Preview

Life of Pi - Pi's Physical Journey of Suffering and Pain

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
616 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Life of Pi - Pi's Physical Journey of Suffering and Pain
In Pi's 227 days of being stranded in the sea, he has had many problems that have

caused physical suffering and pain. However Pi has been able to overcome his adversities

and has shown his endurance through suffering and continuing to survive. In this novel,

the author makes a very close connection between Pi's physical suffering and his mental

suffering. Pi shows that as long as you are able to live through mental suffering, you are

capable of living through physical suffering. When you have conquered your mental

struggle, you have the courage to take on your physical struggle with out fear. Pi's

physical journey of suffering and pain was a test to his mental knowledge and inner

courage.

One of Pi's biggest challenges was when he travels across the ocean and stumbles

on to the carnivorous island. He soon figures out with his intelligence that the island is

dangerous and he must leave immediately. This shows his mental courage because the

island was more mentally dangerous than physically dangerous. So when Pi leaves the

island he is sacrificing his physical pains so that he won't lose the will to live which has

kept him alive for so long and let his mental strength die. The quotation

"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 on this murderous island."(Martel, 361)

shows his mental courage to take on the physical pain he is about to face when he goes back on the boat.

Pi also faced lots of challenges when he was in the boat. His suffering in the boat

has taught him many new things about life. It is there that Pi obtained spiritual courage to

help him take on his physical suffering courage. Pi's experiences in his boat have taught

him that his suffering and pain is a part of life he must go through as he has seen the

zebra live through unimaginable pain. Here is a quotation from Soren



Cited: • Kierkegaard, Soren. "Soren Kierkegaard Quotes." 5 Jan. 2007 . • Martel, Yann. Life Of. 1st ed. Orlando: Harcourt Inc, 2001.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    He is picked up by a ship soon after he leaves the island and decides to tell his story to his rescuers but they thinks he is crazy. To prevent himself from being sent away to an asylum he pretends he lost his memory of the previous year. When he returns home he discovers that he feels unsafe around other humans, because he fears they are Beast Folk. He contents himself with solitude and the study of chemistry and astronomy.…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    island, it gave him an insight to what was going to happen to him if he didn’t leave the…

    • 922 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • 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

    In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, Piscine Molitor Patel illustrates the suffering of a survivor following a major traumatic event. After a cargo ship carrying a full zoo and all of Pi’s family sinks, Pi is left with a few animals and his thoughts to keep him company. While at sea, his supplies dwindle and he has to resort to extreme measures. These measures come into full effect when Pi’s boat leads him to another survivor. The characters of Pi and the other survivor, a French man, portray how the need to survive can force these survivors to resort to savage actions.…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He thought that he must be really close, and looked back only to discover that he was still in the bay. The tide had been pulling him back in as he swam. Left on the island, he had no supplies and no shelter.…

    • 1235 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Life of Pi Notes

    • 1831 Words
    • 8 Pages

    * Pi doesn't tell us how or why yet – but he's in a lifeboat, in the wind and the rain, encouraging Richard Parker the tiger, who is in the water, to swim up to him.…

    • 1831 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pi's Narrative Threads

    • 550 Words
    • 3 Pages

    One thread that I thought had various literary effects is Pi's Father’s admonitions to stay away from the tiger in the zoo. In the novel Pi's father says “Tigers are very dangerous. I want you to understand that you are never—under any circumstances—to touch a tiger, to pet a tiger, to put your hands through the bars of a cage, even to get close to a cage. Is that clear?” (37). This quote develops Pi's character due to the fact that after witnessing a goat being killed by a tiger he became afraid of them. This experience made him believe that his father is right and that he should stay away from a wild animal like Richard Parker. This thread also sets up the plot as it foreshadows what will happen. Adding this thread would…

    • 550 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

    Each hero battled their fear differently and thus discovered a hidden truth behind the challenge they were faced with. John was born into his fear. He had no say or no choice. He had to find the positive out of every situation throughout his life. “Never put off till tomorrow the fun you can have today.” John did what he could to service happily with himself. Adversity was a struggle for him. His hidden truth was his ability to feel and show affection, of which no one was able to understand. This proved to be difficult for John being somewhat isolated. On the other hand, Pi was a quick and decisive learner. His fear was conquered through his self-determination. Fishing and taming Mr. Parker (the tiger) revealed much of his hidden truth. Pi revealed, “The presence of God is the finest of rewards.” To him, it was as if his fear now became the feared. Pi was rewarded with self-empowerment.…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 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

    A Hero’s Journey usually has twelve stages, but in the “ Life of Pi “ Piscine’s (Hero’s Journey) only had nine stages to it Piscine of course being the hero. The first stage of a hero's journey that Piscine went through was the Call to Adventure. During the Call to Adventure Piscine had his father tell him and his family that they were going to sell the zoo and move to Canada so they would have a better life. “Father said, We’ll sail like Columbus!” ie (111). The second stage of a hero’s journey is the Refusal of the Call. In the Refusal of the Call Piscine wants to stay in India at the zoo the only place he has ever called home. The way he expresses his displeasure at this idea when he first hears of it is by saying this “He [Columbus] was…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Siddhartha and Life of Pi

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Siddhartha tells the story of a man searching for peace; Life of Pi captivates the life of a boy trying to comprehend the world around him. Both protagonists, Siddhartha and Piscine Patel, use a type of “guess-and-check” system while venturing through the world. Throughout his lifetime, Siddhartha is a Brahmin, Samana, businessman, and ferryman. Meanwhile Piscine as a young boy tries to follow three different religions at the same time. Looking at the world through different perspectives taught both Siddhartha and Pi how to live and understand life.…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Life of Pi

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages

    - “I saw my suffering for what it was, finite and insignificant, and I was still. My suffering did not fit anywhere, I realized. And I could accept this” (269)…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Connotation In Life Of Pi

    • 1565 Words
    • 7 Pages

    227 days. 227 days of starvation and dehydration. 227 days of isolation and fear. 227 days of delirium and anguish. These things are only a fraction of what Pi experienced while stranded on the Pacific Ocean for 227 days. The Life of Pi is a Canadian adventure novel written by Yann Martel. The story is told in the perspective of the novel’s protagonist, Piscine Molitor Patel, known as Pi. In the novel, Pi recants his experiences of being lost at sea after being shipwrecked and alone with only himself, a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena and a 450 pound tiger named Richard Parker. Eventually, Pi and Richard Parker are the only occupants left on the tiny lifeboat and the two must coexist with one another for survival. At the end of the novel, Pi reveals…

    • 1565 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics