Life Of Pi Dialectical Journal

In an Author’s Note, an anonymous author figure explains that he traveled from his home in Canada to India because he was feeling restless. There, while sipping coffee in a café in the town of Pondicherry, he met an elderly man named Francis Adirubasamy who offered to tell him a story fantastic enough to give him faith in God. This story is that of Pi Patel. The author then shifts into the story itself, but not before telling his reader that the account will come across more naturally if he tells it in Pi’s own voice.

Yann Martel`s Life of Pi follows A journey of a young man and a Bengal tiger as they travel across the ocean in a lifeboat.Director Ang lee made many consider the book to be beautiful,but virually unflimable.Being needed to told on screen Ang lee discerned very adeptly,about Life of Pi ‘’if there is will there is a way’’.

"Without Richard Parker, I wouldn't be alive today to tell you my story."(164) This quote was spoken by Pi, it was said because Pi realized how much Richard Parker helped him. Richard Parker kept Pi from thinking too much about the tragedy of the ship sinking and his family. Richard Parker also kept Pi from being lonely and kept Pi busy to pass time. I also think Richard Parker kept Pi connected with his family and was encouraging him. "The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar."(283) This quote was spoken by Pi, it was said because Pi was giving up and he was at his lowest point. He goes to faith and imagination to help him get through this. He soon lands on a beach in Mexico after that happened. I think the author wanted to show us that being faithful can be effective even in this situation. "You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it."(91) This was spoken by Pi, it was said because things didn't turn out how Pi expected he would of never thought his family would move and sell all the animals. Later in the book more unexpected things happen and Pi keeps his head up. He keeps going on with his life even though they are major set backs. This shows that Pi is very optimistic about his life which is a good quality to

With perseverance in mind, Pi was striving to adapt to the conditions of being a castaway at sea. He assembled a raft out of items in the lifeboat such as the life jackets and oars. He planned to use the raft as a backup, for example, if things got worse with Richard Parker. In addition, Richard Parker had slaughtered the hyena, thus frightening Pi, because it was only him and Richard Parker left. Pi considered many strategies, such as trying to outlast Richard Parker. As he thought about it, he realized it was a senseless idea. Pi reasoned the better approach was to tame Richard Parker. The strenuous days passed by, and Pi lost hope on any ships coming to rescue him. Pi established his own territory, and began to fish, for his rations were

Part One Pi narrates from an advanced age, looking back at his earlier life as a high school and college student in Toronto, then even further back to his boyhood in Pondicherry. He describes how Mr. Adirubasamy, a close friend of his father’s and a competitive swimming champion, taught him to swim and bestowed upon him his unusual name. We learn that Pi’s father once ran the Pondicherry Zoo, teaching Pi and his brother, Ravi, about the dangerous nature of animals by feeding a live goat to a tiger before their young eyes. Pi, brought up as a Hindu, discovers Christianity, then Islam, choosing to practice all three religions simultaneously. Pi’s parents decide to move the family to Canada; on June 21, 1977, they set sail in a

Fear said Yes…”(108) Pi is afraid that Richard Parker will eat him whenever he gets hungry, therefore Pi is always looking out for him, he believes he must keep Richard Parker happy, therefore, he rations food and water. Pi studies the structure of the lifeboat and the material it was made with to ensure that Richard Parker would not be able to spring out and attack him at any moment. Also, by fishing for food and getting clean water to keep Richard Parker alive and strong, Pi is keeping himself alive. “I had to start fishing very soon. It would not take long for Richard Parker to finish the animal carcasses.”

This book leaves people’s minds wondering whether or not Richard Parker was real or fictional, in my mind, I believe he was Pi and not a real life tiger. In the recent to last chapter in the book Pi tells two different perspectives of his journey on the lifeboat. The first story was with animals; a hyena, zebra, orangutan, and the tiger named Richard Parker. Throughout the story, it follows the same guideline. The hyena ate the zebra’s leg, then the hyena was ate by the tiger, and the fate of the tiger was unknown once they were survived. However, how realistic is it that there are animals on a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean? That’s what these Japanese people were questioning when they tried to analyze Pi’s wacky adventure. These Japanese

“Catastrophic events, both personal and collective, raise the question of divine Providence. How can an infinitely good Creator allow the kind of evil that puts the divine goodness in doubt? The question has been faced since patristic times. Theories of predestination have been proposed. Spirituals have adored God in the mystery of divine Providence. There seems to be no other solution than hope in the midst of despair.” (Tavard pg707)

Movies are popular in today’s society. People watch movies for multiple reasons. Some come watch films for entertainment, to learn something, and some watch it for the artistic factor. Life of Pi, written by David Magee was an award-winning movie. The director of the movie was, Ang Lee. There were many characters within the movie. The major actors included, Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, and Adil Hussain. Moreover, these actors acted out scenes for this adventure, great fantasy, and drama film. Life of Pi won 4 Oscars, 76 wins, and 124 nominations. However, this movie was about a young man named Pi who survived a disaster at sea. While cast away at sea, Pi bonded with a fearsome Tiger, and he experienced an adventurous journey due to the disaster

We live in a world of imperfection. This makes it very easy to focus on what’s wrong rather than what is right. Pessimism such as this makes it difficult to be happy normally let only when trials come. A story of a young boy lost at sea offers a solution to this dilemma. The main character in the movie Life of Pi demonstrates through his experiences with the storm, the tiger and the island, that when we allow ourselves to see the good in all things it enables us to overcome the negative aspects of those things, and benefit from them.

Both story and religion share the common thread of giving life purpose and meaning. I formed this critique about how story and religion intertwine after reading the novel Life of Pi written by Yann Martel. Story and religion can also make life easier to get through by helping people to escape their reality. This common thread that story and religion share is not only found in Life of Pi. I can relate the close connection between story and religion in several other works we read this semester, including John D. Caputo’s On Religion, Leanne Simpson’s Dancing On Our Turtles Back, Craig Martin’s A Critical Introduction to the Study of Religion, and William James’s The Varieties of Religious Experience, Chapter 2 - Circumscription of the Topic. Ultimately, when story and religion are used in conjunction with one another, the impact on the reader is much more profound than it would be if only one or the other was used.

In the book, Life of Pi[1], Yann Martel proposes many religious differences, and similarities from religions located around the world. These questions ask such things as, is it possible to be a multi-religion person? Are all religions different? How are some religions the same? Life of Pi was written in 2002 and is a fascinating story of how a young man, Pi Patel, makes it in a world with his own personal beliefs. He adopts the three major religions of the world being Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. Life of Pi is a very questioning book at times and has the capability of persuading nonbelievers to re-evaluate their religious thought process and beliefs. After reading this book you will be comfortable in

Pi survives his ordeal through the power of his own story telling. He uses it as a way of dealing with the horrific situation he has found himself in. By creating animal characters to replace the humans in the lifeboat he creates a coping mechanism powerful enough to

The third and final part of this book is called Benito Juarez Infirmary, Tomatlan, Mexico. This part is a manuscript from two workers from the Japanese Ministry of Transport, who found out that Pi finally landed. They came to find out exactly why the ship sank. Pi doesn’t know for sure why it sank, but he tells the his story. They don’t believe that he survived all that time with a Bengal tiger. So he tells them another version just as graphic with replacing the hyena with a cook from the ship, his mom as the orangutan, and a sailor as the hurt zebra. He of course replaced himself with the tiger. The workers weren’t thrilled with this story either but all Pi says is, “In both stories the ship sinks, my entire family dies, and I suffers” (317). One replies’ “yes, that’s true.” He then tells them that since they can’t tell the truth to take the story that they prefer, and go with God.

Faith was a problem that people have been concerned about, and the loss of faith in contemporary era had become a social problem. The film Life of Pi not only used innovative ways and styles of narration, but also dug and showed the deep cultural connotation. The most prominent aspect was to elaborate the value of faith from the perspective of multiple perspectives. To a certain extent the Life of Pi was a film about faith. All of the narrative ways and technology were closely related to the faith. Novelists and filmmakers had faith, including the characters and the plot in the work. From the film, we can see that Ang Lee very skillfully discussed humanity faith and the power of faith in the film . The film also showed the variety and the ageless