Yann Martel once said, “Survival is a state of mind”. In The Life of Pi, Yann Martel uses the theme of survival. Mans duality is demonstrated through facing his fears, psychological survival, and constructed reality.
At the beginning of the novel, Pi’s father instills a lesson is to be learned around big animals such as Bengal tigers. Pi’s father makes Pi and his older brother watch as a goat is thrown into the cage of the tiger as a meal. Growing up at the Pondicherry zoo, Piscine had a love for animals and found them so extraordinary. However as Pi watches this sacrifice, his father reminds him that some animals are extremely unsafe to be around, and cannot under any circumstance exist equally among humans. This created a fear around big …show more content…
He has witnessed the death of his whole family and has come close to dying on so many occasions, however always manages to strive to stay alive. At first, Pi constantly avoids situations, which could result in death such as the possibility of getting food sources and refraining from contact with the many animals on the lifeboat, however after his close encounter with going blind and dying, he seems to have a different outlook on death, and has strength that he will conquer it. Piscine states: “My life is like a memento mori painting…. there is always a grinding skull at my side to remind me of the folly of human ambition. I mock this skull.” Piscine continues to say that he looks at this skull and says, “You’ve got the wrong fellow. You may not believe in life, but I don’t believe in death.” The mocking of the memento mori painting shows that he is mocking the idea of death. He will not accept the idea of everything that he has gone through resulting in death. This is an example of Piscine using his fear of dying to strive to live. He uses this memento mori painting allusion as a reason to live and get through this hard time. Even when Pi is dying due to lack of food resources and is on the brink of consciousness, he is hopeful he will …show more content…
Martel does this by showing distinct parallelism between the actions of the animals and Piscine’s thoughts, displaying weakness, ruthlessness, and strength. The novel climaxes when Piscine finds himself stranded on a small lifeboat due to his families’ cargo ship sinking. Piscine is the only human to survive, but he is not alone on the boat, a Bengal tiger, a hyena, and a zebra share his space. Piscine is at first portrayed as a very innocent and weak sixteen-year old, with no means of survival. This is much like the zebra that Pi rescues from the ocean. For instance, Pi rescues the zebra from the ocean upon which he discovers the animal has a broken leg. Both Piscine and the Zebra have gone through very traumatic experiences leaving them weak in their current living conditions. Furthermore, Piscine finds it very difficult at first to find food sources. As a vegetarian, much of what he has access to goes against his ethical beliefs. Additionally, Pi believes that there is no hope for survival and has essentially given up all hope. This is very similar to the attitude the zebra is described as having. The zebra is said to be so weak that it has given up fighting back against the hyena. The zebra eventually gives up all hope, which results in the hyena seeing his vulnerability and attacking and kill it. The zebra dying
At the beginning of the novel, Pi’s father instills a lesson is to be learned around big animals such as Bengal tigers. Pi’s father makes Pi and his older brother watch as a goat is thrown into the cage of the tiger as a meal. Growing up at the Pondicherry zoo, Piscine had a love for animals and found them so extraordinary. However as Pi watches this sacrifice, his father reminds him that some animals are extremely unsafe to be around, and cannot under any circumstance exist equally among humans. This created a fear around big …show more content…
He has witnessed the death of his whole family and has come close to dying on so many occasions, however always manages to strive to stay alive. At first, Pi constantly avoids situations, which could result in death such as the possibility of getting food sources and refraining from contact with the many animals on the lifeboat, however after his close encounter with going blind and dying, he seems to have a different outlook on death, and has strength that he will conquer it. Piscine states: “My life is like a memento mori painting…. there is always a grinding skull at my side to remind me of the folly of human ambition. I mock this skull.” Piscine continues to say that he looks at this skull and says, “You’ve got the wrong fellow. You may not believe in life, but I don’t believe in death.” The mocking of the memento mori painting shows that he is mocking the idea of death. He will not accept the idea of everything that he has gone through resulting in death. This is an example of Piscine using his fear of dying to strive to live. He uses this memento mori painting allusion as a reason to live and get through this hard time. Even when Pi is dying due to lack of food resources and is on the brink of consciousness, he is hopeful he will …show more content…
Martel does this by showing distinct parallelism between the actions of the animals and Piscine’s thoughts, displaying weakness, ruthlessness, and strength. The novel climaxes when Piscine finds himself stranded on a small lifeboat due to his families’ cargo ship sinking. Piscine is the only human to survive, but he is not alone on the boat, a Bengal tiger, a hyena, and a zebra share his space. Piscine is at first portrayed as a very innocent and weak sixteen-year old, with no means of survival. This is much like the zebra that Pi rescues from the ocean. For instance, Pi rescues the zebra from the ocean upon which he discovers the animal has a broken leg. Both Piscine and the Zebra have gone through very traumatic experiences leaving them weak in their current living conditions. Furthermore, Piscine finds it very difficult at first to find food sources. As a vegetarian, much of what he has access to goes against his ethical beliefs. Additionally, Pi believes that there is no hope for survival and has essentially given up all hope. This is very similar to the attitude the zebra is described as having. The zebra is said to be so weak that it has given up fighting back against the hyena. The zebra eventually gives up all hope, which results in the hyena seeing his vulnerability and attacking and kill it. The zebra dying