticle he had to face was learning how to tame a Bengal tiger with no experience. “ I had to tame him. It was at that very moment i realized this necessity.” This quote conveys pi’s logical thoughts to his survival thoughts. This quote also gives pi the
Close Reading Throughout the entire novel the author gives us characteristics about Pi, he is the protagonist and, for most of the novel the narrator. In the chapters that frame the story and tell us everything that has happened they portray Pi as a shy, graying, middle-aged boy, whom tells the author about his early childhood and the shipwreck that changed his life, and gave him a new friendship with someone whom you would never believe a human could become friends with. This novel makes everyone question the truth which makes us wonder if Pi’s story is accurate and makes us wonder what pieces we should believe. Pi emphasizes the importance of choosing the better story which makes
First, there is an essential need for "physical survival" as he must keep his body alive(Sparknotes). The most basic needs being food and water. He knows how to protect himself from imminent danger such as Richard Parker. As well as other threats that come when being stranded at sea such as dehydration,sharks, and drowning. Pi's creativity to build an adjoining raft to keep a safe distance from aggressive dangers such as sharks and the tiger enable him to sustain physical safety. Secondly, Pi's necessity for "spiritual survival"(Sparksnotes). Pi must keep his hopes up and not yield to hopelessness. He says that Richard Parker kept him sane in the presence of a companion. Pi's mental toughness for taming the tiger prevented him from thinking about his deserted future. from a shipwreck. Lastly Pi has Biological survival as he is the sole member of the Patel family. He would have a desire to live a long and healthy life, raise a family and pass his genes on to the next generation. He is able to survive for 227 days at sea. As he inherited powerful swimming ability from his Uncle Mamaji. At the end of the novel, the readers learn that Pi is a father,"So his story does have a happy ending"(Martel). Ultimately,Pi's willingness to survive shows his character as an
The island can be compared to the Garden of Eden. Pi discovers the “black fruit” on the twisted branches of the tree of “knowledge of Good and Evil” and his illusion of a perfect island is destroyed. There is a heaven and hell type scenario with the passing of each day and entering of each night. At day the meerkats eat without having to kill and show no fear not even towards Richard Parker. At night however, the ecosystem of the island feeds on itself. Pi then realizes, “*he+ preferred to set off and perish in search of my own kind than to live a lonely half-life of physical comfort and spiritual death on the murderous island” (Martel, ). The algae island provided Pi with a protection from the struggle he had to survive on his journey across the Pacific. The island provided Pi with food such as the algae and the meerkats which he did not have while he was on the boat. It also provided Pi with shelter against storms; he also did not have that in the boat. Yet Pi still left the island because he realized to live in this island he would surely die without ever meeting another human being again. Pi left this lifestyle and chose to go with Richard Parker back into the voyage across the Pacific. The last object of symbolism is the colour orange. The colour orange is shown to be associated with survival. However, Pi has been exposed to the colour orange before through Hinduism. In Hinduism the colour orange is used to symbolize fire, when the religious
Most people don’t have to suffer trauma in a lifeboat all by themselves. Further, most people don’t have to retell their story years after with accuracy. That is exactly what Pi has to do in Yann Martel’s novel Life of Pi. There are many challenges that Pi goes through that Pi goes through that could make him an unreliable narrator including a lack of written records, trauma, loneliness, and the effects dehydration and malnutrition has in a person. Furthermore, by considering Pi’s unreliability the reader comes to understand that the truth of his story remains irrefutable and therefore the truth is more important than the facts. Pi could be assumed by the reader to be an unreliable narrator through a lack of written record of his experiences from the past, his trauma and loneliness at sea, and the mental effects of dehydration, malnutrition and hallucinations.
In Pi's 227 days of being stranded in the sea, he has had many problems that have caused physical suffering and pain. However Pi has been able to overcome his adversities and has shown his endurance through suffering and continuing to survive. In this novel, the author makes a very
Pi’s voyage causes him to become an archetypal hero because the traumatic event of the ship sinking and his situation changes his life forever. When Pi has come to the realization that the ship sank, he understands that “[i]t made a sound like a monstous metallike burp. Things bubbled at the surface then vanished. Everything was screaming: The
Pi’s life before the boat crashing was full of hope and wonder. His presence was ethereal, making a purpose out of everything around him. His family ran a zoo, which gave him a tight-knit relationship with animals. Pi loved to try new things. He met new people which led to his exploration
Desperation forced him to try and move towards the safety box that was near Richard Parker who has the ability to easily attack him. Once Pi is near the safety box he illustrates the feeling of satisfaction by saying, “oh, the delight of the manufactured good, the man-made device, the created thing! That moment of material revelation brought an intensity of pleasure -- a heady mix of hope, surprise, disbelief, thrill gratitude, all crushed into one … I was positively giddy with happiness." (Martel 141). He finds water in the box as he hoped for and this has brought him a confidence boost. Even though Pi completed the first of many stages in the hierarchy, he is still stranded in the ocean. He acknowledges the fact that animals or very territorial and in turn marks his own territory within the boat. Pi insists that, “I had to fix in his mind that the top of the tarpaulin and the bow of the boat, bordered by the neutral territory of the middle bench, was my territory and utterly forbidden to him” (Martel 168). He urinated on the parts of the boat that he claims as his part of the boat and does it in a way that Richard Parker who is an animal would understand.
The mathematical constant to which ‘Pi’ relates his name has a value of 3.14 which is the approximate fraction 22/7 this represents the 227 days Pi survived at sea. When Pi is introducing himself at his new school he goes up to the board in each class during attendance, writes his name and beside it “π = 3.14” and draws “…a large circle, which [he] then slice[s] in two with a diameter, to evoke that basic lesson of geometry.” Pi repeats this same routine with every teacher on the premise that “repetition is important in the training not only of animals but
In Life of Pi by Yann Martel, geography plays a significant role. After the boat which carried family and zoo animals sinks to the bottom of the ocean, Pi Patel finds himself floating solo on a boat surrounded by blue water. The loneliness of the vast ocean affects his attitude. For all he knows his family is gone as well as his life. He just has to ride the waves and hope for the best. Psychologically Pi begins to become deranged. He sees the horizon but there isn’t anything that could tell him how far it is or if he's even going in the right direction. His thoughts are put to the test as he doesn't know what's real or what's a hallucination. But when Pi feels desperate, the geography shows him that he is not alone. At night, the ocean resurrects
To start off, the novel Life of Pi displays hope and survival through symbolism using the colour orange. While Pi is in the ocean, there is orange all around him. Shortly after Pi falls into the ocean and is swimming, he says that the ocean is “black and cold and in rage” (Martel 117). As one can imagine, it’s almost impossible to survive in an ocean that is in rage but he gets onto the life boat and survives. After he
As stated beforehand, the isolation truly hits Pi throughout the majority of the second part of his journey. On their way to Canada, the ship Pi and his family resided on got/became caught in a large storm. The ship flooded eventually, resulting in the ship and occupants submerged in the ocean. Pi watches this unfold from a small emergency/evacuation/escape boat. To expand on this, Pi is shown swimming against the waves in an attempt to avoid Richard Parker—thus noticing the ship descending underwater. During this scene, Lee films a medium shot of
Life without meaning brings no hope. Life without hope brings no faith. If you have both it will lead you into the future. (statusmind.com) Pi had hope that allowed him to survive the journey but not all the time, he has lost it a few times when he thought he was going to be eaten by the tiger but it was his morals and his faith that keeps him going. Hope plays a big role in everyone's life. Hope is the belief of what could possibly be and Pi is not sure that he is going to make it out of the sea alive but it gets him to keep pushing when he feels like he is dying or that death is near.