Animal Symbolism in Life of Pi Essay

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.

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.

In Life of Pi, the author Yann Martel utilizes symbolism throughout the novel to illustrate the adaptive path one goes through to cope with conflict; succumbing to a lower morale, seeking hope through religion, and self conformity.

To begin with “The life of Pi” is a story on how a boy survived a sunken ship which was caused by a massive storm. After the storm he is placed on a raft with 4 different animals that includes zebra, tiger, orangutan, and hyena. In order to survive he would fish for his food something the Native Americans would do. The Native Americans would let their prisoner John Smith

Yann Martel, the author of Life of Pi, he uses animals to represent a person off the the ship that sunk. What the author is trying to represent is that each person has a significance in a specific religion that Pi is trying to practice. Maybe the real reason why Pi is stuck with those specific animals is because each play a part in a religion and some state that Pi is Richard Parker . Also he has to face each religion in order to survive in the ocean. Also the significance of the ocean is actually Pi’s mindset how he sees the world.

In human and animal nature, many similarities are portrayed in Life of Pi as well as a strong relation between the two. In contrast, humans and animals share the same sort of lifestyle, just living a different life according to Pi’s thoughts. In a tragic situation that one is in, such as Pi they must find a way to pass time and keep themselves busy by using their circumstances,

Yann Martel offers two accounts of Pi’s survival story so that Pi is able to personify animals and also give animalistic qualities to humans. This exchange is only seen after both accounts are read. The reader is able to determine which he or she accepts as reality, but since the facts of the story go unchanged and both tales are primarily the same, the sole purpose is to highlight the traits humans and animals posses. Yann Martel exemplifies human traits in animals and animal traits in people through his claim in passage A by telling the two stories of Pi’s survival.

Bengali polymath, Rabindranath Tagore, once said “you can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” In the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the protagonist, Pi, faces many challenges at sea while being accompanied by a tiger by the name of Richard Parker. This tiger, though a nuisance, proves to be essential in the role of Pi’s survival. Throughout the story, Richard Parker symbolizes survival, a reflection of Pi, and a being of God.

In the rare times, we see Richard Parker throughout the novel we simultaneously see the savage side of pi. Whenever the mysterious tiger makes an appearance we often see Pi partake in something barbaric to survive. Pi Patel was never one to break the flesh of another living thing but being on the lifeboat for those unpleasant 227 days he is forced to do things that go against his own moral compass. Martel does a fantastic job of symbolizing the character of Richard Parker as the savage ways pi demonstrated to survive his ordeal. The main way we can draw this conclusion of Richard Parker representing Pi comes from the many textual examples throughout the novel. For example, as Pi gains consciousness and awareness of his surreal surroundings after the sinking of the Tsimtsum he goes straight into survival mode as Richard Parker appears. Whenever Richard Parker is hidden Pi is always in a calm and restful state, this meaning that as Pi’s need for

Pi uses animals to symbolize characters inn such strait, and animals play an important role in this story. Using animal imagery in Life of Pi shows that animals have emotions, human are more dangerous than animals, and Pi’s affection in animals. Animals have basic emotions of humans. Animals sometimes are like human actually. Pi observes that emotion in Orange Juice’ s eyes, “To the end she reminded me of us: her eyes expressed fear in such a humanlike way as did her strained whimpers”(Yann Martel 164).

People may think that humans and animals have many differences, but when comparing and contrasting, a person’s existence can relate to an animal’s existence in many ways. Life of Pi is about a religious man and his physical and spiritual journey. Also, he knew a lot about animals and definitely cared for them. He tended to visit his father’s zoo which extended his knowledge about animals. However, Pi ends up stuck out in the middle of the ocean with animals. He is then essentially put to the test on his knowledge and how a person will become when constantly with savage animals. Yann Martel structures Life of Pi in such a way to show the beginning intelligence of how one may act when under pressure, all the way to the desperate low of one when under pressure.

In order to fully understand Pi, it is necessary to understand the animals and their connection to him. The zebra is the first to die at the paws of the hyena, and stands for Pi’s initial fear of the open ocean and the animals on board. The orangutan, Orange Juice, is said to have been kind, innocent, and maternal,

Furthermore, his vast knowledge of animals, having grown up at a zoo, helps him to tame Richard Parker. Pi knows tigers’ psychological thinking and exploits this by classically conditioning Richard Parker. Likewise, Pi’s experience of watching a tiger kill a goat in his early childhood taught him the fundamental lesson that ‘an animal is an animal’, enabling him to strategically and mentally survive his long and testing time at sea. In addition to that, during the early parts of Part 2, Pi comes across a survival manual, a crucial object for his continued existence. The book gives him critical information on the do’s and don’ts of survival at sea and it is hard to imagine that Pi could have survived without this book which also gave him the opportunity to write down his words which were “all he has left’’.

Karanvir Dhami Ms. Yu ENG3U March 7, 2011 Symbolism in Life of Pi In Life of Pi there are many literary devices used to present the different themes in the novel. The main literary device used in Life of Pi is symbolism. Symbolism is often used to represent an object to something else, either by association or by resemblance. Most of the names of animals, objects and even humans in this novel have a symbolic meaning. In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, symbolism such as pi’s name, the colour orange and the algae island, are used throughout the novel to provide Pi with protection to help him either survive or overcome his emotional pain. The mathematical pi is undefined, infinite and unable to be understood, just like Piscine Patel.

Authors anthropomorphize animal characters to allow readers to fully understand an animal’s actions or thoughts. By doing so, the reader is able to comprehend why an animal does a certain action or how an animal behaves towards a human or another animal. One novel that employs anthropomorphism of animals is Yann Martel’s Life of Pi. In the novel, Pi Patel, the main character, is stranded on a boat with a variety of animals. Pi then relates his daily experiences with these animals throughout his journey across the Pacific Ocean, especially with a tiger named Richard Parker. Based on a through reading and analysis of the novel, the use of anthropomorphism is integral to Pi surviving his experience on the open water because it allows Pi to understand how animal behavior can help him survive at sea.