ipl-logo

Faith In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

645 Words3 Pages

In Martel’s novel, the idea that through faith, one can find salvation, is present during Pi’s times of doubt. Pi believes in three different religions at the same time, he is amazed and in awe of the different beliefs and wants to get closer to, and love God by practicing them. His actions are questioned by many and the idea that he should only believe in one thing is pushed on to him by his family and believers in the church. His belief in multiple religions helps Pi find peace within himself, feel connected to the world around him, and realize his suffering has meaning. Even so, Pi still struggles with his beliefs: “But God 's hat was always unravelling, God’s pants were falling apart, God’s cat was a constant danger, God’s ark was a jail, God’s wide acres were slowly killing me, God 's ear didn 't seem to be listening.” (Martel, 264) Pi questions …show more content…

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. According to a Critical Essay on Demian by Liz Brent “Each individual must "devise" his or her own set of religious or spiritual ideas; this should come about a result of much self-reflection, or soul-searching” During Pi’s 227 days at sea, he had hours daily for prayer and self-reflection. This helped him understand his beliefs and shape his own religion and spiritual self. Over all, his time of prayer and self-reflection led to the strengthening of Pi’s beliefs. His doubts about God and religion are what helps him strengthen his faith and reach

Show More
Related

  • How Did Owen Irving Use Miracles In The Production And Destruction Of Faith

    998 Words  | 4 Pages

    Miracles in the Production and Destruction of Faith In basic religion classes, students are told that as Catholics, they need to have a faith in God and that their faith may not seem reasonable at times. As the students get older, they are told that in order to strengthen their faith, doubts, and working through these doubts, are an expected part of their lives while miracles may strengthen their growing beliefs. To further complicate the matter, students are taught that too many doubts can bring about a loss of faith, as can doubts from these same miracles. In John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, Irving discusses this balance between healthy doubts bringing about faith and too many doubts eroding faith.

    Read More

  • A Summary Of Bless Me Ultima

    1254 Words  | 6 Pages

    When you are young you are taught what is generally right or wrong. You are not given a chance to choose what you believe in since you are only a baby, and can not fully comprehend the concept of things such as religion. Once you are old enough you are exposed to the variety of cultures that may fascinate you, and will help influence how you think. The majority of individuals tend to follow their own beliefs when they are well into their adult life, since they were taught to believe what their parents believed in. In Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio a young Catholic is left to question his beliefs when a curandera named Ultima exposes him to her own beliefs.

    Read More

  • Dorothy Day: The Long Loneliness

    2288 Words  | 10 Pages

    Dorothy Day: The long loneliness Thirty six years have almost passed after the death of the Dorothy Day, the author of “The long Loneliness”. The long loneliness is an autobiographical book of Dorothy Day, known to the world as a Catholic worker and social activist. The book serves as an essential memoir where social justice as a practicing Catholic is self-reflected. It cannot be justified as just a biography of a 20th century traditional catholic. It is a biography of strong intellectual women who is discusses her faith in God and serves to eradicate human suffering.

    Read More

  • Erwc Personal Narrative

    1485 Words  | 6 Pages

    Justin Barragan ERWC P. 5 Mrs. Scharf 11 April 2017 Integrity The foundation of the house is what will set the course for the piece that follows. The groundwork that my parents and ancestors have laid out for me to follow and guide me onto the right path. On both sides of my family, the major cornerstones are to serve and or give back to your country. Every male in my family in the past century has been involved in the military or served the country to assist those who serve. My dad’s father fought in the Korean War, while my father himself had fought in the Vietnam War.

    Read More

  • Foreshadowing In Yann Martel's 'Life Of Pi'

    238 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs In Life Of Pi

    729 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Quest In Life Of Pi

    1296 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Quest of Pi The Life of Pi a quest with an strong influence of religion that is apparent throughout the story. “We are all born like Catholics, aren't we--in limbo without religion, until some figure introduces us to god” (Martel 58). Piscine Molitor Patel a young Indian teen has a unique infatuation with religion. Yann Martel, the author of Life of Pi, Gave Pi or Piscine an interesting life that is different from others.

    Read More

  • Life Of Pi Theme Essay

    1599 Words  | 7 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Dialectical Journal For Life Of Pi

    315 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Dialectical Journal Of Pi's Life

    1455 Words  | 6 Pages

    When Pi was put in a situation when he needed to survive, he had to change how he saw religion. In his

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Faith In The Road By Cormac Mccarthy

    310 Words  | 2 Pages

    Faith is an important part of Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road. Faith is what keeps the father and son alive. It is faith that gets them through troubling times, when all else fails. Faith is needed throughout the novel when things appear to go wrong. After being awoken by falling trees the father assures the son “it’s

    Read More

  • Change In Life Of Pi

    447 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the story, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the main character, Pi, is changed as a person after he must kill a flying fish in order to survive. Through this, Pi’s religious morals changed as well as his personality overall. When Pi first tries to kill the fish he continues to hesitate, and has a hard time committing the action to take the life away. As stated in an excerpt, “Several times I started bringing the hatchet down, but I couldn’t complete the action… A lifetime of peaceful vegetarianism stood between me and the willful beheading of a fish” (Martel 87).

    Read More

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

    1463 Words  | 6 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Argument For Life Of Pi

    729 Words  | 3 Pages

    Pi did not understand Christianity at first

    Read More

  • Essay On Christianity In Life Of Pi

    949 Words  | 4 Pages

    Yann Martel 's, Life of Pi, shows the many miracles of god by giving Pi many relations to him during the 227 days that he is lost at sea and still giving him the happy ending that he receives. The book makes many references to a couple different religions. Christianity being one the religions mentioned. When mentioned it is noticeable that Pi had relations to Jesus and Christianity before, during, and even after his time at sea. Some of these relations helped him survive and keep going all that time.

    Read More

More about Faith In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

Open Document