Destiny In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

In the novel Life of Pi written by Yann Martel, Pi could not control his destiny. He was shipwrecked, had fallen 40 feet into a lifeboat and had to share a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger for 227 days. He had no idea where his boat was going and if he would ever see land again but Pi’s overcoming of fear shows how one’s will can overcome any obstacles one may face. Pi overcomes his fears by being courageous and keeping his beliefs intact despite all the terrible events that occur. The author uses religion to give the main character hope that gives him a will which makes him fight to stay alive. Religion is the driving force to Pi’s survival on the boat. The qualities given to Pi to stay alive revolve around Pi’s belief in god and his determination …show more content…
The first sentence of the book stresses the importance of religion in the novel: "I have a story that will make you believe in God" (Martel 1). At the beginning of the novel, Pi expresses his religious beliefs and how he does not conform to one religion but to all of them. He is involved with Christianity, Hinduism and Muslim. One day Pi sees all the leaders of his faiths in the marketplace. They all approach him and try to claim Pi for themselves but Pi states to all of them "I just want to love God" (Martel 76). He wants to pray to god without a religious belief attached to it. Although Pi is troubled when originally stating his faith in God, his religious ties towards God are what keeps him alive. When Pi is stuck on the lifeboat, he had no one to talk to except God and Richard Parker. These religious beliefs allowed Pi to believe that he would get out of his mess and get back to shore healthy. Pi continually throughout the shipwreck, prayed to God and wrote his thoughts in his diary. These rituals comforted Pi and kept his mind intact throughout the voyage. The story infers that rituals are needed to keep one’s mind intact throughout a tragedy. Pi states his situation: "I was alone and orphaned in the middle of the Pacific hanging onto an oar, an adult tiger in front of me, sharks beneath me, a storm raging about me (Martel 118). His religion kept him alive and believing: “Had I considered my …show more content…
Pi’s will is developed as his relationship with god is widened and prolonged on the boat. Pi was a vegetarian his whole life: “Lord, to think that I 'm a strict vegetarian. To think that when I was a child I always shuddered when I snapped open a banana because it sounded to me like the breaking of an animal 's neck. I descended to a level of savagery I never imagined possible” (Martel 215). However, Pi’s will to live takes over his vegetarian believes and acknowledges in order to survive he must change his ways: “You may be astonished that in such a short period of time I could go from weeping over the muffled killing of a flying fish to gleefully bludgeoning to death a dorado” (Martel 202). The author tries to state that living things will do exceptional and crazy things in order to stay alive. Pi witnesses the struggle of the zebra trying to stay alive. Even though the zebra dies, this motivates Pi in the future to stay alive. Pi 's story also of the cook killing the sailor and eating him alive stresses the authors belief in how far a living object will go to stay alive. Pi also states that he is the tiger to the two Japanese interviewers and how he is somewhat responsible for some of the events he describes. This lets the reader of the book in the end decide what actions are suitable in life or death