What Role Does Religion Play In Life Of Pi

“You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself” This statement frequently goes through Pi’s journey on the boat in Life of Pi. The quote, written by Swami Vivekananda, refers to Pi since he questions if God is with him through his journey. Pi ends up in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a tiger as company, and his three religions that he believes in. Each religion has it’ own way to help Pi on his journey to salvation and his discovery of himself. In Life of Pi, Martel utilizes the connection between Pi’s religions and their colors to illustrate how they help him on his journey and ultimately provide salvation, and also by giving the reader a link to today’s society with religion.

Society is what deems what is true or not. It’s the entire human race summed into a single word which constitutes criticism. In the novel Life of Pi, The last few chapters share the discussion between Pi and two Japanese officials who come to inquire about the tsimtsum, a cargo ship which sunk, leaving Pi adrift at sea. Though the conversation between the 3 doesn’t seem important to the storyline, it actually sums it up entirely. The two men symbolize society and Pi is trying to convince society of his stories truth.

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.

Pi’s dedication to all three religions: Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity, built a stronger bond between God and himself. It gave him character and strength as God was alongside him throughout the entire journey. The bond he shared with God also helped him keep his sanity and maintain his will to live.

In the book the life of Pi religion was a big part of how Pi lived his life and how he survived out on the ocean for the two hundred twenty seven days that he was there for. (p.g 110)

Religion has been part of America since the beginning of time. the existence of religion is very much still around today. Yann Martels “life of Pi” is a story about a young Indian boy who survives 227 days on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. This is a story that will bring you closer to your religion and the belief of god. The book “life of pi” demonstrates that having an understanding and faith in more than one religion can help us survive in the most difficult circumstances and can keep ones spirits alive. In life of pi the three types of religion (Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam) had a great impact to pi’s life and the faith of those religions keep his spirits fighting and gave him strength to survive 227 day in the middle of the ocean.

Life of Pi is an interesting film because of the way it portrays God and the Christian faith. After watching the film, I was encouraged by the Christian faith that Pi and I share. Christianity means a lot of things to a lot of people, which takes away from the “religion” itself. I don’t see my faith as religion at all. I see it as a relationship between my heavenly father and me.

Religion has always been a blurry topic for me. I never knew how to define it. I was surrounded by numerous religions within my close circle - Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism, and more - and I always felt like something in one religion contradicted the other one. I didn’t know how to settle it. How do you define religion besides a deep reverence? The closest I spiritually got was with Life of Pi that showed me it was a leap of faith. I started this course because I wanted to find an outlet to help define and make sense of faith. I also wanted to learn more about the religions I did not know about [Zoroastrianism]. I think right now - with this political climate - it is important to have an awareness and appreciation

At first he expressed his love through Hinduism, a religion in which he was born into because of his traditional Indian heritage. Though later on a holiday when he was fourteen, Pi saw a Christian Church and entered it. He became curious about the religion and decided to take on Christianity as well as Hinduism. Shortly after, Pi joins Islam and continued to worship all three religions. It was not until one day when the priest, imam, and pandit came to the zoo, was Pi confronted about identifying as Christian, Hindu, and Muslim. The three argued on how their religion was right and how the others were simply myths. Though Pi argued against them all, saying that all religion is true because that was his belief/perspective. The reason they all disagreed was because each leader came from a different perspective of what was true . Just like before, none of the stories can be proven to be “right” due to the multiple biased perspectives. Though all have the same underlying meaning to love God, regardless of how it is

Since Pi continues to be a man of many religions, he cannot truly follow each of the religions individually, he must worship them in singularity, especially when it comes to his own survival, the last thing he thinks of is his religion. Aside from his little worshipping, he still uses his religion as a spiritual shield. He trusts his Gods to protect him and gets tested by his powerful and horrible experiences. Pi had to gain a testimony of each God he trusted or he would not have the confidence or mental drive to continue. This helps Pi to prevail; throughout Pi's life Pi had to worship one Providence but he grew to appreciate the help of more than just one Maker.

In Life of Pi, Pi is raised Hindu but later in life decides to adopt Christianity and Islam as well. He practices these at once despite that each state that they contain the whole truth according to their religious leaders. However, storytelling and religious belief are so closely linked in the story Pi tells as well. He tends to focus on the stories behind all the different faiths, how they relate to God and, ultimately, love.

The Life of Pi is a story about a young boy named Pi Patel, short for Piscine Patel. Pi was born and raised in India as the son of a zookeeper. At school, Pi was bullied because of his name. Kids thought it was funny because when you pronounce his first name sounds like you’re saying “pissing”. But that doesn’t stop him from learning and discovering new things. Being very curious, Pi begins to study many different religions, such as Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism; Even though his father says “Believing in everything at once, is the same thing as believing in nothing.”

“Catastrophic events, both personal and collective, raise the question of divine Providence. How can an infinitely good Creator allow the kind of evil that puts the divine goodness in doubt? The question has been faced since patristic times. Theories of predestination have been proposed. Spirituals have adored God in the mystery of divine Providence. There seems to be no other solution than hope in the midst of despair.” (Tavard pg707)

In part one of the book, Pi’s parents are furious when they find out that Pi is a follower of three different religions; Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam . When Pi is confronted about it he was told “he can’t be a Hindu, a Christian, and a Muslim. It’s impossible. He must choose.”(69) Pi responds to this by stating that he “just want(s) to love God.”(69) As the book goes on Pi begins to mature in ways he never thought was possible physically, spiritually and mentally. As Pi is growing up, he is also growing out of his innocence as he experiences traumatic events. Even though he is thrown all different kinds of obstacles Pi’s faith stays with him the whole time. The author develops the topic of faith by introducing it in a mellow way, as the

Pi is ridiculed in the film by his father for believing in too many religions, the two main religions of India is hinduism and buddhism however Pi being the precocious boy he is develops an understanding for a couple of religions and practices the faith of christianity, hinduism, and islam. Being stranded on