Life Of Pi Theme Essay Examples

Pi faces a very extreme environment and a very extreme situation when he had to keep the tiger alive. According to the text, “I was alone and orphaned, in the middle of the Pacific”, which was his only companion in the middle of the ocean on the lifeboat, to survive.(page 79) In the situation, even under the extreme circumstances Pi stays cool and collected and focus’ only on survival. With the mentality to survive, and wanting to end the pain of thirst, “I think it was this that saved my life that morning, that I was quite literally dying of thirst”(page 81), Pi decided that his life wasn’t going to end now. He

As he identifies with the probable pain that the fish he has caught is going to suffer, he cannot bring himself to slaughter it, “I imagined what it would feel like if I were wrapped in a blanket and someone were trying to break my neck. I was appalled. I gave up a number of times” (183). This identification clearly makes Pi hesitate in killing the fish, as he puts himself in the place of the fish and what it might feel like to have someone “trying to break” his neck. It is an imaginative act, as Pi must have the capacity to imagine how another being will feel, in a situation which he has not

As Pi has to fight through adversity when he is stranded in a the middle of the Pacific Ocean, he has to adjust his eating habits. When one is in a situation where there is not much to eat, any little thing must be consumed. As a very famous proverb says, “Beggars can’t be choosers.” This was Pi’s most difficult challenge when he was on the boat. As a child, Pi grew up to be a vegetarian. The idea of killing and then consuming an animal really freaked out Pi. He remembered from his childhood, “To think that when I was a child I always shuddered when I snapped open a banana because it sounded to me like the breaking of an animal's neck” (197). Even when Pi was eating something like a banana that is not related at all to an animal, he

In the story, Richard Parker illustrates Pi’s ferocious, killing machine side, and then Pi being ‘Pi’ when he was acting humane and civilized enough to fit the standards he has set for himself. For example, near the end of the novel when Pi is speaking to the Japanese interviewers about his 'other story', Mr. Chiba figures out that "[Pi] is the tiger" (Martel 173). The fact that Pi does not deny the statement lets the reader know that Richard Parker has symbolically been Pi throughout the entire novel. It also is quite shocking when the reader finally figures out that all of the inhumane things that Richard Parker did in the novel, was really Pi. For a more specific example, in Pi’s first story he tells the reader how Richard Parker killed the hyena, “…Without a sound…” and how the hyena “…did not put up a fight…” (Martel 82). Similarly, Pi plainly tells how the cook virtually allowed Pi to murder him, “He gave up. He let himself be killed…” (Martel 172). The similarity between the two stories is so significant that it is effortless to conclude that the two victims and the two murders, were the same people. Since Pi’s first story with all the animals is too far-fetched to believe, the second one must be the absolute yet bone-chilling truth. In other words, the hyena is symbolically the cannibalistic chef and Richard Parker is Pi. Hence, the whole human race, like

Richard Parker, the tiger, is a symbol of Pi himself. Pi directly correlates himself with Richard Parker. If Richard Parker “give[s] up” (121) then Pi is giving up. When swimming toward the life boat Richard Parker “look[s] small and helpless” (121) much like Pi actually is. Next to the tiger, zebra, and hyena Pi is small and feeble; he has no way to defend himself against the other animals. Pi egging Richard Parker on, toward the boat; “keep[ing him] swimming” (122) shows Pi’s resilience for survival; determined for Richard Parker to survive, which is actually his determination to survive. It is often mistaken in the novel as to whether Pi is speaking of himself or of Richard Parker because they could be the same being.

Tigers are seen as large savage predators by most people, but not to Pi. Richard Parker, the tiger, was in fact a very fitting companion for Pi’s long adventure at sea, even with the fact that tigers are very large carnivorous predators that could easily kill and eat humans within an instant. Richard Parker was the best choice for Pi’s traveling companion due to the natural behaviors of tigers and how Pi decided to handle his situations throughout the course of the story. Socially, “tigers are territorial and usually solitary in nature… interacting briefly only for mating purposes and occasionally to share their kill… usually there is little interaction between other species ” (Tigers Behavior).

Pi spends an extended period of time at sea, and becomes quite difficult, especially with a 450-pound Bengal tiger on board with him. Pi break away from his vegetarian beliefs, “Lord, to think I’m a strict vegetarian. To think that when I was a child I always shuddered when I snapped open a banana because it sounded to me like the breaking of an animal’s neck. I descended to a level of savagery I never imagined possible”(Martel 249). Given the life and death situation, Pi loses a part of him in order to survive.

At the beginning of the novel Pi finds himself stranded on the Pacific Ocean after the ship he and his family were on sank with nothing but his beliefs, a lifeboat, a survivor’s manual, and a tiger he calls Richard Parker. Throughout the novel Pi is in a constant struggle with both his humanity and what he needs to do to survive. He learns of the cruel survival instincts within himself that he never thought possible. At the beginning of the novel Pi was nothing more than a boy who only saw the good in the world and in humanity. By the end of the novel, however, he becomes a man who has had to face things that no person should ever have to face alone even if one believes in

Pi’s inner struggle with his religion and morals vs his survival instinct is symbolized by Richard Parker. This can be exemplified as Pi expresses, “It was Richard Parker who calmed me down. It is the irony of this story that the one who scared me witless to start with was the very same who brought me peace, purpose, I dare say even wholeness” (Martel 179). Richard Parker is a Bengal tiger that is a constant threat in Pi’s life. Although, he eventually provided Pi with rich companionship and calmed him down. Pi takes a major sorrow and turns it into a spiritual gift. Pi believes that God who has a very forbidding presence, can bring peace, wholeness and many other happy things. In Yann Martel’s interview he states, “The more you know about an animal, the more you understand them” (insert citation). Initially, Pi feared Richard Parker, but he is forced to find a way to

Pi’s experiences in the pacific have certainly changed him from a pure vegetarian to a wild creature. Pi’s purity is compromised as he says, “He ripped the flesh off the man’s frame and cracked his bones. The smell of blood filled my nose. Something in me died then that has never come back to life” (321). Pi’s transformation is completed by the time he decides to kill the French cook and later eat him. Pi’s shame forces him to condemn Richard Parker for the murder of the cook, which results in the better story, revolving around Richard Parker, becoming Pi’s coping mechanism. After taking his first soul, Pi accepts the fact that he has lost the purest form of his personality a form that he can never earn back. Pi’s psychological safety is also disturbed by events that occur during the better story. His need for storing food in order to feed Richard Parker, his wild self, never departed as he keeps his house filled with canned foods and even hides various types of food under his pillow in the hospital. Hence, the better story is Pi’s method with coping with his recently developed ruthlessness, however, the better story breaches Pi’s psychological safety and well-being. As a result, Pi relies on his faith and religion in order to obtain clear consciousness and mental

Pi strives to maintain his fragile hope, the hope of survival. Although he is exhausted of struggling to live, and waiting for an uncertain day of relief to arrive, he hasn’t surrounded to death. Through religion, Pi’s misery and disappointment toward God are

Man’s basic instinct after having committed crime is to seek refuge in the denial phase. Eventually, the emotions within one’s heart will grow at an exponential rate which will one day consume a man from within himself. Pi’s survival had depended upon his acceptance of his survival instincts within his heart so that the emotions within himself wouldn’t consume him which would ultimately result in his death. The allegory of the animals used in order to symbolize the traumatic and barbaric events that led to Pi’s survival can be best distinguished through the character of Richard Parker. Richard Parker was an extension of Pi’s imagination in order for Pi’s values and morals and the necessities for life to cruise on parallel roadways.

When taken through the context of Pi’s alternate, factual story, it becomes apparent that Richard Parker exists in a fictional part of Pi’s world. Pi creates the tiger to symbolize his savage and animalistic side. This creation enables Pi to cope with committing horrific acts in order to survive. At the beginning, Pi kills fish with great reluctance, even sobbing before his first kill; however, later in the novel, Pi notices that he devours food in a fashion similar to Richard Parker: “... I noticed, with a pinching of the heart, that I ate like an animal, that this noisy, frantic, unchewing wolfing-down of mine was exactly the way Richard Parker ate” (Martel 284). Despite regretfully noticing his descent into savagery, it becomes obvious that Pi would not have survived if he continued to be the innocent boy he was when he first got on the lifeboat.

THE WILL TO LIVE-life of pi is a story about struggling to survive through incredible odds.The shipwrecked survivors face controversy.Pi abandons his life-long vegetarianism by eating fish to survive.This caused pi to decide what kind of actions are acceptable in life or death

Though Richard Parker is quite fearsome, ironically his presence helps Pi stay alive. Alone on the lifeboat, Pi has many issues to face in addition to the tiger onboard: lack of food and water, predatory marine life, treacherous sea currents, and exposure to the elements. Overwhelmed by the circumstances and terrified of dying, Pi becomes distraught and unable to take action. However, he soon realizes that his most immediate threat is Richard Parker. His other problems now temporarily forgotten, Pi manages, through several training exercises, to dominate Parker. This success gives him confidence, making his other obstacles seem less insurmountable. Renewed, Pi is able to take concrete steps toward ensuring his continued existence: searching for food and keeping himself motivated. Caring and providing for Richard Parker keeps Pi busy and passes the time. Without Richard Parker to challenge and distract him, Pi might have given up on life. After he washes up on land in Mexico, he thanks the tiger for