Life of Pi
Life of Pi
Final Essay
Life of Pi is the kind of story that really makes you think. There were so many different aspects of the book that I didn’t understand when we started reading that make sense now. One of those features is Pi’s story. During the time when we read that section of the book I didn’t even think about the truth behind it, I just read. Now that we have finished the book and we got to hear both of Pi’s stories, I’m not sure which I believe, but if I had to choose I would say the one with the animals is real. After saying that I do think that Pi is a reliable narrator. I think the first story he tells is nothing but the real truth. In the authors note, in the beginning of the book, the person talking to Yann Martel says, “I have a story that will make you believe in God.” (page x) I think that this “tall order” as Yann Martel says, was filled. The second story is what the two Japanese men want to hear. It is dry, yeastless factuality, as Pi says. Pi also says this in the beginning of the book, “I can well imagine an atheist’s last words: ‘White, white! L-L-Love! My God!’—and the deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry, yeastless factuality, might try to explain the warm light bathing him by saying, ‘Possibly a f-f-failing oxygenation of the b-b-brain,’ and, to the very end, lack imagination and miss the better story.” (page 64) This quote says that religion is tied with imagination. The Japanese men couldn’t believe Pi’s tale because first, it is pretty hard to imagine living like he did for so long and second, I think the Japanese men weren’t willing to take the leap of faith to believe Pi’s story with the animals. They didn’t believe in Pi’s story which to Pi is like not believing in God, so when Pi’s tells the second horrific story without the animals they decide to take that leap of faith. Then when Pi asks them which is the better story, they both say the one
Final Essay
Life of Pi is the kind of story that really makes you think. There were so many different aspects of the book that I didn’t understand when we started reading that make sense now. One of those features is Pi’s story. During the time when we read that section of the book I didn’t even think about the truth behind it, I just read. Now that we have finished the book and we got to hear both of Pi’s stories, I’m not sure which I believe, but if I had to choose I would say the one with the animals is real. After saying that I do think that Pi is a reliable narrator. I think the first story he tells is nothing but the real truth. In the authors note, in the beginning of the book, the person talking to Yann Martel says, “I have a story that will make you believe in God.” (page x) I think that this “tall order” as Yann Martel says, was filled. The second story is what the two Japanese men want to hear. It is dry, yeastless factuality, as Pi says. Pi also says this in the beginning of the book, “I can well imagine an atheist’s last words: ‘White, white! L-L-Love! My God!’—and the deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry, yeastless factuality, might try to explain the warm light bathing him by saying, ‘Possibly a f-f-failing oxygenation of the b-b-brain,’ and, to the very end, lack imagination and miss the better story.” (page 64) This quote says that religion is tied with imagination. The Japanese men couldn’t believe Pi’s tale because first, it is pretty hard to imagine living like he did for so long and second, I think the Japanese men weren’t willing to take the leap of faith to believe Pi’s story with the animals. They didn’t believe in Pi’s story which to Pi is like not believing in God, so when Pi’s tells the second horrific story without the animals they decide to take that leap of faith. Then when Pi asks them which is the better story, they both say the one