Overcoming Obstacles In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

People who take life for granted don't truly accept life and not reshape their identity, until they've tasted adversity and all the vast misfortunes and catastrophe. Yann Martel’s book “Life Of Pi”, shows how adverse situations can help shape a person’s individual identity and play a noteworthy role in one’s life by establishing one’s ability, shaping one’s values and beliefs.

Humans generally face struggles in their lifetime. Such struggles could be within themselves or with someone or something else but commonly stem from some sort of opposition in lifestyle. In Yann Martel’s novel, Life of Pi, Pi’s passion for personal survival conflicts with his moral obligations to himself internally, morphing his external character.

To simply be alive consists of the acts of breathing and having blood pump through the body, but to be a human being consists of much more complexity. The nature composed of a human being involves having self sovereignty on our own emotions, opinions, desires, faiths as well as having a moral subconscious. Yet, what occurs when a situation allows an individual to react in a behaviour that doesn’t follow these defining factors of human nature? In Yann Martel 's Life of Pi, he creates the conflict of a cargo ship sinking, and the only notable survivors on the life raft consists of a hyena, a zebra with a broken leg, an orangutan, and a 16-year-old Indian boy. The protagonist of the novel, Pi Patel, is faced with a personal survival conflict

Although it is not obvious at first, the large threat of a tiger on board blends into a symbol of survival for Pi. Though Richard Parker is a large issue for Pi, he is not the only issue being faced. Issues such as lack of food, scarce drinking water, and no sense of direction also

When writing, authors need to think of their audience and involve an element of surprise. Authors use plot twists in their writing to help them accomplish surprising the audience, allowing them to keep their audience’s interest. Not only do plot twists help keep the audience’s attention, they also make the audience question their beliefs about what they think of the story. Authors can use this tool to advance their themes. Yann Martel uses a crazy plot twist in his book, the Life of Pi, to suggest to readers that truth is relative.

Piscine and Richard Parker are two different species; Pi is a human and Richard Parker a bengal tiger. Stuck in a lifeboat with a limited amount of food and water, a tiger and a human are not going to be good companions. Eventually, one or the other is going to survive, and the other will not. Yann Martel creates an alternate idea. Throughout the book, Yann Martel shows the importance of using your enemies to help get through situations. Richard Parker also helps by catching flying fish, which is a good source of food. Soon, they start

It is helpful when someone has an object, person or belief that provides them with a source of joy and comfort when times are tough. For some people, this may be a photograph, for others, a dog, and for many more, God. However, if someone relies on only this specific item for their happiness and hope, there can be consequences. What if they discover a disturbing fact about the item? What if the item gets lost? In Life of Pi by Yann Martel, a deeply religious sixteen year old named Pi becomes lost in the Pacific. His health dwindles as he struggles through the ordeal, until he miraculously stumbles upon a floating algae island. Unusual characteristics of the island, both lifesaving and dangerous, mirror Pi’s religious beliefs. In the novel,

Beliefs that an individual or society hold can become a moral code, one to judge actions on and to adhere to. In this way, beliefs become actions. People behave in such a way that their beliefs are brought clearly to light. An individual’s belief shapes not only their behavior, but their intrapersonal thoughts and feelings as well. A belief becomes a pillar that holds up all consequent behavioral aspects of an individual.

Yann Martel’s Life of Pi and W.P. Kinsella’s Shoeless Joe are both novels about hard work and determination paying off. In both novels, they both start off with saying how the main characters have struggled throughout their lives, up to the point where they decide to make a change. The authors both offer the reader a different point of view on this topic, however they can relate.

It all started when Pi wanders up to a catholic church. He enters the church and meets father Martin they sat down with tea and biscuits. Father Martin tells Pi that Jesus Christ died for human kind's sins as it wasn’t a pretty death. Pi asks several questions on "why would a god suffer?", "why would a god taint himself with death?", "why doesn't Jesus do much other than tell stories and perform some small miracles?", "why is Christ so human", the priest ended up replying with the answer 'love'. Pi can relate to the Christian belief as it falls under the suffering. Jesus Christ suffered and so did Pi. He calls out god during a storm and he calls the "god of storm" upon him. Praying to god during his journey helped him out. The suffering slowing

The importance of this passage presents a thorough connection between each significant theme in the novel Life of Pi, written by author Yann Martel. Such as: truth, religion and faith, boundaries, and storytelling, the passage is crucial to the story. Relating the reader back to the concept that almost the entire context was described by the main character Pi, in a false retell of the actual story. By expanding the topics of truth, against reality in order to posse God and all life. This brings forth the idea that without any genuine proof to the existence of God, is it meant to be true or false. All in all, from the accurate story to the one Pi thinks to be the better story in relation to a God existing. The association among the central themes

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel is about a boy whose family owns a zoo in their hometown. When Pi got older they decided to sell the zoo and relocate to Canada. On their way there a terrible storm hits their ship and the next day Pi finds himself in a lifeboat with Richard Parker the tiger. As days, weeks, and months pass he arrives in Mexico, where Richard Parker runs off into the wild and Pi is taken into custody and tells his story two different ways. Pi’s view of the world changes throughout the story when he discovers many different religions, when he's stranded in the middle of the ocean, and when he is saved. His transformation and the development show how the circumstances of life, his relationships, and spirituality change his faith

In Life of Pi, Martel is endeavoring to state in his author’s note that all fiction truly is the variation and deformation of physical existence, to evacuate its actual wildlife. Martel speaks about this story through a fictional version of himself. He wanted to write about Portugal- yet he was in India while composing this story. He chose to transform this Portugal story into a fiction, science fiction is an adjustment of reality, and he accepted there was no reason in really going to Portugal. Martel goes ahead with his trip including a failed novel about Portugal which he discards to go search for a new story to write, and an altercation with an old man named Francis Adirubasamy in a cafe in Pondicherry. Francis tells the creator that he

In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, the main character is Piscine Patel, a 16-year-old Indian boy stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean. The novel shows us how Pi was able to sustain himself during his darkest hours. After being separated from his family during the sinking of the ship they were using to transport their zoo animals, Pi ends up stranded alone with a 450-pound bengal tiger. Being stranded somewhere in the Pacific changes Pi’s entire mentality. “You might think I lost all hope at that point. I did. And as a result I perked up and felt much better.” (Martel 169) Pi kept thinking that each day would be the day he got rescued. After constant disappointment he took the days as they came. Surviving the human condition by keeping his faith in God, having prior knowledge of zoology, and by having Richard Parker as a companion and by keeping Pi on his toes. The novel demonstrates that individuals who are not able to complete the journey to adulthood never reach full maturity.

Opposition inhabits all corners of earth. In turn, opposites create balance, an essential element in mental and physical well-being. All too often, two extremes lose balance, and rather than creating equality and positive change, a series of conflicts arise. War, in the current era, comes frequently and concerns a multitude of unbalanced opposites, ranging from religion to property lines to ancestry. While external conflict affects a greater number of people and can be seen, internal battles often prove more difficult to resolve. Each individual copes with struggle, both internal and external, with different mechanisms. Some rise and conquer, others succumb to the opposing force, and some learn to live alongside it. Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel, illustrates the significance of internal struggle and awakening as paralleled to its external counterparts through the voice of boy enduring intense trials of both mind and body.