Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

Most people don’t have to suffer trauma in a lifeboat all by themselves. Further, most people don’t have to retell their story years after with accuracy. That is exactly what Pi has to do in Yann Martel’s novel Life of Pi. There are many challenges that Pi goes through that Pi goes through that could make him an unreliable narrator including a lack of written records, trauma, loneliness, and the effects dehydration and malnutrition has in a person. Furthermore, by considering Pi’s unreliability the reader comes to understand that the truth of his story remains irrefutable and therefore the truth is more important than the facts. Pi could be assumed by the reader to be an unreliable narrator through a lack of written record of his experiences from the past, his trauma and loneliness at sea, and the mental effects of dehydration, malnutrition and hallucinations.

As stated beforehand, the isolation truly hits Pi throughout the majority of the second part of his journey. On their way to Canada, the ship Pi and his family resided on got/became caught in a large storm. The ship flooded eventually, resulting in the ship and occupants submerged in the ocean. Pi watches this unfold from a small emergency/evacuation/escape boat. To expand on this, Pi is shown swimming against the waves in an attempt to avoid Richard Parker—thus noticing the ship descending underwater. During this scene, Lee films a medium shot of

Before the ship sank, even before they went on the ship, Pi says that religion will save him. I think this statement is very true because it has saved him throughout his journey. He survived because of his religion. He says it himself that religion will save him, and it did save him.

Pi finds that his wild narrative is not believed by the officials sent to interview him, and he knows why: ''You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently.” That’s when Pi tells an alternate version of his story. He retells the shipwreck, his survival, and his 227 days at sea without the animals. In their place, he puts himself, a Taiwanese sailor, his mother, and a cook. The story is terrible and horrific, one that could have scarred anyone for the remainder of their life. Now, it is up to the reader to decide which story to believe: the better story told in the majority of the novel, with the animals, or the story with survivors from the

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

First, The sinking of the ship destroyed many things for Pi. The most obvious being his sense of family. He once had a close-knit relationship with his mother, father, and brother. He also lost all the familiarity that he speaks about early in the text when he tells the reader how the zoo has become his home. He now lacks in the sense of comradery that he once held with his peers at school alongside his teachers that guided him. Pi is forced to become his own spiritual guide. Along with losing his religious guides he loses sacred religious

While a satisfactory ending does not require it to be conclusive in every sense and might need the reader to accept ambiguity and uncertainty, the novel still does not have a proper ending. There is simply confusion as to which of the two stories to by Pi is true. The first story in magnificent and unrealistic while the second story is brutal and realistic. It might seem obvious that the second story is what actually happened, but Pi’s actions and dialogue leaves a sense of confusion. Life of Pi’s ending might be appropriate to those who like being kept wondering what actually happened in reality, but to those as myself who do not, it ruins the sentiment and magnificence of the whole

There are many controversial ideas regarding the events that occurred to Pi while on the lifeboat after surviving the sinking ship. Some are bias to the idea that many miracles, such as, a bengal tiger saving Pi from french sailor in attempt to eat him while he was temporarily blind were the actual events of his journey. Others are aware to the fact that some of these events are delusional, and nearly impossible. I do not believe anything that Pi indicated happened on the lifeboat because, it is proven that when alone, dehydrated and starving for that long one may hallucinate, there is no record of an acidic island, and the whole point of the story was to make the author believe in god which may indicate the story was exaggerated.

Like all story’s each has an ending to it, but in Life of Pi, the investigators of the sunken ship, wanted straight facts, instead of any storytelling that would make them look like fools. Pi’s questioning of the officers led to his question “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?”(Martel, 311) Pi’s question, about which story was real was never answered, due to the ambiguity of his storytelling. Pi’s storytelling of his journey, lacked a final resolution, as it is left open for the reader to pick which story was better, regardless of which one is the actual

Even though the first part of the novel starts twenty years after Pi’s ordeal at sea and ends with the words “This story has a happy ending,” I disagree and I believe Life of Pi does not have a happy ending.

This part of Pi’s personality is the one who finds it difficult to see his mother die in the hands of the cook, so driven by revenge and survival instinct he kills him. Initially Pi is scared of ‘Richard Parker’ who was hidden under the strong ‘tarp’ of Pi’s kindness, he was terrified of revealing it on the boat. “Could he burst through the tarpaulin, I wondered. Fear and reason fought over the answer. Fear said Yes.

In conclusion, Pi never gave up hope. In his younger years, he battled with being bullied and the big move leaving his country of India to Canada. After the enormous cargo boat sank in the catastrophic storm, Pi was left alone in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days and survived. Pi was an amazing, incredible, and resourceful young man, who conquered his own fear and

As he is faced with extreme challenges, Pi questions why God would allow such terrible things to happen to him. His ultimate survival ends up making his trust in God stronger. He also learns to not feel guilt about killing animals. Struggling to survive causes Pi to become smarter and more mature. He has to adapt to his new situation by getting along with Richard Parker, learning to live in his new environment, and staying sane and

Imagine yourself in the middle of the ocean; starvation, madness, and survival is against you. Will you stick with your faith or will you leave the humanity inside you? In the novel, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, creates a magical and life changing adventure for readers. The novel introduces a different concept about faith and religion and explores the opposite sides of nature and humanity. Martel portrays each topic through his character Pi Patel. Pi is the only human in the novel that survived a harsh storm killing his family and almost all of his father’s animals; besides a hyena, orangutan, zebra, and a bengal tiger. Pi kept himself busy with continuing his daily routine of prayer, providing care for Richard Parker; the bengal tiger, and writing

Pi is adapting to constant change and learning new ways to live; even if it means abandoning his old lifestyle. Through the novel Pi is forced to rise up to the challenge of survival. Pi is faced with constant struggles while living on the Pacific Ocean. Whether is was sharing the raft with the tiger or leaving his vegetarian ways to eat fish in order not to starve to death. Nearing the end of the novel Pi is starting to lose his fate: “I was giving up.