Maxine Malekmehr
18 December 2014
Dr. Hansen
Section 1961
Faith as the Key to Survival Albert Einstein once said, “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” Some individuals live their lives with strict adherence to logic, while others benefit from the power of imagination. However, both, pragmatism and imagination, contain advantages as well as disadvantages. In Yann Martel’s novel, the story’s protagonist, Piscine Patel, is a religious follower of three religions, who strongly believes that religion is essential to having a sense of imagination and that lack of faith leads to mere rationalism. Pi is a young man who survives 227 days adrift in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger, through the help of his trust and adherence to religion. Without faith in religion and G-d, Pi would not have been able to survive the terrible circumstances such as continuous rainstorms, extreme hunger, thirst, loneliness and despair. Faith allows him to suppress thoughts of fear, gives him peace of mind, and helps him form an affinity with the Bengal tiger. The notion of faith is first introduced to readers when Pi is in the town of Pondicherry and an elderly man says to him: “I have a story that will make you believe in God.” (Martel 2). This quote foreshadows the role religious devotion plays in Pi’s life. As mentioned previously, Pi is not only the story’s protagonist, but also an achieved artist, storyteller, and believer in the notion that that all
In the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel, we see Pi’s character develop both emotionally and spiritually through the process described in Joseph Campbell’s the Hero’s Journey. Throughout the journey, we see Pi find his faith in his Ordinary Life, lose it during his Ordeal, and rediscover it when he has his Return with the Elixir.
Pi’s belief system was an anchor for his thoughts and experiences and his faith in God prepared him for the Initiation stage of the Hero’s Journey.
The Life of Pi is a book filled with many fantasy adventures that will have an excellent impact on what you may or not believe in. This novel was published in 2001 by author Yann Martel. Yann Martel is a writer who is trying to make sense of life, just like any other human being trying to deal with everyday obstacles. In this book we see that the protagonist, Piscine Molitor also known as Pi takes us through an adventure that will question our faith in religion. Pi is not pleased by only following his ancestors’ beliefs; he believes that there is much more to religion. In The life of Pi we see that Pi argues amongst his family in what he wants to believe in. His father is not at all religious and Pi has taken up religion as a hobby. Now Pi is a Hindu, Muslim and a Christian and he undergoes a tragedy, a shipwreck with his family on voyage to Canada from India. As he goes through this process it puts his faith to the test. At the time of this voyage he is a teenager exploring different beliefs and he sees nothing wrong with believing in three different religions. We can argue that there is a war between religion and science. Pi on the other hand does not argue with those of other beliefs, he calls the atheists his brethrens as well. “It was my first clue that atheist are my brothers and sisters of a different faith, and every word they speak speaks of faith. Like me, they go as far as the legs of reason will carry
Religion is “the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods” (Dictionary). In society, many people follow the ethics of certain religions in order to make decisions about their life. The author Yann Martel uses Piscine Molitor Patel in the novel Life of Pi to send a message to readers about using ambiguity to create a theme about morality through the use of religion as spiritual beliefs can stabilize and nourish one in times of hardship. The use of religion, story-telling and science compared to religion resulted in ambiguity and therefore illustrated the theme of the importance of morality.
Yann Martel establishes in the beginning of Life of Pi in the author’s note that the claim to the heart of the novel in this story will “make you believe in God.” Since God is an identity that exists in a fiction or non-fiction realm, the audience is led to believe that the story to be told is true, opening the reader to the idea that belief in anything can be belief in God. Pi makes sense of his life through the expressions of Hinduism, Christianity and Muslim, “That which sustains the universe beyond thought and language, and that which is at the core of us and struggles for expression.” (Pg.68) This emphasizes Pi’s dedication and devotion to his religions and God. Martel is opening up to Pi’s story to convince the reader to find faith in Pi’s words.
Pi knows his beliefs and strives to show others its strength. Throughout the book Pi develops in several ways, but his beliefs are the one thing that stay throughout his life. Pi deals with an immense amount of loss and through his faith became a stronger person. Pi, just like most people has central morals and changes through his
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
Research Essay: Life of Pi Topic 1 In the novel Life of Pi, the main character Pi, used Christianity to describe his adventurous life, with the opinions of his atheist father also how animals tied it together. Pi describes multiple situations in his life, this essay reiterates those for example purposes. In this essay important quotes or phrases from the book along with other sources that are deemed necessary to connect with the reader will be used. These will help readers more understand the connection between Christianity, including how Pi used his religions.
Faith is an important aspect to people. It is the ability to believe in God without seeing Him. Faith is what keeps individuals preserving through hard and tough times. In Yann Martel’s novel Life of Pi, Pi’s exposure to three different religions help him get through 227 days on the Pacific Ocean. Pi’s faith saves him at sea, helping him continue his journey. Each religion teaches a different lesson to Pi. He learns about the presence of God everywhere from Hinduism, sacrifice and love from Christianity, and interconnections and miracles of life from Islam.
The evident motif of religion plays a major factor in Pi’s life; however the author chooses not to focus on one religion specifically but instead enforces a glorification of more religions. Martel creates a main character who is a curious young boy who decides to learn about Christianity, Hinduism and Islam all at once. Even though Pi is primarily
In the book Life of Pi, Pi is a young man who is stranded in the ocean, in a 26-foot long boat, with a tiger. He must survive not only the ocean, the sun, and Richard Parker, but he must stay sane, only having himself and God to rely on. Pi, very religious as a child, continues to believe in God after and during this ordeal. This is why Pi’s faith and his imagination may have helped him survive.
Throughout the novel, Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel it introduces the characters Pi a human boy who is stranded at sea and Richard Parker the tiger, who accompanies him on his journey. The story is centered upon Pi and how he was able to heroically survive 227 days at sea and the struggles he had to overcome. In the story, faith plays a significant role in Pi’s personality and demonstrates how he was able to overcome his hardships through faith. From this, reader’s can evaluate their own faith based on the significance of Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. The point i’m trying to prove is how throughout the story you can see how faith plays a significant role in shaping Pi’s personality.
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
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
“Religion” sounds like a unattainable thing in our daily life, and God is holy and Devine. Nevertheless, In Yann Martel’s “Life of Pi”, religion has a leading effect; it influences the trend of plot. In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, religion has a indispensable role for Pi by giving him knowledge to make a difficult decision, helping and supporting him mentally, and god enabling him to survive in the life boat.