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Religion in Life of Pi

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As you probably remember, this novel had many ups and downs and various changes but one thing that remained constant was Pi’s faith. His belief in God was evidently extremely strong and this was demonstrated in several different parts of the novel. Although his belief and faith was constant in the book, it wasn’t as strong as it was in the beginning. The trauma that he went through while lost at sea and the experiences he had had an impact on his faith ­ understandably so. Many of the things he had to go through made him question God at times and wonder why such a higher power considered so amazing and giving, would allow Pi to go through all this suffering and difficulty. Although all of this made him doubt and question …show more content…

His religion acts as an anchor. “I practised religious rituals that I adapted to the circumstances ­ solitary Masses without priests or consecrated Communion Hosts, darshans without murtis, and pujas with turtle meat for prasad, acts of devotion to Allah not knowing where Mecca was and getting my Arabic wrong. They brought me comfort, that is certain. But it was hard, oh, it was hard. Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love ­ but sometimes it was so hard to love. Sometimes my heart was sinking so fast with anger, desolation and weariness, I was afraid it would sink to the very bottom of the Pacific and I would not be able to lift it back up.” (Martel 231) You can see how Pi is a very optimistic, positive person and I believe that derives from his belief in God and his religion. I think that the fact that he believed there was a God always looking out for him and caring for him helped him to stay positive even in the hardest of times such as this one. In this quote, you can see how even Pi admits himself how he was afraid of sinking to the bottom and going insane basically. He states how at certain times even his strong faith wasn’t strong enough to lift his spirits up. In this quote you can also see how religion gives Pi a sense of comfort. He says in the beginning of this quote all the religious rituals and traditions he had adapted to that gave him comfort. Throughout

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