Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

The Life of Pi, an award-winning novel by Yann Martel, tells the story of Pi Patel, a young boy stranded at sea with an adult Bengal tiger. Marooned on a tiny lifeboat adrift in the Pacific Ocean, Pi finds himself struggling to survive. Faced with imminent suffering and death brought on by hunger, thirst, and an unending battle with the elements, Pi must make a decision between upholding his and society’s strict set of morals and values, or letting his survival instincts take over. Through compelling language and imagery, Martel gives Pi’s conflict between morals, fear, and survival a sense of excitement, suspense, and climax.

Firstly, Pi’s devotion for God was clear and he often seeks clarity from god. Throughout the novel, Pi’s love for God caused him to practice three major religion at the same time; breaking any barriers between Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. Pi believes all three religions are equally true and interconnective as “[Islam and Christianity] both claim Abraham as theirs. Muslims say the God of the Hebrews and Christians is the same as the God of the Muslims. They recognize David, Moses, and Jesus as prophets” (80, Martel). Pi was morally ambiguous, he did not know if one religion would bring him closer to God than another causing him to follow all three. When Pi was stuck on the life boat, he often called out for help from god as he feared death. As he was giving up, a voice inside of him spoke from his heart and said “I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen every day. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen” (164). Pi was uncertain whether or not he was going to survive however, he hoped through praying, he would as his faith in God brought him comfort.

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

The way Pi acts throughout his journey suggests that having faith is one of the most important practises to learn as it can give an individual hope. Pi has a strong connection to all his practising faiths: Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Society is set to have many unspoken rules that we must abide by to

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.

Though Richard Parker proves vital for survival, he also reflects Pi’s character and helps further develop it throughout the novel. When first introduced, Pi was a teenaged boy curious in many different belief systems and also vegetarian. However, his experience with this tiger aboard a lifeboat after a shipwreck leads to necessary changes in Pi’s lifestyle and these dramatic changes in way of life are characterized through the tiger itself. For example, Richard Parker instinctively tears at animals and eats them in a barbaric manner in means of survival. Though Pi is disgusted by his animal-like behavior, he later resorts to the same methods of eating, “noisy, frantic, unchewing wolfing-down…exactly the way Richard Parker ate” for his own survival (Martel 225). As a previous vegetarian, Pi is not comfortable with the idea of killing animals to eat them but realizes “it is simple and brutal: a person can get used to anything, even to killing” (Martel 185). He even, later, uses human flesh from a passenger that Richard Parker killed for means of survival and food. He also kills birds by “[breaking] its neck [and] leveraging [their] heads backwards”, a harsh and violent murder (Martel 231). Pi’s ability to adapt to a more vicious yet necessary way of life reveals his inner animal

"Bapu Gandhi said, 'All religions are true.' I just want to love God"(87). Pi indicates that he does not see any disparity between the three religions. Although each religion has it's own unique religious uniform, Pi looks beyond it to see the bigger picture. In this picture Pi sees that loving God is front and center in all three of his religious practices. Whether it includes a prayer rug, dancing or silently praising God in the sanctuary, Pi understands that the importance is all centered on the act of worshiping God. In this we can understand why Pi wants to consider different components in his belief system. These different components allow Pi to have an expanded horizon in which he can more clearly determine his actions. In turn, these factors aid Pi in determining the defense of his religious choices. This comes with a result of a behavior based on belief. While Pi wanted to have the choice to practice three religions, the people around him did not believe in it nor understand it. Often people see religion as a stable foundation to exhibit what a person's character or personality is making it obvious that Pi's choice to stand on three

At the age of fourteen Pi was introduced to three religions, christianity, hinduism and islam. He was on a trip with his parents in Munnar when he met a Christian priest along with other religious leaders. In these religions they preach that god is the main influence of life. Pi listened and learned in these religions, buying a bible and prayer rug that he read and used daily. This influenced his belief that God impacts all life events because it was what he read,

Without morals civilization would crumble, but take away everyone and losing your morals might just save your life. In the book Life of Pi, Yann Martel creates a storyline that follows a boy’s life and the events that occur before, during and after being stranded on a life raft with a tiger. The main character, Pi, undergoes horrendous events that challenge him to change his ways to survive. In times of difficulty, man can lose his morals and values in exchange for survival. Martel exhibits this theme through Pi’s hunger, the cook in the human story, and the slaughtering of Pi’s fellow shipwrecked acquaintances.

The main character goes through a deeply traumatic experience and only has animals to go through it with. I can’t relate to what he went through, but I still feel a connection with this character. Anyone who reads comes to that feeling eventually, a character that was so deeply “yourself” that you’ll always love them for it. Pi was that for me. When he gets through the terrible events he’s placed in, the tiger he was with leaves without looking back. It’s human to look back, and we hang on to every goodbye hoping they do. When the tiger does not look back, Pi said this, “You know, my father was right. [The tiger] never saw me as his friend. After all we had been through, he didn’t even look back. But I have to believe there was more in his eyes than my own reflection staring back at me. I know it, I felt it, even if I can’t prove it.” He goes on to make conclusions on many other things, but the final thought in that paragraph is what matters to me: “I know [the tiger] is a tiger but I wish I had said, “It’s over. We survived. Thank you for saving my life. I love

Pi practices three religions: Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. “But he can’t be a Hindu, a Christian and a Muslim. It’s impossible. He must choose” (Martel 90). Pi follows

Pi is a devoted follower of three faiths. You would expect most people to give up on religion and life under Pi’s circumstances. He did the complete opposite by adapting to his environment. Even in Pi’s delusional mind he stayed true to his faiths. Bringing turtle meat for Prasad that probably kept him alive. When talking to Richard Parker about eating a leather boot he still didn't because “[he] is a Hindu and Hindus consider cows sacred”. His faith was motivation to live and what he kept him going.

In Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, a boy named Piscine Patel, known to many as Pi, finds himself trapped on a small lifeboat with animals after he evacuates a sinking ship. The ship was used for transporting himself, his family, and the animals from the family’s zoo to Canada. Yann Martel uses the literary devices characterization, setting and imagery to highlight the theme the will to live during Pi’s voyage in hope surviving. Piscine Patel is characterized as someone who takes good care of their body as he heads to diner.

Organization is essential in any good book, as in The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. The way Yann Martel sets up part one in his book, The Life of Pi, is very different from most authors styles. Part one of The Life of Pi mainly consists of Pi’s childhood, with the exception of the observations of Pi made by the author of Pi’s story. It is inferred Pi has had some struggle in between his transition from India to Canada as Martel starts the book off with Pi stating, “[his] suffering left [him] sad and gloomy” (Martel, 4). Pi grew up in a zoo that was filled with adventure and exotic organisms.

In addition Pi was led to Christianity from Hinduism, in fact, it was Lord Krishna Pi heard speaking. Krishna led Pi to meet one man, Jesus Christ. Just like Hinduism, Christianity provided Pi with meaning to survive. As Pi practiced and summoned Christianity, he was provided with direction that he described as “bustling like Toronto at rush hour” (63). Pi was very thankful to have come across this religion as he says, “I offered prayers to Christ…Then I raced down the hill on the left and raced up the hill on the right – to offer thanks to Lord Krishna for having put Jesus Nazareth, whose humanity I found so compelling, in my way” (64), using words like “racing” and “compelling” to emphasize the impact the “bustling” nature that Christianity brought up in him. This shows that Pi’s faith quickly consumed him and he felt that he would benefit by doing so as it resulted in him gaining