Life Of Pi Rhetorical Analysis

The fragments Yann Martel puts together in this chapter of Life of Pi really makes the story come to life. At this point in the novel, Pi is becoming content with his surroundings. He begins by detailing the night sky, moon, and shining stars; as Pi goes on with his description we begin to see various notions of light and dark imagery. The composition of darkness infers danger, whereas light gives us a sense of faith. If Martel were to merely say “the night sky is pitch black”, we would see no hope or suspense being built; instead he says that “it seemed absurd to call the night dark.” (196) By Martel explaining each aspect of the light overhead, it makes us as the readers apprehend Pi’s situation much more carefully, as light is evidently the depiction of safety and warmth. Pi does not only speak of the light above him, but even below him “The sea lay quietly, bathed in a shy, light-footed light, a dancing play of black and silver that extended without limit all about me” …show more content…
Serenity and peace are two parallel tones the author uses to elucidate Pi’s attitude, with his faith as a spirit that tolerates the situation with blazing, serene hope. Martel starts the chapter by using the diction of nature to strongly signify a tranquil state of mind “I pushed the canopy aside and looked out. The moon was a sharply defined crescent and the sky was perfectly clear”. (195-196) Martel even deliberately ends the chapter on a peaceful note, “I mumbled words of Muslim prayer and went back to sleep”. (196) This is the first time prayer or God has been mentioned in a number of chapters, while in the previous chapters without God, Pi is left without faith. We may link these specific quotes through the religion of Islam. The crescent moon is one of the universal symbols used for several reasons in Islam, including the Islamic Calendar, alongside numerous mentions of the crescent and the moon through verses of the holy