Rhetorical Devices In Life Of Pi

A person who is driven to live can will do whatever it takes to survive and can come back from the brink of death. In Life of Pi, Yann Martel demonstrates just how powerful inner strength of a person can be and how faith in something can keep one alive in unbelievable situations through his use of devices such as anthropomorphic characters and multiple versions within the story.
As Martel opens the novel with a description of Pi’s youth, readers learn that his childhood in a zoo and with multiple faiths prepares him for survival as a castaway. His survival of the power struggle between the hyena and Orange Juice, recognition of the meaning of Richard Parker’s behavior, and his taming of the tiger based on prior knowledge all demonstrate his …show more content…
Pi’s comment about how the unrealistic details of his story do not matter mirrors how the stories of his many religions often contradict each other and can be seen as illogical. However, as Pi comes to realize, the stories themselves do not matter as much as how they make people feel, just as how he chooses to remember the more positive version of his story with animals because it makes him and listeners feel better. Therefore, with this story, Martel demonstrates the power of storytelling in that it can sometimes be more truthful and captivating than reality. Pi finds comfort in his story, because the more likely version of reality is horrifying and completely lacks beauty. It also provides Pi with the unbearable guilt of his murder of the cook. But the outcomes both of the stories are the same, so almost everyone prefers the version with the animals because in a way, it is less senseless and brutal than its counterpart. Aside from that, the first version is not necessarily untrue, as it still holds the themes of survival, devastation, love, and faith, and gets these messages across in a more lyrical