Struggles In Life Of Pi

Life of Pi by Yann Martel follows Piscine, a boy who must survive a journey across the Atlantic ocean in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. Throughout this journey, Pi experiences great hardships that allow his faith to both falter, and grow stronger. Once he realizes that he cannot depend on anyone for his survival, Pi takes his life into his own hands, while how he deals with sharing a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger shows a growth in Pi’s understanding of self. Pi’s journey results in both physical and spiritual growth as it allows him to discover where he fits into the world. The struggles Pi experiences in his journey reveal to him the weakness in his faith, but result in a greater appreciation for God. At the beginning of Pi’s time on the lifeboat, he finds himself abandoned by God. Martel uses the killing of Orange Juice to symbolize Pi’s loss of faith in God. “Her arms were spread wide open and her short legs were folded together and slightly turned to one side. She looked like a simian Christ on the Cross.” He is left alone, without God, and suffers. “I made my way back to the bow and collapsed. I spent the
In the beginning of the novel, before his journey, he is taught by his father to fear Richard Parker. Piscine holds this fear, even after being stranded on the lifeboat with him. “Richard Parker rose unsteadily to his feet on the tarpaulin … I turned around, stepped over the zebra and threw myself overboard.” However, at some point during the journey, Pi begins to realize his ability to control the tiger and to understand where he fits in. “Didn’t I have here a perfect circus ring … What was missing here to tame Richard Parker? … Was I not a zookeeper’s son?… I looked at Richard Parker. My panic was gone.” Pi’s transition to controlling Richard Parker was not a physical one, but rather a result of his newfound