Pi's Masks

Masks Pi Patel is a human being and behind every human being lays masks to hide secrets of personality, parts of the person that might not seem acceptable to other human beings. For some people these masks are there to make the person be viewed in a better matter or it can even be for a more important matter in survival. Most may not even notice that all along they were showing a mask at some times. Although some of these masks can be hard to find, Pi's did not seem to be hard to find. For throughout the book Pi goes through the change of many different situations and events to make his masks seem all the more evident. Because of these Pi can have some mental stability in front of others by having more control over what others see of
him. From the beginning he had little friends to go for and found and answer in religion, while fighting to intimidate a 450-pound Bengal tiger, and for overcoming depression for being in the lifeboat so long, Pi just had a list of the different masks that he used. One of the first more obvious masks seemed to happen when Pi reached for religion. "Religious coping is another way of dealing with loneliness. And it is not necessarily as elaborate as you think. In some instances, poets have made simple exclamations, like "oh god", and others have just being praying for help, praying for the perfect person to come into their life, praying for a miracle." That is what religion did for Pi. For so long he had been a lonely child, trying to follow up in his brother's footsteps. When religion had come to him this all had changed and he found a way to hide his loneliness by befriending god. "This, in a holy nutshell, is Hinduism, and I have been a Hindu all my life. With its notions in mind I see my place in the universe" (Martel 63). This is when Pi decided to change his life through religion; it made him feel good. "I feel at home in a Hindu temple. I am aware of Presence, not personal the way we usually feel presence, but something larger" (Martel 60). From making himself feel good through god he had made a mask with religion. Religion covered his loneliness and made a mask to make his life better. "Yet others have advocated a stronger use of religion claiming that for them it has helped them to overcome their loneliness." Just like others Pi did not need friends as much when he discovered the mask of religion, seems as to him one with god is better than one with friends. One point religion could not help him though, involved him and his survival of intimidating Richard Parker.
Probably one of the most crucial masks that Pi had on him was the mask that covered up his fear and really took out some intimidate form of him.
"I looked Richard Parker dead in the eyes. Suddenly his brute strength meant only moral weakness. It was nothing compared to the strength of my mind…Richard Parker licked his nose, groaned and turned away" (Martel 281). Without the mask that Pi had on, he probably would not have lived through the lifeboat experience. It had saved his life from being destroyed by Richard Parker by showing a fake side but enough to make the tiger leave him alone. "But enough was enough. I had suffered so much. I was so hungry. There are only so many days you can go without eating" (Martel 280). This is what drove Pi to come out and go out against the tiger; he was backed by his will to survive hunger. This is what had triggered the mask on him was the will to continue on in life and without it; he could have been stuck in Richard Parker's stomach. "Because it makes me feel, stronger, smarter, or better than the person I'm bullying." Richard Parker became the aggressor from this; he thought that he could beat Pi. What he did not know was Pi's will to survive was greater than Richard Parker's will to kill. "Because it's one of the best ways to keep others from bullying me." Which was one of the ways Pi had come to the though of intimidating his for Richard Parker. Pi did not want to be bullied around by Richard Parker because then he
would feel superior and kill Pi. So he had to put the mask of intimidation on Richard Parker to back him down. After conquering his fear with Richard Parker, Pi had another point to put a mask to help himself in covering his depression.
"Frequent sadness, tearfulness, or crying, feeling hopeless, decreased energy level." Depression was something that Pi could not stop from overcoming himself.
Then another person entered the picture. "It was someone else! My heart beat fiercely, making one last go at pushing some blood through my worn-out system" (Martel 313). Pi had put on a mask of happiness to cover up his sadness and loneliness from the seas. He wanted the person to be there for him from being on the journey for two hundred days. Pi was out there alone and depressed for 200 some days all alone, the experience of having another person there to share the pain with was drawn out by his mask. The mask of happiness helped Pi communicate and welcome the other person. "'Wait, I'm here!' I shouted" (Martel 313). Was when Pi found out the person was not Richard Parker and he found himself needed support. For he was losing his faith somewhat and his mask of religion was fading away, as his depression grew worse and worse. Only a person could save his mental state, so he lunged out at the opportunity by adding the mask on to get the other person's attention. "'Day after day, night after night, time just kept passing. Somewhere along the way, I lost weeks, months, and years.'" The feeling that Pi had before he had help which had come back soon after the French cannibal was eaten by Richard
Parker.
There were many masks throughout the novel that came into contact with Pi. Sometimes people need to show masks to make them feel better or to make their image portrayed better. Pi had used his masks for a different reason, to survive. For religion that was they are to help him overcome his loneliness and help him move on with his life. Without it not much would have inspired him to become the person he had become at the end of the book. Intimidation was another huge mask that Pi used to help himself survive for without it the tiger most likely would have pounded him down to pieces. He stared down his opponent to keep his survival going. Then the mask of happiness to cover up his great depression that he had gone through from the trip. That was necessary to get communication because human beings being social creatures. He had been alone for so long that the mask had helped his contact with another person, which had brought up his hope to survive. Overall these masks benefited the character greatly from start to finish. Which if not used could have caused him his life.