Empathy In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

In Life of Pi by Yann Martel, a teenager named Pi is trapped on a lifeboat for 7 months. In his attempts to survive the harsh conditions of exposure, starvation, and dehydration, he states that, “when your own life is threatened, your sense of empathy is blunted by a terrible, selfish hunger for survival.” This statement has been proven in life and history. People have an instinct to stay alive, even if it means costing the lives of others. People become selfish, narcissistic, and indifferent about the wellbeing of others, even using others as human shields or sacrifices. An example of selfish survival from my own life comes from the video game Fire Emblem. My brother is a huge fan of the role-play game and spends hours setting up formations, pairing the most strategic couples for the strongest children, and building his castle. I was telling him about this quote and he told me, “if someone wants a game about losing empathy for characters, it’s Fire Emblem. Where, if the character dies, he or she

I have never been in one, thankfully, but I have participated in drills meant to mimic the real life experience. A common thought I have while in these drills is, “stay in the back of the crowd, and play dead if the intruder comes in and starts shooting.” The strategy is basically to use my classmates as a giant human shield and hide under their corpses if worst comes to worst. This is a worst case scenario plan, seeing how the trauma would be extreme and having more people live is better, but this is still an actual plan. I even run drills in my head for what would I do if an intruder came in unexpectedly, especially in my classes that are closer to entrances commonly used throughout the day. This seems like a cold and emotionless approach, but it would mean survival if it worked. People are willing to become brutal and selfish toward others in situations that cause their survival instincts to be