Life Of Pi Banned Essay

In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, all attention is centered on the extraordinary life of Piscine Molitor Patel. He grows up in the Pondicherry Zoo in Southern India. He quickly develops a strong love for animals and is fascinated with every aspect of their lives. As he is growing up, he becomes a devout Hindu, Muslim, and Christian. When he is a teenager, his parents decide to try to achieve a better life by moving to Canada. They plan on taking the animals with them to sell to zoos in the United States. When they are about halfway into the voyage, something goes horribly wrong on the ship, and it begins to sink. Pi is thrown into a lifeboat, along with a few different animals. Initially, it was just a hyena, orangutan, and zebra; however, a tiger soon joins as well. The
First off, Life of Pi teaches that anything is possible with God and constant perseverance. Pi manages to live on a twenty-six foot lifeboat with a 450 pound Bengal tiger for a stunning 227 days! He can only do this by keeping the constant belief that God is present. While in India, Pi states, “Religion will save us” (Martel 27). He keeps this belief the entire voyage. For example, Pi states, “I practised religious rituals that I adapted to the circumstances. They brought me comfort; that is certain. But it was hard, oh, it was hard. Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love – but sometimes it was so hard to love” (Martel 208). Despite Pi’s low spirits, he continues to trust that God has a plan and will get him out of the current situation. Not only is Pi one with God, but also one with nature. He is deeply thankful for every sea animal he kills, using every part of the animal’s dead body. He even goes as far as drinking a dead sea turtle’s blood. Life of Pi is a passionate story that strongly reaffirms the existence of a God and for this reason, should not be