Pi Captivity

Life of Pi is a thrilling novel by Yann Martel, telling the story of a two hundred and twenty-seven day journey on a lifeboat between a religious boy and an adult bengal tiger. After losing his family in a shipwreck, Pi Patel is stuck on a lifeboat with a 450 pound Richard Parker. Together, they sail aimlessly, using the boat’s limited resources to survive. Throughout the novel Pi uses God as a way to cope with the multiple tragedies and obstacles he faces. In times of great difficulty, humans can lose their morals and values in exchange for survival.

Pi is alone with Richard Parker on the lifeboat and they both starve and suffer with dehydration. Pi starts catching fishes for both of them. He always gives the biggest share to Richard Parker as he is the strongest. One day, he decides to eat the largest part. He wants to calm his desire for hunger. He does not want to share anything with Richard Parker. Pi starts eating like an animal. Pi tells, “It came as an unmistakable indication to me of how I had sunk the day I noticed, with a pinching of the heart, that I ate like an animal” (Martel 183). The innocent boy is now as dangerous as an animal that can do anything for the food. His yearning for food makes him selfish. It is in pi’s hand not to sacrifices his integrity, but he chooses to sacrifice because he knows that at this critical situation it is right to do. Even though Pi loses his integrity, he gains the power of being the strongest one on the

Life of Pi begins with an unique hook in its author’s note. In the author’s note, the fictional author is struggling to come up with a new book concept. He travels to India for inspiration and this is where he meets Francis Adirubasamy, or better known as Mamaji in the book. Adirubasamy claims that he has “a story that will make you believe in God”. After he recounts on the story, the author is determined to meet up with the main character, and he was reeled into the amazing world known as the Life of Pi. As the author listens into Mr. Patel’s adventure, his main objective was to believe in God and this was obviously completed from a quote in the author’s note. “...I agreed with Mr. Adirubasamy that this was, indeed, a story to make you believe in God.”

Pi feels it is okay to practice all three religions because they all have one goal or purpose which is the belief in God. Since each story he has heard is different, it does not take away from the main moral. This ties in with the imagination aspect because no matter how a story is told, the end result is the same. An example of this is when he is confronted and surrounded by the Priest, Pandit, and Imam. His response as to why he was practicing Hindu, Christian and Muslim faiths was, “Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God.”(Page 76) Believing in all three religions is something Pi feels is important to him because he is just trying to love and pray to God in as many ways as possible. Although the stories are interesting, it doesn’t really matter how you got to the ending if the purpose of the story is the equal. The important of Pi’s imagination is triggered by this and has later gone into great effect. The religions he practices represent hat behind every reason, everyone has their own way of saying it, whether it be fiction or non-fiction.

The way Pi acts throughout his journey suggests that having faith is one of the most important practises to learn as it can give an individual hope. Pi has a strong connection to all his practising faiths: Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Society is set to have many unspoken rules that we must abide by to

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 explained in the book, Pi follows three different religions; Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. Pi is extremely interested in all three religions and tries to find himself through religion. Although, he does not understand why he can’t follow all three religions. “But he can’t be a Hindu, a Christian and a Muslim. It’s impossible. He must choose.” (76) This thread represents that he dedicates himself to the things he believes in and will fight for what he believes in. Even when his family disagreed with his decision of following all three religions, he still fought for what he believed.

God, having been alongside Pi ever since, relieved his confusion, stress, and anxiety that he faced the duration of the journey. The only known mean of communication was through prayers and Pi, being a true devotee, prayed more than any other activity on the boat, averaging around five times a day. This shows the value of the bond he has with God as he continues to put God as his top priority over his safety. He even dedicates one of his scarcest resources, food, to use as “pujas with turtle meat for Prasad,” (Martel 231). Yet, he claims “That [praying] was one key to my [his] survival."(Martel 210). His devotion to God gave meaning to his life and increased his strength to

At the beginning of the novel, Pi’s story is described as “a story that will make you believe in God.” Writer himself Yann Martel was going thru his writers crisis, traveling world looking for a good story to write something about. Martel found a man who told his story. His man named Piscine Molitor Patel who is a practicing follower of three religions: Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. For this reason, extremely mature boy must constantly fight the lack of tolerance and understanding in his surroundings. While in the case of adult people the lack of a specific decision on the faith can be perceived as humiliating, but Pi is fully justified because of his young age. His desire is to find the road to the creator will be seriously tested during

Faith and science, two vastly different perspectives on the world, coexist throughout the book in a delicate balance. This novel of literary merit is filled with wonder. It has an aspect of purity that shows off a fresh look at our human traits, about religious topics, zoos and the wild, and the possibility of freedom. One thing that stood out about this novel is the way it perfectly blends religion and science, and then puts the two to the ultimate test in a treacherous survival situation. Life of Pi is an exploration of the beautiful mysteries that light up our

In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, Piscine Patel is stranded in a lifeboat for 227 days with barely any essentials to survive, not to mention sharing the boat with a 450 pound Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker. Throughout his time as a castaway, Pi faces daily struggles revolving around the lack of basic necessities. On several occasions, Pi reaches a dark point in his life and considers that it would just be best if he gives up. Despite the circumstances and the heavy darkness he feels, one element that was always on Pi’s side was his three core religions: Hindu, Islam, and Christianity. Pi uses the time he has to practice his spiritual life.

There are multiple themes in the story such as the will to survive and religion is important. Life of Pi uses symbolism through Richard Parker, the algae island, and the color orange. Richard Parker seems to be just a tiger on board a lifeboat.

This essay is about the many ways the book “The Life Of Pi” can have different point of views to one another. “The Life Of Pi” is a Survival type or theme, a teenage Indian boy that was in a shipwreck but survived while being stuck on a bout in the middle of the ocean along with a Richard Parker a tiger. The different perspectives some people may have are, Is the book pushing us to believe in god? How is this book telling us to believe in god? Which would you believe in this story?

Religion is a belief and worship of god or gods. In the novel, “Life of Pi”, the main character Pi has a strong sense of religion being a hindu, christian and muslim. Throughout the novel he faces several crisis of faith and the main reason being the opinions of others. Pi was born into a hindu family making hinduism his first religion. As an infant he was carried into a temple where a “germ of religious exaltation” was planted inside of him (p.27).

The evident motif of religion plays a major factor in Pi’s life; however the author chooses not to focus on one religion specifically but instead enforces a glorification of more religions. Martel creates a main character who is a curious young boy who decides to learn about Christianity, Hinduism and Islam all at once. Even though Pi is primarily