Theme Of Faith In Life Of Pi

Life of Pi by Yann Martel is a story about a 16 year old boy who does not lose hope after the cargo ship he and his family had been traveling on sank. During his 277 day journey lost at sea, Piscine Molitor Patel (known as Pi) was faced with extreme circumstances and had to overcome many challenges. Staying hydrated, finding food and adapting to the harsh weather conditions in the ocean was nothing compared to the challenge of being on board with a Bengal Tiger, also known as Richard Parker. Faith, survival and the will to survive are among the many themes found in this book. Faith seemed to have played a major role in helping Pi to survive. On page 148, his faith in God helped him to stay strong and helped him realize that it was a miracle

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.

Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel, is a novel about a young boy, Pi, trapped with a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker who survive together in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days. The central theme of the novel is Pi’s faith in God, which proves to be a crucial part of his survival during the extreme situation. In the book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster, the author talks about the importance of literary elements such as symbols, geography, and stories to a literary piece. These elements are used in Life of Pi to develop its compelling story about growing up.

The Life of Pi is a book filled with many fantasy adventures that will have an excellent impact on what you may or not believe in. This novel was published in 2001 by author Yann Martel. Yann Martel is a writer who is trying to make sense of life, just like any other human being trying to deal with everyday obstacles. In this book we see that the protagonist, Piscine Molitor also known as Pi takes us through an adventure that will question our faith in religion. Pi is not pleased by only following his ancestors’ beliefs; he believes that there is much more to religion. In The life of Pi we see that Pi argues amongst his family in what he wants to believe in. His father is not at all religious and Pi has taken up religion as a hobby. Now Pi is a Hindu, Muslim and a Christian and he undergoes a tragedy, a shipwreck with his family on voyage to Canada from India. As he goes through this process it puts his faith to the test. At the time of this voyage he is a teenager exploring different beliefs and he sees nothing wrong with believing in three different religions. We can argue that there is a war between religion and science. Pi on the other hand does not argue with those of other beliefs, he calls the atheists his brethrens as well. “It was my first clue that atheist are my brothers and sisters of a different faith, and every word they speak speaks of faith. Like me, they go as far as the legs of reason will carry

In the beginning, God created the Earth. He created the land, the sea, the sky, and all that live among them. In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi a young boy named Pi Patel encounters the Earth in its rawest form when he is stranded at sea with only a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker and a handful of other animals as shipmates. Through the use of biblical allusion, the significance of water, and symbolism, Life of Pi shows readers that God is present in all things and through faith, one can overcome all trials.

Yann Martel’s Life of Pi is the story of a young man who survives a painful, terrifying shipwreck and months in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The book describes Piscine (Pi) Patel’s life and harrowing journeys after the shipwreck that took the lives of many people immigrating to Canada, including his own mother and countless animals from the family’s zoo. Pi must survive on a small lifeboat with a hungry predator. This journey of 227 days changes the way he sees the world, and it just might change the reader’s view too. “This is a novel that will make you believe in God.” - New York Times

Yann Martel establishes in the beginning of Life of Pi in the author’s note that the claim to the heart of the novel in this story will “make you believe in God.” Since God is an identity that exists in a fiction or non-fiction realm, the audience is led to believe that the story to be told is true, opening the reader to the idea that belief in anything can be belief in God. Pi makes sense of his life through the expressions of Hinduism, Christianity and Muslim, “That which sustains the universe beyond thought and language, and that which is at the core of us and struggles for expression.” (Pg.68) This emphasizes Pi’s dedication and devotion to his religions and God. Martel is opening up to Pi’s story to convince the reader to find faith in Pi’s words.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel is an extraordinary tale of a young Indian boy whose faith is syncretized. His alternate world that he has fabricated is used to blur the line between the harsh and brutal nature of the sea and the personified world where animals come to life. These two worlds clash together to form a Kafkaesque in a faith-based realm which ultimately makes readers question the realities of life.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along’”. Yann Martel’s novel, Life of Pi, chronicles the life of Pi Patel, a young boy who lives in Pondicherry, India. During his childhood he discovers his growing ambition towards practicing three religions, and develops a curiosity for zoology.

On its surface, Martel’s Life of Pi proceeds as a far-fetched yet not completely unbelievable tale about a young Indian boy named Pi who survives after two hundred twenty-seven days on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. It is an uplifting and entertaining story, with a few themes about companionship and survival sprinkled throughout. The ending, however, reveals a second story – a more realistic and dark account replacing the animals from the beginning with crude human counterparts. Suddenly, Life of Pi becomes more than an inspiring tale and transforms into a point to be made about rationality, faith, and how storytelling correlates the two. The point of the book is not for the reader to decide which

When Yann Martel tells of Pi Patel’s life story after the shipwreck, he presents it in two distinctive ways: one being with animals, and one without. As a young boy, Pi began to develop a love of animals as a result of growing up on the lands of Pondicherry Zoo, his family zoo in India. He also finds that he has a deep passion for religion. Supposedly, Life of Pi will make one believe in God, as it did to Pi in these two stories.

Pi then concludes and proves his faith that it’s “only because you’ve never seen them.” The Japanese men reply with “that’s right, we believe what we see” (326). This reply made by the interviewers is allegorical for comments that come with religions and God. People question the existence of God, due to the fact that he isn’t visible. The idea of a higher being is so fanciful and unimaginable just as Pi’s story, that people choose not to believe it. Pi completely changes his faithful values to tell the Japanese investigators a story they would believe; a story with people. Pi then describes a story with people; a horrific yet factual version of his ordeal, a story with gruesome deaths and little human morality. The following quotation made by Pi, “So tell me, since it makes no factual difference to you and you can’t prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with animals or the story without animals?” (352), speaks great volumes as his faith is too powerful to let the investigators leave with such a simple story. Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chiba both agree that “[the] story with animals is the better story”

“I have a story that will make you believe in God.” The novel, Life of Pi by author Yann Martel is a compelling story that follows a young sixteen year old boy, Piscine (Pi) Molitor Patel, after the cargo ship transporting them to Canada, the Tsimtsum, sinks without warning, leaving Pi stuck at sea with only an adult Bengal tiger for company. Martel develops the notion that behavior and being able to read the body language of others may be the difference between life and death through direct characterization and allegory. Pi’s responses to the behaviors of Richard Parker signify the

Pi uses his profound faith in God to obtain the necessary strength and willpower to survive independently in the vast Pacific Ocean for 227 days in a lifeboat with an adult Bengal tiger. When he is stranded he still continues to believe in god, it helps to survive the multiple obstacles that he encounters over the course of his journey. His studies in religions serve as a defensive safeguard against the harsh situation that he has been thrown into. In his long, dangerous, and lonely exploration he never once questions his faith. Pi astonishingly continues all his religious beliefs he does his daily prayers, which help to sustain his sanity and hope. He is constantly faced with difficulties ranging from salt-water boils, death by a tiger, cold,

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