Life Of Pi Trauma Analysis

An analysis of Pi’s mentality throughout, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, will be explained by discussing: What trauma is, why he created the animal story as a coping mechanism, comparing and contrasting the real story with the animal story, and his behavior after the shipwreck. Being stranded at sea must have been rough. According to his file, he was stranded for 227 days. I have many questions for him. How did his childhood affect him? Why did he create the animals? He must have altered the real story due to how traumatizing it had been. Based on his actions, once Pi had reached civilization, this proves how terrifying the experience must have been. The adapted actions from his experience are labeled as ‘odd’ by all normal standards for behavior.
Traumatic experiences often involve physical harm…”(Robinson et al. paragraph 2) Pi was stranded at sea for 227 days. During that time, Pi had witnessed his mother’s death, endeavored into eating human flesh, etc. So, with my knowledge of the definition and of Pi’s story, it is safe to say that he is experiencing trauma. But what caused his trauma? In this chart provided by helpguide.org,” One-time events, such as an accident, injury, natural disaster, or violent attack. Ongoing, relentless stress, such as living in a crime-ridden neighborhood or battling a life threatening illness. Commonly overlooked causes, such as surgery, the sudden death of someone close…” (Robinson et al. chart 2) Now with Pi, I couldn’t just choose one category to title his trauma because Piscine fits into one-time events since he was involved in a shipwreck, but hee also fits into commonly overlooked causes because he witnessed his mother’s murder. Now what could have instigated the triggers? “An event can lead to trauma if: It happened unexpectedly, you were unprepared for it, you felt powerless to prevent it, it happened repeatedly, someone was intentionally cruel, it happened in childhood.” (Robinson et al. paragraph 2) Pi has multiple triggers that could account for his trauma such as the unexpected
He was at an Indian restaurant and he began to eat the food with his hands. Piscine received an inappropriate comment towards his action “Fresh off the boat,are you?” (Martel pg 8) Pi was shocked. So, he wiped his hands on the napkin and thought to himself, “He had no idea how deeply those words wounded me.” (Martel pg9) This was the first time (after the incident) he had thought in a reflective state. (paraphrased Martel pg 8-9).
In conclusion,I explained Pi’s mentality through: what trauma is, why he created the animal story as a coping mechanism, comparing and contrasting the real story with the animal story, and how he acted after the shipwreck.

Works Cited Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. New York, Harcourt, 2001
Robinson, Lawrence, et al. “Coping with Emotional and Psychological Trauma.” Coping with Emotional and Psychological Trauma: Dealing with Recent or Childhood Trauma So You Can Move On, Helpguide.org, Jan. 2017, www.helpguide.org/articles/ptsd-trauma/emotional-and-psychological-trauma.htm. Accessed 2 Mar.