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How Does Yann Martel Use Religion In Life Of Pi

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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 …show more content…

Pi used turtle blood for a spiritual sacrifice. According to Pi, “It came as unmistakeable indication to me of how low I had sunk the day I noticed, with a pinching of the heart, that ate i like an animal, that the noisy, frantic unchewing wolfing-down of mine was exactly the way Richard Parker ate.” Martel has showed the reader that humans can be destructive and vicious as animals around them. From a reader’s point of view, Richard Parker symbolizes Pi’s survival side. It is ironic how Richard Parker wants to eat Pi but, just being around Richard Parker, Pi learns couple of actions to keep him alive. This demonstrates human will treat animals like animals but will used them as an example of survival. These slight unhuman-like situations reveals to the reader that humans are vulnerable to what survival has against …show more content…

At the beginning of his journal entries, Pi noted and wrote how he was feeling about his voyage in the sea with Richard Parker. Towards the end of his entries, Pi begins to lose himself in his writings. According to Pi, “To be castaway is to be a point perpetually at the center of a circle. When you look up...there isn’t another one like you also looking up, also trapped by geometry, also struggling with fear, rage, madness, apathy.” Pi is portraying his view of being the center. At this moment, Pi is in need of human contact or communication. Pi is extremely isolated which is moving him closer to insanity and madness. He writes in his journal and talks to Richard Parker to be able to help keep his sanity. Martel displays, in Pi, how humans need contact and communication from other humans. In a reader’s point of view, humans need to communication and contact to feel surrounded by others. This affects the work as a whole because humans will lose faith in finding others of their own kind and it displays how humans could go mad and insane over the lack of communication.
Overall, Yann Martel; the author of Life of Pi, says about humanity is that we are vulnerable to what is against us as a whole. Humans face survival, starvation, and insanity in different forms. Pi was tested by his faith to face survival, starvation, and insanity. Even though, it was long and difficult journey for Pi, he made it through. Martel

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