Dissonance In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

Most people don’t have to suffer trauma in a lifeboat all by themselves. Further, most people don’t have to retell their story years after with accuracy. That is exactly what Pi has to do in Yann Martel’s novel Life of Pi. There are many challenges that Pi goes through that Pi goes through that could make him an unreliable narrator including a lack of written records, trauma, loneliness, and the effects dehydration and malnutrition has in a person. Furthermore, by considering Pi’s unreliability the reader comes to understand that the truth of his story remains irrefutable and therefore the truth is more important than the facts. Pi could be assumed by the reader to be an unreliable narrator through a lack of written record of his experiences from the past, his trauma and loneliness at sea, and the mental effects of dehydration, malnutrition and hallucinations.

Pi is alone with Richard Parker on the lifeboat and they both starve and suffer with dehydration. Pi starts catching fishes for both of them. He always gives the biggest share to Richard Parker as he is the strongest. One day, he decides to eat the largest part. He wants to calm his desire for hunger. He does not want to share anything with Richard Parker. Pi starts eating like an animal. Pi tells, “It came as an unmistakable indication to me of how I had sunk the day I noticed, with a pinching of the heart, that I ate like an animal” (Martel 183). The innocent boy is now as dangerous as an animal that can do anything for the food. His yearning for food makes him selfish. It is in pi’s hand not to sacrifices his integrity, but he chooses to sacrifice because he knows that at this critical situation it is right to do. Even though Pi loses his integrity, he gains the power of being the strongest one on the

Humans generally face struggles in their lifetime. Such struggles could be within themselves or with someone or something else but commonly stem from some sort of opposition in lifestyle. In Yann Martel’s novel, Life of Pi, Pi’s passion for personal survival conflicts with his moral obligations to himself internally, morphing his external character.

In the novel, Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, the theme of truth is seen most prominently in the last part of the book when main character, Piscine Patel is being interviewed by two Japanese men. Pi defines truth as being relative and an invention of man, when the believability of his story is questioned. He argues that even stories, such as his, can still be true to some no matter how difficult to believe they are.

To simply be alive consists of the acts of breathing and having blood pump through the body, but to be a human being consists of much more complexity. The nature composed of a human being involves having self sovereignty on our own emotions, opinions, desires, faiths as well as having a moral subconscious. Yet, what occurs when a situation allows an individual to react in a behaviour that doesn’t follow these defining factors of human nature? In Yann Martel 's Life of Pi, he creates the conflict of a cargo ship sinking, and the only notable survivors on the life raft consists of a hyena, a zebra with a broken leg, an orangutan, and a 16-year-old Indian boy. The protagonist of the novel, Pi Patel, is faced with a personal survival conflict

“Without Richard Parker, I wouldn’t be alive today to tell you my story.” The significance of this quote is that the presence of Richard saves him from the effects of loneliness. “The lower you are, the higher your mind will soar.” This quote is important because when Pi is at his lowest point, he reaches for his only remaining sources of salvation, which is his faith and imagination. “Life on a lifeboat isn’t much of a life. It is like an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The element couldn’t be more simple, or the stake higher.” The quote significance is that the few that survive the ship are force to face each other in a strategic battle of wits to see who will

Pi’s life before the boat crashing was full of hope and wonder. His presence was ethereal, making a purpose out of everything around him. His family ran a zoo, which gave him a tight-knit relationship with animals. Pi loved to try new things. He met new people which led to his exploration

Bengali polymath, Rabindranath Tagore, once said “you can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” In the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the protagonist, Pi, faces many challenges at sea while being accompanied by a tiger by the name of Richard Parker. This tiger, though a nuisance, proves to be essential in the role of Pi’s survival. Throughout the story, Richard Parker symbolizes survival, a reflection of Pi, and a being of God.

The last animal, Richard Parker, symbolizes Pi, his animal like instincts when he was stranded at sea, as he must complete many tasks to survive which in the real world he would find very hard to do. Richard Parker can symbolize many things, Pi himself and Pi’s fears. Richard Parker represents Pi himself, and his inner strength. In Mexico, when Richard Parker left Pi and is never to be seen again, it shows that Richard Parker was only what Pi needed for strength and that he never was real. He also represents Pi’s fears, and how he overcomes all of his fears, mainly his major fear; death. The skills Pi had learned at his father’s zoo helped him face his fear of Richard Parker and in order to tame Richard Parker, he pretends that he is at a

-The author meets Pi’s two children and declares Pi’s story has a happy ending. Part 2: - Pi finds himself on the lifeboat, and tries to rescue Richard Parker before he realizes the danger of having a tiger on board. HE doesn’t realize that despite the danger, Parker saves him from the other animals. - The narrator returns to the night of the official sinking and tells the story of how Pi was able to escape the boat alive.

Pi’s journey is his spiritual development; in order to successfully complete the journey, he has to avoid excessive physical comfort. His arrival in the island is potentially equivalent to the “abyss” stage, because physical sloth may captivate him. As he has been through countless harsh and perilous conditions of the ocean, it may be tempting for him to remain in the island, because it provides him with safety and physical comfort. Pi gradually realizes that the consequence of remaining in the island is being “eaten” as the “island [is] carnivorous” (312). If Pi indulged in physical comfort by remaining in the island, he would not have been able to complete his heroic journey as he would be spiritually “eaten” by the island.

Pi finds that his wild narrative is not believed by the officials sent to interview him, and he knows why: ''You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently.” That’s when Pi tells an alternate version of his story. He retells the shipwreck, his survival, and his 227 days at sea without the animals. In their place, he puts himself, a Taiwanese sailor, his mother, and a cook. The story is terrible and horrific, one that could have scarred anyone for the remainder of their life. Now, it is up to the reader to decide which story to believe: the better story told in the majority of the novel, with the animals, or the story with survivors from the

Although Pi has taken part in many faiths he must break his beliefs in order to survive. A task that had gotten easier through repetition was fishing and killing many sea animals (fish, turtles) in order to eat. Although this was difficult the first time, when he saw “the thing was gasping for water”(Pg230) he could not kill it. Pi

Pi’s life changing traumatic event came while aboard a ship with his family. The ship sank and all but himself and few zoo animals survived. Pi lost his family and had to survive under the worst of circumstances. He was without a great supply of food and water. Also, Pi was without a family. Inevitably, Pi suffered while lost at sea. The scorching hot sun and lack of food caused great punishment for his health. Also, the adversity led to the failure of Pi thinking he could withstand the trials of being a shipwrecked youngman. His courageous success of survival through the loss of his family and suffering earned him the title of an archetypal hero. Heroism is not only achieved by greatness; additionally, it can be earned through the brave conquering of death and

Furthermore, his vast knowledge of animals, having grown up at a zoo, helps him to tame Richard Parker. Pi knows tigers’ psychological thinking and exploits this by classically conditioning Richard Parker. Likewise, Pi’s experience of watching a tiger kill a goat in his early childhood taught him the fundamental lesson that ‘an animal is an animal’, enabling him to strategically and mentally survive his long and testing time at sea. In addition to that, during the early parts of Part 2, Pi comes across a survival manual, a crucial object for his continued existence. The book gives him critical information on the do’s and don’ts of survival at sea and it is hard to imagine that Pi could have survived without this book which also gave him the opportunity to write down his words which were “all he has left’’.