Life Of Pi Theme Of Religion
“If you stumble about believability, what are you living for? Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer.
What is your problem with hard to believe?” -Yann Martel, Life of Pi.
In the movie adaptation of Yann Martel’s book, belief is an overarching theme. The film seamlessly goes from discussing the protagonist's religious belief to his belief in his tiger companion to other’s belief in his story of survival, leaving the viewer to ponder if all three might be one and the same.
When the movie begins, we are introduced to Pi’s religious beliefs. He contends that he meets God multiple ways- through Hinduism, Catholicism, and Islam. This underlying theme, that there …show more content…
Especially when he’s on the carnivorous island, he’s tempted to give up believing that he’ll ever make it back to civilization. The theme of belief is examined finally when he tells his story to the two Japanese authorities at the end twice- once telling his version and once telling a version that they’ll actually believe.
His religious beliefs are quite eccentric, but when you look the readings in our philosophy textbook, they may not be as ludicrous as his appa makes them out to be. To quote
Hill 2
Mahatma Gandhi, “The essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches are different.” His belief is justified by all existing ‘proofs’ of religion, and cannot be proven or disproven just as much as any more conventional beliefs. It’s just as sound as any other belief in God.
In our textbook, another one of the concepts heavily discussed was if someone can be justified in a belief without being able to provide proof. The men who interview him struggle with this concept, as his story doesn’t ‘match up’ with their perception of reality, and thusly fails the correspondence theory of truth for them. As Pi notes, neither story can be proven and both have the same resulting reality. The only reason to prefer one story’s believability is that …show more content…
While I’m not an Islamic Catholic Hindu, I don’t see the purpose in institutionalized religion or the arbitrary barriers set up between beliefs. Even if the textbook provided a logical flaw in Pi’s religious beliefs, I’m predisposed to a confirmation bias and would probably discount or not even notice such an objection.
This exercise has changed my understanding of religion, though. I had to go through different proofs provided- the teleological argument, the cosmological argument, the ontological argument, and more- and actually test the logical justification for my beliefs. I don’t put much thought into religion, it just kind of makes sense to me that all religions are just fragments of the same larger picture, but I hadn’t actually analyzed that theory to see if it was sound or not before preparing to write this essay.
An alternate ending that’s frequently suggested for Life of Pi is a definite one. There are obvious reasons for this. As an audience, we have a natural longing to know the truth. Was
Hill 3
Richard Parker really there? Or was the cook a brutish cannibal? As humans, we long for answers. While the reason for the change is clear, a need for satisfaction as a viewer, I’m
What is your problem with hard to believe?” -Yann Martel, Life of Pi.
In the movie adaptation of Yann Martel’s book, belief is an overarching theme. The film seamlessly goes from discussing the protagonist's religious belief to his belief in his tiger companion to other’s belief in his story of survival, leaving the viewer to ponder if all three might be one and the same.
When the movie begins, we are introduced to Pi’s religious beliefs. He contends that he meets God multiple ways- through Hinduism, Catholicism, and Islam. This underlying theme, that there …show more content…
Especially when he’s on the carnivorous island, he’s tempted to give up believing that he’ll ever make it back to civilization. The theme of belief is examined finally when he tells his story to the two Japanese authorities at the end twice- once telling his version and once telling a version that they’ll actually believe.
His religious beliefs are quite eccentric, but when you look the readings in our philosophy textbook, they may not be as ludicrous as his appa makes them out to be. To quote
Hill 2
Mahatma Gandhi, “The essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches are different.” His belief is justified by all existing ‘proofs’ of religion, and cannot be proven or disproven just as much as any more conventional beliefs. It’s just as sound as any other belief in God.
In our textbook, another one of the concepts heavily discussed was if someone can be justified in a belief without being able to provide proof. The men who interview him struggle with this concept, as his story doesn’t ‘match up’ with their perception of reality, and thusly fails the correspondence theory of truth for them. As Pi notes, neither story can be proven and both have the same resulting reality. The only reason to prefer one story’s believability is that …show more content…
While I’m not an Islamic Catholic Hindu, I don’t see the purpose in institutionalized religion or the arbitrary barriers set up between beliefs. Even if the textbook provided a logical flaw in Pi’s religious beliefs, I’m predisposed to a confirmation bias and would probably discount or not even notice such an objection.
This exercise has changed my understanding of religion, though. I had to go through different proofs provided- the teleological argument, the cosmological argument, the ontological argument, and more- and actually test the logical justification for my beliefs. I don’t put much thought into religion, it just kind of makes sense to me that all religions are just fragments of the same larger picture, but I hadn’t actually analyzed that theory to see if it was sound or not before preparing to write this essay.
An alternate ending that’s frequently suggested for Life of Pi is a definite one. There are obvious reasons for this. As an audience, we have a natural longing to know the truth. Was
Hill 3
Richard Parker really there? Or was the cook a brutish cannibal? As humans, we long for answers. While the reason for the change is clear, a need for satisfaction as a viewer, I’m