Imagery And Metaphors In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

Through the use of explicit imagery and metaphors, Martel is able to help the reader better understand the lonely and drastic situation that Pi finds himself in while drifting at sea. For example, the imagery from the metaphor “To be a castaway is to be a point perpetually at the centre of a circle” exemplifies how Pi is surrounded by nothing. Just like a centre of a circle, Pi is away from everything and everyone. Everywhere that Pi looks he has to face the reality that he is out in the middle of nowhere and the only thing around him is the brutal understanding that he is alone and is surrounded by an ocean that is miles wide. Furthermore the metaphor, “your gaze is always a radius. The circumference is ever great” also alludes to the idea that Pi is stranded out in the ocean where his gaze looks out to see nothing just the end of a limitless horizon. The imagery given here from this metaphor shows the reader just how vast and empty the ocean is and how Pi had to deal with the loneliness of it all for 227 days. Lastly, the metaphor, “The moon distresses you by silently reminding you of your solitude; you open your eyes wide to escape your loneliness” draws a similarity between Pi and the moon. Both Pi and the moon are surrounded by a vast mass of emptiness with a lot of space around them. When Pi looks up and sees the moon, he sees something in a similar situation as him and it reminds him of his loneliness and how he has no one and nothing around him.