Religion In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

As people progress through life, they often look for a greater meaning in their lives, particularly through religion. A Canadian author who grew up amongst many different cultures, Yann Martel made religion and its importance in a person’s life a big part of his popular novel, Life Of Pi. In Life Of Pi, Martel uses his simplistic writing style to put a greater emphasis on religion, which is explored through the main character’s conflict of being stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger. In fact, religion was the only thing that kept Pi, the main character, from giving up and throwing himself into the ocean. Yann Martel wrote Life Of Pi with the purpose of letting the reader choose what he or she wants to believe, which he does by instilling the personal themes of religion and choice through his surreal tone that makes the conflict almost unbelievable. From the very first moment that Pi discusses his views on religion, it is clear that religion and its importance is one of the major themes of the novel. Throughout the book, the theme that religion is just a variety of ways to connect with God is stressed. This is seen when Pi identifies as Hindu, Muslim, and Christian all at the same time, claiming that the …show more content…
When Martel was a child, he had to travel to many foreign countries because of his parents (Holcombe). In Life Of Pi, Pi also spends a lot of time travelling because of something his parents wanted to do, even though Pi’s conditions were much more serious than Martel’s (Martel). Also, both Pi and Martel have a common interest in philosophy and religion. Pi displays his love for religion at the beginning of the book when he says, “The steady, mindful practice of religion slowly brought me back to life” (Martel 3). Martel went to college for philosophy, showing that he also has an interest in ideas that are beyond the surface of this earth