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Life Of Pi Theme Essay

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The theme in Life of Pi is without a doubt the hardships in order to survive. The whole novel is about enduring pain, hardships, starvation, dehydration and more. I believe the author wrote this novel to reveal the hardships one has to proceed through in order to keep living. Pi certainly shows how quick life can change from ordinary to a long lasting nightmare. Surely this can happen to anyone, but not everyone can survive the long lasting nightmare. 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 …show more content…

Up to this day I’ve never known anyone who practices polytheism in real life or even in books. The decision for Martel to bring the topic of polytheism is still questionable for me. As for a fact, polytheism does not seem to relate to the main themes at all. Additionally, part two of the book which is around hundreds of pages, rarely mentions any type of religious sayings. I think it would have been a better idea for Martel to disclude the talk of religion for two purposes. One is so that he can quickly get to part two of the book, which is the interesting part, and to dismiss confusion among the readers. Religion has been talked about since the early pages, and it seems very important to Pi, the plot, and theme. “In time, my religious doings went from the notice of those to whom it didn 't matter and only amused, to that of those to whom it did matter - and they were not amused.” (THE LIFE OF PI, 2001, p.37). However as soon as the story reaches around page 50, the importance and talk of religion has basically flourished. My favorite scene in this novel had to be the scene when Richard left Pi. This scene was completely unexpected, especially since most readers probably thought that Pi would be with Richard forever. I tended to like this scene a lot, because of the lesson it teaches towards humans. In the end, the ability for a human to establish a true relationship with the wild is hardly

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I think the meaning behind Pi’s reply, “so it is with God.” is that a life is better with some kind of believe than one without because Pi’s original story with the animals in less tragic and horrific in comparison to Pi’s second story. For an example, on page 309, Pi has to witness his mother be stabbed to death and then later beheaded by the brute-like cook, “He killed her. The cook killed my mother….He caught her by the wrist and twisted it. SHe shrieked and fell.

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Yann Martel is conveying readers that love is also another important key for survival. Exp1: All throughout the movie and the book of Life of Pi, Pi loves his family, and Richard Parker. However during his survival, he had forget his family and only think about Richard Parker and taking care of him.

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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

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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

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This quote from Life of Pi in chapter 24 I believe is an example of a literary device called foreshadowing. In this quote spoken by Pi, it is able to describe the events to come in the novel. It deals with the truth and his imagination. However it is up to the reader to decide what is truly certain and what is made up from his imagination. It is important to the novel because it relates to religion where the whole theme of the novel is focused on.

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1455 Words | 6 Pages

Early on in the book, it was very apparent that Pi took religion very seriously. His childhood, however, was about trying to find that perfect religion for him. Pi said, “I am a Hindu because of a sculptured cones of red kumkum powder and baskets of yellow turmeric nuggets, because of garlands of flowers and pieces of broken coconut, because of the clanging of bells to announce one’s arrival to God” (47). Through Pi’s childhood, he was brought up at a Hindu mostly because of his parents. As a child, one does not usually get to decide what religion he/she is.

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The portrayal of his character as being highly moral and religious in the beginning of the story were destroyed in his search of satisfying his basic physiological needs by turning into savagery. At many points in the story, Pi sees himself no different to Richard Parker as we are all animals looking to survive. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and the story of The Life of Pi, demonstrates that our minds are controlled in stages, in which one set of needs must be satisfied before reaching the satisfaction of another. To understand the psychology of the human mind which allows us to reach the highest of stages of achievement, one must realize the darkest depths a mind can turn to in order to

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Lastly, the real reason for this quest and that being a strong will of survival. Pi has to find land to save not only his life, but to find out if his family or any of the animals survived as well. The sad reality was he never did find his family, but he was gifted with the wisdom and the strength of his family or even possibly his religion to save himself from a certain

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With the combination of magical realistic events and Pi’s religious beliefs, Pi along with the reader a contemplates life’s concepts. From the very beginning, Pi makes his love and yearning for religion clear. As Life of Pi progresses, the protagonist picks up multiple religions as he travels through the novel. With the addition of first Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity, Pi gains attention from leaders and priests of these faiths. Conflict commences with the religious leaders of these individual faiths.

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Envision being stranded at sea for two hundred and twenty seven days. Would you survive? This is precisely what the main character faces in Life of Pi by Yann Martel. The book tells the story of Piscine Motor Patel and his obstacles as he is stranded on a lifeboat with a 450 pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker- they had been on a Japanese cargo ship called the Tsimtsum until it sank in a “monstrous metallic burp” in the middle of the Pacific ocean (121). Piscine, otherwise known as Pi, goes against all odds as he fights for his survival.

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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.

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Another thing is that christians believe that Jesus new life after death is a sign of everlasting life for his followers (Christianity). Pi was a strong believer in Christ and Christianity which lead him to surviving what most wouldn 't believe

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Pi did not understand Christianity at first

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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.

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Throughout the beginning of Pi’s life, he is told not to kill any animal due to his vegetarian values. However, in this scenario, he has no choice. Through this, Pi transforms into a

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