Life Of Pi Castaway Essay

In Life of Pi, the main character is Piscine Molitor, though people call him Pi. Pi’s family was on their way to immigrate to Canada via ship, though the ship sinks in the middle of the ocean and the only survivors are Pi, an orangutan, a zebra and a tiger stranded on a lifeboat. Later on, the orangutan and zebra die, leaving a hungry tiger that is unpredictable and Pi who has limited resources, in the middle of the ocean. If Pi wants to not die and have a chance to survive, he must stay alive from the ocean and the tiger. Since Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger in the middle of the ocean with limited resources, Pi has to survive mentally and physically throughout the whole ordeal.

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

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 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

In Pi's 227 days of being stranded in the sea, he has had many problems that have

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

“Without Richard Parker, I wouldn’t be alive today to tell you my story.” The significance of this quote is that the presence of Richard saves him from the effects of loneliness. “The lower you are, the higher your mind will soar.” This quote is important because when Pi is at his lowest point, he reaches for his only remaining sources of salvation, which is his faith and imagination. “Life on a lifeboat isn’t much of a life. It is like an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The element couldn’t be more simple, or the stake higher.” The quote significance is that the few that survive the ship are force to face each other in a strategic battle of wits to see who will

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

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

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

Life standed on the sea is very grueling and risky. Only a few are able to face the

Pi’s journey is his spiritual development; in order to successfully complete the journey, he has to avoid excessive physical comfort. His arrival in the island is potentially equivalent to the “abyss” stage, because physical sloth may captivate him. As he has been through countless harsh and perilous conditions of the ocean, it may be tempting for him to remain in the island, because it provides him with safety and physical comfort. Pi gradually realizes that the consequence of remaining in the island is being “eaten” as the “island [is] carnivorous” (312). If Pi indulged in physical comfort by remaining in the island, he would not have been able to complete his heroic journey as he would be spiritually “eaten” by the island.

“Survival is the ability to swim in strange water” (Frank Herbert). Pi demonstrated life on the Pacific as a test of all aspects. Life on the Pacific tested his physical endurance, he was lost for two-hundred and seventy seven days. In that time, Pi demonstrates his faith towards God, himself, and Richard Parker. Pi develops a robust bond with Richard Parker, then connecting spiritually. Survival in the novel Life of Pi is etched in the deepest parts of the story. These aspects of the novel are depicted through personal and self-reflection within himself. Pi survives because of his strength, faith and a close relationship with Richard Parker.

It is known that one of the most difficult things to do, is survive on sea in terms of a survival situation. (Grade Saver). Surviving on sea is one difficult thing to do on your own although imagine doing it with a Bengal tiger? Not imaginable, but it did happen with Piscine Molitor Patel of Pondicherry India. Pi survives on sea for seven months (227) days from India to the coast of Mexico mentally and physically because he had hope, Richard Parker, and religion. Without these three things- he may not have survived because he speaks about the importance of these things to him and the role that they play in his life and the influence they have on him on this treacherous, lengthy journey.

Pi could survive on the ocean for many months is a miracle, and he even stayed with a tiger during the venture. He probably was eaten by the tiger, but he didn’t. In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, Pi survival depended on his past experiences, Pi not only survives, he becomes stronger due to learning how to swim when he was young, believing in three religions, and stay with animals for a long time because he father used to own a zoo.