Life Of Pi

Improved Essays
In the novel Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel, a The Life of Pi teaches us that the companionship in the most primal of animals indicates the close similarities man and animal contain, especially within an atmosphere that lacks civilization. Throughout the book, Yann Martel fills in this grey area between man and animal by demonstrating that when both are under the line of survival, similarities arise, which in turn helps provide an interdependent relationship between the two opposite figures.

Typically, humans often perceive that there is a major difference in the actions/behaviors of man and animal. In a normal society, humans are very civilized, eat at a table, act in a certain manner whereas animals are thought as wild, untamed and hunt for their food. However, under no civilization, humans are no different than animal. We are often forced to sacrifice our rituals and duty, dismantle our moral values, and alter back to our animal instincts for the sake of our survival. This concept is communicated through Pi as he suffers on the lifeboat. As the book progresses, his priorities change, his moral values diminish, his animalistic instincts become evident, and as a result, his natural behavior/actions mirrors Richard Parker’s. Before the unexpected crisis of the
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Once they return to this place of civilization, Pi and Richard Parker part, move on to their own roles and are never seen together again. Pi returns to his human society, while Richard Parker departs into the wild, which in turn, draws that thick border between man and animal once again. This instance of separation shows that the relationship of man and animal do not exist within a civilized society compared to a society where rules and morals aren’t present, where an interdependent relationship does

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