Pi Christ Figure

Being narrated by an older version of the main character, Life of Pi is a story about a man named Pi Patel. Most of the beginning of the novel includes all the history of his life; it introduces topics such as his major, the definition of his name, and his family. His majors are religion and Zoology, which comes back later in the book. It also gives the reader the interesting background of the meaning of his name, based off of a swimming pool. These larger topics and more were shared with the readers. A prominent part of all of this is the fact that it almost always comes back to animals.

The Life of Pi is a book that focuses on the journey of a young boy named Piscine Molitor Patel while he becomes stranded at sea with the comfort of only a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Names are significant to this story because you can get more of a connection with someone if names are mentioned more than once and if a little backstory is given.

Throughout the novel, Pi’s thoughts reveal and internal struggle between his desire to live and his own beliefs to what is morally right. Pi grows up on varying religious viewpoints because he studies different religions. His religious diversity forms a moral standard of “dignity not …depravity” (Martel 71). He values dignity and character over corruption of morals initially because he sees

Karanvir Dhami Ms. Yu ENG3U March 7, 2011 Symbolism in Life of Pi In Life of Pi there are many literary devices used to present the different themes in the novel. The main literary device used in Life of Pi is symbolism. Symbolism is often used to represent an object to something else, either by association or by resemblance. Most of the names of animals, objects and even humans in this novel have a symbolic meaning. In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, symbolism such as pi’s name, the colour orange and the algae island, are used throughout the novel to provide Pi with protection to help him either survive or overcome his emotional pain. The mathematical pi is undefined, infinite and unable to be understood, just like Piscine Patel.

The name Pi is also symbolic because as Pi stated: “I was named after a swimming pool” (8) The word “Piscine” in French translate to ‘swimming pool’ in English. The significance of his name is because he spends 227 days in a huge swimming pool (the ocean) fighting for his life.

He received his unusual name from their family friend’s favorite swimming pool, Piscine Molitar, in Paris. This name is significant to the story since it shows a correlation between the boy and the water from birth. Piscine was constantly teased in school so he shortened his name to Pi to better fit into Indian society. In Thomas Foster’s book, he says, “Actions can also be symbolic" (p 112). Through this symbolism, the reader comes to better understand Pi through his actions, shortening his name that connects him to the water to be better able to be accepted by others. His actions to survive in the Pacific, then, can be considered the symbolic fulfilment of his destiny received from his name. Another example of the strong symbolism used in the book can be seen when Pi is on a trip to Munnar in India. There, he sees three mountains and imagines them as representing the three different religions of India. He is not able to understand the fundamentals of each religion and, thus, these mountains portrayed his struggle to come to terms

Pi Patel’s full name is Piscine Molitor Patel, we are told that Piscine’s name is derived from the French word for “swimming pool” the inspiration for the name in the form of a family friend who had fallen in love with a pool in France and told his friend–Pi’s father–it should be the name of his newborn son. This family friend, Mr. Adirubasamy, is the one who teaches Pi to swim which ties in with the theme of survival as Pi is the only one in his family who survives thanks to his swimming abilities which Mr. Adirubasamy bestowed to him. There is also some irony in the name Piscine, in that as a child he is tauntingly called Pissing and when is stranded it occurs to him he may need to drink his own urine or ‘piss’.

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

Firstly, Pi goes through a lot of struggles while lost at sea. He wars with himself on topics such as his views on religion and his decision

Billy Pilgrim is a very complex character. There are many parts of his life that seem too strange to be real. One of the most interesting aspects of Billy’s character is his resemblance to the Christ figure. Billy is a very simple man who never seems to hold a grudge against the people who despise him and “conforms” to his fate. His fate being shot with a laser on Friday 13, 1976 (Vonnegut 180). According to the Bible, the Christ figure Jesus was crucified on Good Friday. Jesus also knew he would die, and did nothing to stop the process. He even goes as far as to say that he will prepare a place for us (the people of Earth) and that he will “come again” (John 14:1-31, ESV). Billy utters a similar response to the police that offer to stay with

As the title of the novel has already suggested, the name of the protagonist is Pi, legally known as Piscine Moliter Patel. Piscine's first name is later on shortened to "Pi", for it is a much simpler name. If the name is analyzed with further thought, a significant meaning can be uncovered. Pi's name not only represents his identity, but is in a way, connected to the theme the nature of religious beliefs. In the science field, "Pi" is symbolized as the mathematical term for " ". This term is commonly recognized as the number 3.14. In particular aspects of Hinduism, the number 3 signifies the ability an individual possess to build curiosity upon faith and connect with its spirituality. This means that they are often curious about religion

Everyone can pick an animal that they believe describes themselves or symbolizes themselves, but in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi he takes those characteristics to a new level. The symbolism of a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and a tiger all contribute to the characteristics of Pi and his journey through the sea, together, on a life boat.

One of the biggest parts of the symbolism is the tiger, Richard Parker. He could be compared with many things, but I like to compare Richard Parker to Pi himself, with Richard Parker being a direct link to Pi’s sanity and wellbeing. Hindu belief includes the transferring of the soul to new bodies, and I think that perhaps Richard Parker is Pi’s soul, reincarnated into the form of a tiger. What better to symbolize Pi than a tiger? Tigers live in harsh environments that hold no remorse for them, as does Pi, living in the harsh waters of the Pacific Ocean for two hundred and twenty seven days. As it is not real reincarnation being depicted in the novel, as they both exist at the same time, it can still be used as a representation of reincarnation. The other animals the beginning may also symbolize other objects. I think that the other animals may symbolize the conflicting emotions inside of Pi. The hyena, the part of Pi that wanted to eat the other animals for food. The zebra, symbolizing the hurt part of Pi, wanting to give up. The orangutan, the part of him that wanted to defend himself and the other animals from the

1. Marvelous body of Richard Parker as both an image of God and a sign

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