Preview

Life Of Pi Essay Religion

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
675 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Life Of Pi Essay Religion
Faith No one ever lives a perfect life. The world is full of tragedy and sorrow, but in the midst of it all, there is faith, family, friends, and the dreams that one day life might be perfect. In Yann Martel’s novel, Life of Pi, Piscine Patel is the lone human survivor of a shipwreck. He endured living in cramped quarters with a live tiger for over two-hundred days. While it might seem like almost an impossible feat, the one thing that Pi had that many people didn’t is faith. Faith in god and friendship is what motivates people to work through the hardships that life throws at them. For many people rich or poor, god is a figure that will always be there if you just have faith. For Piscine, “Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust…” (Martel 208) That motivated him to think positively despite his dire circumstances. It seems like Pi had trusted that God would never throw something at him that …show more content…
For days he rationed food, water, and other supplies so the rudimentary necessities would last him longer. He took joy in perhaps every little detail in life, turtle blood, fish, rain, and even Richard Parker’s behavior. When coincidentally he met another blind man in the middle of the ocean, Pi was truly thrilled. Pi, of course asked that man to join him, but Richard Parker killed him. Pi was devastated but it gave him a renewed faith that anything could happen in the near future. It seems as if it was Pi’s faith that brought him to the algae island, which later would reveal itself to be carnivorous and dangerous. Pi knew, again that if he didn’t think for the good of his future, he might not survive. He even said, “ I preferred to set off and perish in search of my own kind than to live a lonely half- life of physical comfort and spiritual death...” (Martel 283) This shows that Pi would rather die trying to fight then life a lonely

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Pi at first is terrified when he saw Richard Parker on the boat. He thought he would die, and most of the time Pi spent time outside the boat on his other little raft he made himself. Pi began to gain confidence, and would use his religious thoughts. He never gave up, like everyday on that boat he always had something to do. Whether it was for himself or for Richard Parker. Pi didn't let anything or anyone bring him down. God was his guidance through his survival voyage. Joe gains positive mental attitude when he made it out of the crevasse and saw Simon was no where near and told himself he has to make it to the base camp before they leave in a couple of days. Joe was making it through everything with a messed up knee. It didn't stop him from making it, he kept going knowing he'll make it to them with the condition he was…

    • 1468 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout this scene, there is a common thread of this idea. It first becomes apparent as Pi’s eyesight diminishes and he is blinded. He completely gives up, forfeiting his life and his will to live. As he often does throughout the story, Pi turns to his faith when he is in this time of need. He decides to “leave matters in the hands of God” (242). He does not allow himself to be driven mad because his faith is able to ground him. On the other hand, he gives up his life. He desperately wants his suffering to end so he becomes willing to pay the ultimate price. Driven by the pain of not having the necessary rations of food and water to live, Pi feels as though he should give up. His religion has taught Pi how sacred life is so for Pi this is the most extreme form of desperation.…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although the bare essentials to human survival are just food, water, and shelter, there is also other things that humans need. They need spiritual needs like believing in a faith. Or emotional needs like friendships and feelings. In the novel, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Yann gives Pi spiritual, physical, and emotional needs. Pi meets these needs by staying true to his faith.…

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ever thought about how many religions you can believe in? Is it right or wrong to believe in more than one religion? Martel describes how Pi loves God through Christianity, Hinduism, and Muslim. One day Pi and his family were at a park and there was a priest, pandit, and imam came up to them and said they wanted Pi to make up his mind regarding which religion he believes in. The wise men argued about which one Pi should believe in and he could not decide because he loves and is faithful in all. He replied, “Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true’ I just want to love God” ( 69, Life of Pi). Therefore, Pi states that he just wants to love God no matter how many different religions he practices. Even though his family made fun of him and doubted him about his belief and the wise men were mad that Pi did not make a decision on what religion to believe in that did not stop Pi from practicing them. Martel makes this believable throughout the book by using imagery to show how passionate Pi is about religion. Also, Martel's imagery captured the different stories Pi told about why he was Hindu. One example is when Pi is describing all of the different parts of Hinduism and why he is a Hindo. One part that Pi describes is the religious food that Hindus prepare and goes into depth about how they smell and look. Another part that…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life Of Pi Analysis

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages

    While he was in the lifeboat, he used praying for a couple of things. He used it to pass the time, but it also was used by him to keep his faith restored, and help him get through this really rough time in his life. He often prayed whenever something would go wrong, but at the same time he would just pray to pass some time, and talk to god. The last thing that occurred on the lifeboat that could have affected his mindset is his realization that his family was really gone. He started to understand this heart-wrenching fact in chapter 49, when he starts to decide to look through the rations of the lifeboat. His realization that they are dead causes him to have a decrease in hope of being found and he kicks into survival mode and doesn’t focus on being found but just staying alive. Pi was on the lifeboat for a very long time. 227 days to be exact. In that amount of time, many people tend to lose their sense of communication with others. It is typically highly unlikely that people can just come back into the normal world. However, when Pi returned, he was fully functioning, and was able to come back and do interviews, and later have a wife, children, and pets. That is pretty amazing when you think about it. Lastly, Pi is seen as the protagonist in the entire duration of the story That can prove that he had great determination and will to live because he came out a hero. He did a lot of really great things whilst on the…

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Comperative Essay Outline

    • 1370 Words
    • 6 Pages

    While on the lifeboat, Pi goes through many situations that tested his physical ability to survive. The main reason Pi was able to endure these situations was with the help of, and companionship of Richard Parker. Pi states, “If I still had the will to live, it was thanks to Richard Parker. He kept me from thinking too much about my family and my tragic circumstances” (182). It is because of Richard Parker that Pi is…

    • 1370 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life Of Pi Banned Essay

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages

    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…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Pi is trapped at sea, no way home, all alone, with no family. “The endings are the same as every other, we’re only here to die”. Like the rest of his family, he thinks he will die as well at first before he gains all of his hope.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Is Pi Come Out Alive?

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Now open your eyes think how could you have survived on that boat. Pi survived on that boat with a tiger for 227 days on the Pacific Ocean. The only reasons he came out alive was because these three beliefs with is God,his family and his caring of life. Because Pi's parents were strongly religious and had been brought up a serious Hindu. Religion is important to him in his everyday life.…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Closed reading responce

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages

    There is also Pi’s second story that he tells without animals, in which Pi himself is the tiger. From this it shows how much in fact Richard Parker taught and saved Pi. Pi learned the qualities of nobility and violence, grace and brute force, and intelligence and instinct. Pi realizes that he has to use these qualities. He must overcome his squeamishness in order to eat. He must embrace aggression in order to kill and cook things that otherwise might have killed him. He needed the qualities Richard Parker had in order to survive. In the book Pi also says, “it is animal instinct, not polite convention or modern convenience, that protects…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Belief in God is clearly a major theme in Life of Pi, and has been the most controversial in reviews of the book. Throughout the novel, Pi makes his belief in and love of God clear—it is a love profound enough that he can transcend the classical divisions of religion, and worship as a Hindu, Muslim, and Christian. Pi, although amazed by the possibility of lacking this belief, still respects the atheist, because he sees him as a kind of believer. Pi’s vision of an atheist on his death bed makes it clear that he assumes the atheist’s form of belief is one in God, without his realizing it until the end. It is the agnostic that truly bothers Pi; the decision to doubt, to lack belief in anything, is to him inexcusable. This is underscored in that essential passage in the novel when Pi asks the Japanese officials which of his two stories they preferred—he sees no reason why they should not believe the better story.…

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, Piscine(Pi) Molitor is taken on an arduous journey where he not only discovers his religious beliefs, but also makes sense of himself and the world. In Pi’s youth, he meets two incredible men to whom he says impacted his life the most. Both men, ironically, were named Mr. Kumar: one a religious baker, the other an atheist biology teacher. One of the many things these two men made Pi realize was that it is okay to worship god, as much as it is okay to believe in evolution and factual evidence. But what Pi failed to understand was the agnostics, who did not pick either path but instead were undecided. After spending time with both Mr. Kumars at the Zoo, he says, “To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation” (28). In this quote, Pi is saying…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The living world religions fall within one or more of the different types of religious belief mentioned below: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Shintoism, Zoroastrianism and Traditional Religion.…

    • 194 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    life of Pi: Survival

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Furthermore, faith is a significant factor in Pi’s survival. Pi should have passed away several times but faith kept him remaining on his journey. Pi is unsure…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Bucket List: Sociology

    • 1766 Words
    • 8 Pages

    life must have faith because without it, it might make an individual give up and it can hurt a person…

    • 1766 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics