Thomas Hobbes In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

In the story of the Life of Pi, Piscine Patel is explaining to a secular author who was convinced that this man could make him believe in God. Thus, Piscine (Pi) tells an adventure from long ago. Pi explains that he was a young religious man born in India from zookeepers and is suddenly that he will move to Canada, as his father has job opportunities there, perhaps even better than in India. However, caos falls onto the boat to Canada and Pi is stranded on a raft with a zebra, hyena, orangutan and a tiger; although, the only left alive is him and the tiger. The story is all about how he and his survival instincts pull through and survive the rigorous challenges of the Atlantic Ocean. When he finally reaches the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico, …show more content…
Strangely enough, this follows somewhat of what an Enlightenment thinker, Thomas Hobbes, said. Thomas Hobbes was a man born in the 16 hundreds and examined thoroughly of the human nature. From his studies, he created a hypothesis: he thought that people are naturally evil and are instinctively dark. This can be quite clearly shown in the movie in numerous ways. When Pi was thrown onto a lifeboat in (literally) the middle of nowhere, he saw the death of his mother and the murder of a innocent japanese sailor, which all came from the cook. due to the lack of materials on the float, he kills the “happy buddhist” and tosses Pi’s mother overboard, in which her body got fed to sharks. In a fit of rage and necessary self defense, Pi kills the cook, leaving only him and his survival instincts on the boat. It is as clear as day that Pi and the cook unleashes their “human nature”, as Hobbes describes it. Furthermore, (as explained earlier,) the cook is depicted as a hyena and Pi’s darker half is considered Richard Parker, otherwise known as a tiger. According to society, these animals are known for being evil and carnivorous; dangerous in many senses, which only encourages the thoughts of Thomas