Animal Kingdom In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

Animal Kingdom In society, there are many pressures to conform and follow what is popular and expected. Not following society’s rules lead to social rejection; therefore, people do not break society’s rules. In Yann Martel’s novel, Life of Pi, Pi Patel faces the harsh reality that he needs to abandon the societal rules to survive. In fact, the most important reason Pi survived 227 days in a lifeboat is his ability to rid himself of society’s norms and tap into his primal instincts. Pi is incredibly religious, and his religions teach not to murder, but Pi has to kill sea animals, and hunt for his survival. When he forces himself to fish after realizing he cannot survive off rations, he prays for the first kill he makes so he can keep a clean conscience, even though his grief eats away at him: “Tears flowing down my cheeks, I egged myself on until I heard a cracking sound and I no longer felt any life fighting in my hands…I wept heartily over this poor deceased soul…All sentient life is sacred. I never forget to include this fish in my prayers” (231). Even though his religion tells him never to kill animals, Pi pulls himself together and hunts so he has a fighting chance to survive. In society, laws of religion reside over all other things, but Pi has to break the written rules of religion. This first kill represents Pi’s initial descent from the known world, and his first kill as an animal …show more content…
To do this daunting task, he must forget about society in hopes of ever finding society again. Pi stands as the lone survivor, so others never know of the taboos he commits, nor can they judge him. Although people will never experience such trauma, no one person can control what happens to them, but they can control whether they will sacrifice and fight to survive. If they do not, they will become a victim of society’s beliefs, a lemming who never thinks for