ipl-logo

Archetype In Life Of Pi

1444 Words6 Pages

Mental Battles at Sea
227. The number of days Pi survived at sea with little food, little water and, even a Bengal Tiger..or so he thought. Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel, describes the journey of a young boy named Piscine Patel, also known as Pi, whose father owns a zoo in India. When his family decides to sell the zoo and move to Canada, the freighter they travel in breaks down and sinks. Luckily, Pi gets on a life boat just in time but weirdly enough, with four zoo animals who were also in the freighter. Pi continues his journey by learning how to live in a small space with these animals and even training one of them. In the end Pi reveals another story with people replacing the animals that were on the lifeboat before. Pi had initially used animals which best represented the people who were really in the boat. This showed how throughout the story, since these people were put into a life threatening situation, they had revealed a more primal side. Life of Pi is accompanied with various symbols, with each …show more content…

The shadow self archetype represents the traits that one doesn’t like in themselves or even tries to cover up. The shadow self of Pi is especially shown when Pi retells his story toward the end of the book. His story reveals that instead of the tiger eating the hyena, since Pi is revealed as Richard Parker, Pi really killed and ate the french cook. This is quite surprising since Pi is a vegetarian but his will to live and anger at the chef for killing one close to Pi overcomes him. We also see this is a shadow self since Pi used a tiger to describe that part of himself instead of admitting it was him. After this, Pi describes the killing of the cook/hyena surprisingly easy, this is the shadow self and survival instincts shining through as well. what does this say about pi? Has this changed him? Go into more depth, this seems a little rushed. Concluding

Show More
Related

  • Life Of Pi Dialectical Journal Essay

    480 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thunder and rumble, I feel the wrath of God on the ocean we are sailing. Suddenly I hear a crash, and I fly across my cage violently, the yelling of the voices on the vessel in shock and suddenly I hear the words “We’re going down!” A zoo keeper comes down the the hull of the ship and begins opening the cages of animals- the zebra, the monkeys, the hounds, all released waiting patiently for my turn the zookeeper falls over. He does not move and water comes crashing into the hull-I’m going to die. I lie down on the ground as water pours in accepting my fate.

    Read More

  • Life Of Pi Dialectical Journal

    1824 Words  | 8 Pages

    Corresponding: sailor is zebra, cook is hyena, orangutan is the mother, and Pi himself is a tiger. Maybe you cannot accept the second cruel story, but when the author tells the story of the first time has hinted us, the second story is really happened. In this way, we know that the first story is a realistic metaphor, it contains two layers: one is the metaphor of the real event; the second is through their own sentiment and sublimation of the metaphor for human nature thinking, and this second layer is the core of this book. The wonderful thing about this book is that everyone will feel very complicated after reading it, There are many feelings but do not know where to start. According to my memory, probably can be divided into several layers.

    Read More

  • Archetype In The Odyssey

    1116 Words  | 5 Pages

    Since the inception of literature, heroes have been created to embody the most important traits of a culture. In The Odyssey, an epic poem composed by Homer in Ancient Greece, Odysseus is an epic hero, representing the classic values of Greek rulers and warriors through his long journey back from the Trojan War. Including his time in Troy, Odysseus was absent from his estate in Ithica for twenty years, during which his son Telemachus grows up in a home where arrogant suitors abuse his hospitality, consume all of his resources, and attempt to court Penelope, believing that she will lose hope that her husband Odysseus will ever come home. Odysseus' nostos, or return trip, has been prolonged by Poseidon, the Greek sea god who begrudges him for

    Read More

  • Archetypes In The Wild Hero's Journey

    162 Words  | 1 Pages

    Our own heroic journey, an undertaking that we all must power through in our lives. Though many of us would like to believe we in fact are responsible for the outcomes of our many journeys during life, there are actually a plethora of people who contribute to our tragedies and victories. These people who affect us in ways we might not even see fall into categories called archetypes. However not all archetypes have to be people, our furry companions may contribute to our journey along the way, and who knows that acceptance letter may just be your herald to go and begin an adventure. In the case of Cheryl Strayed in the novel Wild she faces many different archetypes along the path of her heroic journey, some of these even being within herself.

    Read More

  • Essay On Symbolism In Life Of Pi

    1124 Words  | 5 Pages

    Life of Pi is a movie about Pi, a shipwreck survivor, and his epic journey of discovery and faith. It is based on Yann Martel’s novel with the same name, and the movie, directed by Ang Lee, makes use of magical realism to convey many themes related to life and spirituality. Many significant symbols are also used to showcase the characteristics of magical realism. In particular, water and the carnivorous island were two important symbols that represented the theme of spirituality in Life of Pi.

    Read More

  • Allusions In Life Of Pi By Elie Wiesel

    187 Words  | 1 Pages

    Unlike Cain, who did not feel guilty after his brother’s death, Pi “wept heartily” after the fish’s death. Clearly, this event had a great impact on Pi. This incident is very important, because it further emphasizes that Pi must abandon his morals if he wants to survive at sea. Growing up, Pi was a vegetarian. As a result, he never ate meat and considered it to be morally wrong.

    Read More

  • Quest In Life Of Pi

    1296 Words  | 6 Pages

    There is one moment in the story where all his developed instincts were challenged. He was met with a school of flying fish that would jump out of the water and into the lifeboat. He had wrapped one fish in a blanket and intended to kill it with a hatchet. He could not bring himself to kill this fish with a hatchet, but ultimately cannot go through with it. Pi ends

    Read More

  • Life Of Pi Theme Essay

    1599 Words  | 7 Pages

    Not everyone can stand eating or drinking unpleasant substances, survive while being blind, and live next to carnivorous creatures. Pi on the other hand withstands all this misfortune for nearly a year. Additionally, another theme that comes to mind is that survival instincts result in some

    Read More

  • Dialectical Journal For Life Of Pi

    315 Words  | 2 Pages

    Because of the occurrences in his first story, Pi was able to move on and live a happy, married life. I think the men preferred the story with with the animals because it was more intriguing, and less gruesome compared to his second story. I believe that the first story is the “correct” story and I prefer it over the second one because Pi is not a liar, meaning he wouldn’t make the story with the animals and the green carnivorous island all up. Furthermore, there is more detail in the first story than the second. While the first story has 100 or so more pages where the Life of Pi novel mostly focuses on, the latter story only has a few pages towards the end of the

    Read More

  • Dialectical Journal Of Pi's Life

    1455 Words  | 6 Pages

    Pi was able to escape onto a lifeboat, but had to learn how to adapt to his new and scary circumstances. Instead of freaking out and feeling sorry for himself, Pi learned that if he wanted to survive this horrific accident, he needed to change his wants and needs of his life. He needed to change his lifestyle, his views on religion, his eating habits, and what he

    Read More

  • Life Of Pi Dialectical Journal

    944 Words  | 4 Pages

    Yet I knew it had to be done... Tears flowing down my cheeks, I egged myself on until I heard a cracking sound and I no longer felt any life” The killing of this fish really hurt Pi because he is very religious and believes that all lives are sacred. Pi’s fishing ability strengthened over time which helped his ability to survive for 227 days in the Pacific

    Read More

  • Change In Life Of Pi

    447 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pi indicates, “You may be astonished that in such a short period of time I could go from weeping over the muffled killing of a flying fish to gleefully bludgeoning to death a dorado” (Martel 89). This clearly states that Pi is a dynamic character through this time span. At first, his religious values made it hard for him to kill the flying fish, but when the dorado was killed “gleefully” he goes against his religious values. Conclusively, people may think that Pi does not change as a person, but evidently, he is looked upon as a dynamic character after the actions of killing the flying

    Read More

  • Theme Of Isolation In Life Of Pi

    714 Words  | 3 Pages

    Pi encounters a French castaway; the castaway foolishly enters Pi’s lifeboat and is eaten by Richard Parker. After Richard Parker kills the French castaway, Pi starts using the leftover flesh for his own uses, such as fishing: “I will confess that I caught one of his arms with the gaff and used his flesh as bait” (322). In his isolated state, he thinks of nothing but survival and how he will receive his next meal. Soon after, Pi even goes to the extremity of eating the flesh of the mangled dead castaway. This deed of cannibalism barely registers in his mind as he admits, “... I ate some of his flesh.

    Read More

  • The Existential Crisis In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

    1463 Words  | 6 Pages

    Other examples of his slipping humanity would be the first time he killed a fish. As Pi addressed in the book, “to think that I 'm a strict vegetarian. . . and always shuddered when I snapped open a banana because it sounded to me like the breaking of an animal 's neck. I descended to a level of savagery I never imagined possible.” (249) He is aware of the changes that are occurring inside of him.

    Read More

  • Faith In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

    645 Words  | 3 Pages

    He is unable to understand why the Lord isn’t listening to his prayers and why everything is detrimental to him. Keeping his religious beliefs at sea is very challenging for Pi, this leads him to experience feelings of disbelief towards God. Despite his doubts, Pi continues to pray and practice his religions. He eventually comes to the conclusion that once everything is taken away from him and he is in complete darkness, he will always have his faith. He admits that loving God is difficult, but it’s something he must do if he is to survive his journey across the ocean.

    Read More

More about Archetype In Life Of Pi

Open Document