Cannibalism In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

Yann Martel’s Life of Pi encourages readers to choose between Pi’s two versions of his story at sea. However, I will argue that it is important to understand both the human and animal story. Pi’s human story is disguised by the fictional animal story in order to conceal the inhumane and savage acts of people Pi encounters at sea. Furthermore, the imaginative fabrication of Richard Parker in Pi’s animal story aids the reader in understanding the trauma and immoral actions that Pi endures on his journey. Humans are very much like animals in terms of their instinct and survival. This validates the savage events taken place in Pi’s human story. In a life lesson, Pi’s father uses animals to elucidate the danger of humans, just as Pi uses animals in …show more content…
There are many different experience that can shape a persona behavior and each experience has the ability to change someone and their behavior as a whole. Pi was a vegetarian, however, the need to survive causes him to refute his morals and eat meat. The will to survive does have the potential to negatively change a person and this is seen with savage acts of the cook. Cannibalism is another example of how humans can return to barbaric ways when facing death. According to Cannibalism in Natural Populations, “cannibalism is defined as intraspecific predation, [which] is a behavioral trait found in a wide variety of animals” (Fox 87). Therefore, in relation to the quote, it is evident that acts of cannibalism are examples of animalistic ways. In Life of Pi, Martel demonstrates this cannibalistic trait by using human instinct. Humans just like animals have instinct and will do anything to survive. This is proven by Martel when,” the cook promptly butchered [the sailor] …he cut up everything, including the sailors skin and every inch of his intestines… the cook through himself upon the sailor’s head and before our eyes scalped him and pulled off his face” (Martel 341). In a fit