“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, the Fellowship of the Ring
After reading the novel “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel one can see that the main character
survived by working through nature at its worst, trusting in his religions, and using
ingenuity to dodge the many animals on the life boat, coming to love them and taming
them. This is important because Pi lived for two hundred and twenty seven days out in
the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and if the circumstances had gone another way, he
probably would not have survived long at all. This said, Pi’s psychological mindset and
morale is outstanding, and he never gives up living.
The sea, one of the strongest symbols in this novel. The sea represents life, and death,
happiness, and sadness. It is unforgiving, and seemingly sets out to destroy Piscine right
from when him and his family are sailing to Canada. It chops Pi down from his once
mighty ship, sinking it and almost killing our title character in the process. Pi talks about
the sea a lot in the novel, talking about all the types of seas, all the millions of kinds of
fish the sea holds, and how vast it really is. A good quotation on this idea is when Pi says
“And in the grip of terror—the worst storm—you yet feel boredom, a deep weariness
with it all.” This quotation explains why castaways never live very long at sea. During
long, rough storms, he starts to lose interest at holding on, at being terrified for his life.
He gets just plain exhausted, and goes into a trance, not able to sleep, but not really
awake, just hoping time will go by faster, and the storm will end. This is explained well
when Pi comments “The worst pair of opposites is boredom and terror. Sometimes your
life is a pendulum swing from one to the other.”
Another Idea of how Martel fluctuated Pi’s preparation for fate was the animals on the
lifeboat with him. Although they were all a threat, they helped him to survive by keeping
his mind off of the inevitable, that he is going to die in the middle of the ocean with no
one left to care in the world. Instead of dwelling, he had to use his time to getting food
for both him and Richard Parker, and also in taming the big orange cat, so it does not just
turn around and kill Pi because he was in a bad mood. Pi sees, however, the pros and
cons to his lifeboat being the equivalent to Noah’s Ark, knows that Richard Parker is
keeping him alive by trying to kill him, keeping him from doubting his survival and
giving up. Pi and Richard Parker are also character foils of one another. Both put in the
exact same trying circumstances, one is a carnivore and one a vegetarian. Their names
both changed by clerical errors, Richard Parker mixed up with thirsty, while Pi because
people kept teasing him for the mispronunciation of his name. Pi also treats Richard
Parker as a human, adding anthropomorphism to the tiger’s character. Pi talks to him, and
complains that Richard can’t support himself and get his own food.
Yann Martel’s view on religion is that it is illumination for the mind of the holiest kind.
He does not discriminate between different religions in the novel, but quite the opposite,
embracing all religions and accepting them for what they are and what each one brings to
the table, then putting all of those elements together to form almost a new religion but
with elements from all other faiths. The author expresses this binding of religion through
his main character Piscine Molitor Patel, a faithful Christian, Hindu, and Islam. He
chooses these three religions at a young age, but they are not tested until the cargo ship
Tsimtsum crashes and he is stranded on the lifeboat with only animals as company. As the
best way to test ones faith is to bring a challenge and hardship upon them and see if their
faith falters or fails completely. When was faced with his dilemma, when times got rough
he would only turn to god more and more, trying to connect with his religions. Pi
explains the connection between his faiths by adding “Hindus, in their capacity for love,
are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are
bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat wearing Muslims.” His
Religions helped him prepare mentally for what was to come, whether it is rain for five
days strait or running across a floating carnivorous island.
Life of Pi is a novel filled to the brim with symbols, ideas, mystery, action, and disbelief.
Pi is prepared to die many times, but is always brought out of his gloom and back to life.
On being prepared to die, Pi quotes “Oncoming death is terrible enough, but worse still is
oncoming death with time to spare, time in which all the happiness that was yours and all
the happiness that might have been yours becomes clear to you.” (Pg.185-186). Pi
manages to always be prepared, and tries to keep ahead, collecting more food than he can
eat sometimes, but the basic needs of life always keep up, and after a while strive ahead.
Quoting from Maslow’s Hierarchy, at first Pi is able to not only succeed in providing
basic needs, but building a safety raft, and connecting with god. He tries not to spend
much time thinking about his family, for every time he does Pi is overwhelmed with a
sense of hopelessness. Another great idea in the novel is Pi’s name which is an irrational
number which goes on forever, just like the Pacific Ocean in which he is stranded in. Pi
also survived for two hundred and twenty seven days, while twenty two divided by seven
is 3.14…., which is Pi. Preparing for fate is one thing that Piscine Molitor Patel did so
well, and therefore, stayed alive.