Life of Pi

In the novel, â€Å"Life of Pi† the author Yann Martel tells a story within a story about Piscine Molitor who is also known as Pi. He is the protagonist and the dynamic character of story. In the chapters that confine the main story Pi is a timid middle-aged man and is deeply spiritual after learning the teachings of Hinduism, Catholicism, and Islam. He tells us about his childhood growing up in India as a son of a zoo keeper. He’s a vegetarian and he expresses his love for animals. Pi is a student of religion, zoology and is deeply interested by the characteristics of people and animals. Yet there is another side to Pi, and there is a constant switch between his thoughts and actions. Pi has learned about animal nature and its violent capabilities but it is not until he is faced with these circumstances. Not long after the ship sinks Pi and a tiger named Richard Parker are the only ones left on the lifeboat. Pi fears Richard Parker in some way but when he learns that his chances of survival are becoming very slim he uses his fear as a key to survival. Pi temporarily forgets all his other problems and manages through several courses to dominate Richard Parker. Pi The author uses indirect characterization to show how an awful position can bring out the worst in a man, and unexpected help in the most effective of animals. Pi becomes very quick and aggressive when it comes to finding and consuming food. I just didn’t have the time to consider what was before me. It either went into my mouth that instant or was lost to Richard Parker, who was pawing and stamping the ground and huffing impatiently on the edge of his territory. It came as unmistakable indication to me of how low I had sunk the day I had noticed, with a pinching of the heart, which I ate like an animal, that this noisy, frantic, unchewing wolfing-down of mine was exactly the way Richard Parker ate. † This compares t he close similarities between a man and an animal. Life of Pi The novel itself is inclined with philosophy and how different kinds of religion affected the life of Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi), the narrator of the story. It started when Pi was in a ship with his family when a mysterious incident led the ship to sink in the ocean, leaving only Pi the human who survived the incident. Along with him are the different animals whom he had discourse and interaction with in the lifeboat. Things started to went somehow out of control when the hyena ate some fellow animals. Long after, the tiger itself fed on the hyena but managed not to attack Pi. The two, Pi and the tiger whose name in the story is Richard Parker, continued to survive together and managed to keep each other’s company. After a long time, they found an island with a strange algae-dominated form. Soon they discovered that the algae were deforming themselves into acids at night and there’s this strange fruit that has a human-like teeth in it. Pi concluded that the island is an organism that eats humans. With these view of things, Pi and Richard Parker left the strange island and arrived in Mexico. There they departed from each other after keeping each other’s company for 227 days. Pi went to the hospital and he was confined there. Two Japanese officials named Okamoto and Chiba visited him and interrogated him how the ship sank. He told them the stories about the animals and his stay with the tiger, Richard Parker. However, the two officials did not believe him. Then he told another story where he was in a ship with his mother, a cook and a Chinese sailor. This story was a disgusting one where the cook is someone who is barbaric in actions. Pi let the two Japanese officials choose whichever version of story they want and the latter chose the one with animals which they wrote a story with. Pi was engaged in the three major religions in the world namely Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam where his life was patterned. He clearly portrays a character who did not believe in religion as a whole but in conviction in one sense. Belief as a human necessity could be seen through Pi’s character where Pi is a representative of human divinity.[1] His life, as well as his activities, is associated with god/s. For him, everything is related to god/s. Or may I say that everything can be related to god/s. His personality here can be viewed as an attachment to a belief which creates a form of survival. This can be compared to what Emile Durkheim said in his research that those who are in a strong attachment, say Christianity, had a lesser probability of committing a suicide than those who are more individualistic. Moreover, a strong hold to a belief can lengthen one’s life because there is a definite belief that serves as a guide for a person throughout his/her life. On the other hand, Richard Parker was also able to sustain the coexistence between them (with Pi) by his animal instincts. Example for this is the search and hunt for food, which is one of the physiological needs of human in order to survive and to perform everyday life functions. With this is a concept of the survival of the fittest portrayed by the hyena and tiger where they ate their fellow animals in order to survive. The weakest being can not handle to live longer while the stronger ones are those that have the capacity to hunt and kill for their own benefit in order to live. Another manifestation of this survival is when Pi and Richard Parker was the only one who was alive and they managed to live longer in the strange island and to go to Mexico where their lives were more secured. Life of Pi was a unique combination of social reality and religion. According to the author Martel, it doesn’t matter which was believed the truth but that belief should be present. Truth is only a matter of understanding. What really exist are evidences of a history, whether it was true or not. It was we who give the definition of what the social construction of reality means. And what people believed to be the truth is a matter of collective approval. Approval of those in the dominate classes. In the novel, stories were given. How can one say which story is true and which one is not? Martel says that ‘the facts do not always constitute the importance in the experience’.[2] Thus, one can say that unreliable facts which are given to us. We are the ones who will decide what is true and what is not. â€Å"Life’s story is one’s own, and faith trumps factuality.† What really matters for the truth to exist is the belief of people on it. Without the belief, a truth can not be truth. Works Cited Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. Canada: Knopf Canada, 2001. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org [2] Ibid. Life of Pi Name- Htet Hlaing Hmee ( 1207C20609 ) Period- 1 Life of Pi Novel Proposal Theme- The Nature of Suffering Argument A Point 1- Pi can't imagine a God who suffers Quotation- â€Å"This son, on the other hand, who goes hungry, who suffers from thirst, who gets tired, who is sad, who is anxious, who is heckled and harassed† ( 91 ) Point 2 – Pi stops when he's working out the immediate detail of survival. Quotation – â€Å"I was either fixed on practical details of immediate survival or transfixed by pain, weeping silently, my mouth open and my hands at my head. † (169) Point 3- The worst night of his lifeQuotation- â€Å"It is pointless to say that this or that night was the worst of my life. I have so many bad nights to choose from that I've made none the champion. Still, that second night at sea stands in my memory as one of exceptional suffering† ( 188 ) Argument B Point 1- Suffering grief becomes carnivorous Quotation- â€Å"They were dead; I could no longer deny it. What a thing to acknowledge in your heart! To lose a brother is to lose someone with whom you can share the experience of growing old, who is supposed to bring you a sister-in-law and nieces and nephews, creatures to people the tree of your life and give it new branches. ( 194 ) Point 2 – Orange Juice's suffering to proportions Quotation- â€Å"She was beheaded. The neck wound was still bleeding. It was a horrible sight to the eyes and killing to the spirit. † ( 201 ) Point 3- Realizes his suffering is taking place in the middle of an ocean Quotation- â€Å"I saw my suffering for what it was, finite and insignificant, and I was still. My suffering did not fit anywhere, I realized. And I could accept this† (269) Argument C Point 1- No escape for poor Pi.Quotation- â€Å"Salt-water boils – red, angry, disfiguring – were a leprosy of the high seas, transmitted by the water that soaked me† ( 389 ) Point 2- Pi's suffering drive s him Quotation- â€Å"I ate some of his flesh. I mean small pieces, little strips that I meant for the gaff's hook that, when dried by the sun, looked like ordinary animal flesh† ( 386 ) Point 3- Pi turns to God at one of the points of his Pacific crossing Quotation- â€Å"The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar. It was natural that, bereft as I was, in the throes of unremitting suffering, I should turn to God. † ( 428 ) Life of Pi In the novel, â€Å"Life of Pi† the author Yann Martel tells a story within a story about Piscine Molitor who is also known as Pi. He is the protagonist and the dynamic character of story. In the chapters that confine the main story Pi is a timid middle-aged man and is deeply spiritual after learning the teachings of Hinduism, Catholicism, and Islam. He tells us about his childhood growing up in India as a son of a zoo keeper. He’s a vegetarian and he expresses his love for animals. Pi is a student of religion, zoology and is deeply interested by the characteristics of people and animals. Yet there is another side to Pi, and there is a constant switch between his thoughts and actions. Pi has learned about animal nature and its violent capabilities but it is not until he is faced with these circumstances. Not long after the ship sinks Pi and a tiger named Richard Parker are the only ones left on the lifeboat. Pi fears Richard Parker in some way but when he learns that his chances of survival are becoming very slim he uses his fear as a key to survival. Pi temporarily forgets all his other problems and manages through several courses to dominate Richard Parker. Pi The author uses indirect characterization to show how an awful position can bring out the worst in a man, and unexpected help in the most effective of animals. Pi becomes very quick and aggressive when it comes to finding and consuming food. I just didn’t have the time to consider what was before me. It either went into my mouth that instant or was lost to Richard Parker, who was pawing and stamping the ground and huffing impatiently on the edge of his territory. It came as unmistakable indication to me of how low I had sunk the day I had noticed, with a pinching of the heart, which I ate like an animal, that this noisy, frantic, unchewing wolfing-down of mine was exactly the way Richard Parker ate. † This compares t he close similarities between a man and an animal. Life of Pi Name- Htet Hlaing Hmee ( 1207C20609 ) Period- 1 Life of Pi Novel Proposal Theme- The Nature of Suffering Argument A Point 1- Pi can't imagine a God who suffers Quotation- â€Å"This son, on the other hand, who goes hungry, who suffers from thirst, who gets tired, who is sad, who is anxious, who is heckled and harassed† ( 91 ) Point 2 – Pi stops when he's working out the immediate detail of survival. Quotation – â€Å"I was either fixed on practical details of immediate survival or transfixed by pain, weeping silently, my mouth open and my hands at my head. † (169) Point 3- The worst night of his lifeQuotation- â€Å"It is pointless to say that this or that night was the worst of my life. I have so many bad nights to choose from that I've made none the champion. Still, that second night at sea stands in my memory as one of exceptional suffering† ( 188 ) Argument B Point 1- Suffering grief becomes carnivorous Quotation- â€Å"They were dead; I could no longer deny it. What a thing to acknowledge in your heart! To lose a brother is to lose someone with whom you can share the experience of growing old, who is supposed to bring you a sister-in-law and nieces and nephews, creatures to people the tree of your life and give it new branches. ( 194 ) Point 2 – Orange Juice's suffering to proportions Quotation- â€Å"She was beheaded. The neck wound was still bleeding. It was a horrible sight to the eyes and killing to the spirit. † ( 201 ) Point 3- Realizes his suffering is taking place in the middle of an ocean Quotation- â€Å"I saw my suffering for what it was, finite and insignificant, and I was still. My suffering did not fit anywhere, I realized. And I could accept this† (269) Argument C Point 1- No escape for poor Pi.Quotation- â€Å"Salt-water boils – red, angry, disfiguring – were a leprosy of the high seas, transmitted by the water that soaked me† ( 389 ) Point 2- Pi's suffering drive s him Quotation- â€Å"I ate some of his flesh. I mean small pieces, little strips that I meant for the gaff's hook that, when dried by the sun, looked like ordinary animal flesh† ( 386 ) Point 3- Pi turns to God at one of the points of his Pacific crossing Quotation- â€Å"The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar. It was natural that, bereft as I was, in the throes of unremitting suffering, I should turn to God. † ( 428 )