Preview

Life of Pi

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1459 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Life of Pi
Unreliable Narrator in Life of Pi

Life of Pi is told in first person and because he is the only narrator, readers see what he does; the problem is, Pi’s reactions and over simplistic method of analyzing events are unrealistic. When readers find the narrator’s voice to be unrealistic, they question the book’s validity and in turn the author’s point in creating a character that is untrustworthy. There are many, many examples in the Life of Pi where Pi forces us to step out of the pages and twist our heads in a position that signals “really?” I argue that Pi is an unreliable narrator and because of that, the book is not represented as well as it could have been if the story was told from a third person omniscient point of view. The first section of the book is positioned to force the readers to believe in God, but which one? Since Pi believes in three religions at once, we see him as not fully committed to one. Pi is projecting his unreliable quality by believing, whole heartedly, that he can continue living with three religions. Even his mother tries to convince him that multiple regions is not realistic when she says, “if you’re going to be religious, you must either be a Hindu, a Christian, or a Muslim” (p. 73). It is unrealistic that three religions would be comfortable with him serving each. Pi has disregarded the commandment, “Don’t Worship any other God” that is the backbone of Christianity. Because of his desire to worship many religions, he in turn forces the three religious figures to argue for his faith. Pi is unreliable in that he cannot choose one religion despite knowing having multiple religions is a “no-no”. Another place where Pi proves to be an unrealistic storyteller is when the ship sinks. He waits in the life boat thinking, “the night vanished as quickly as the ship” (p.111). In fact, he tells a sea turtle, “go tell a ship I’m here” (p.123). His entire family, all his animals, all the crew, all the other passengers, and the huge ship



Cited: Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2001. Print.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Life Of Pi Religion Essay

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Life of Pi is a story that it can be translated in completely opposing ways. While one reader might find it deeply religious, another may find Pi's story as atheistic. However, there is a common theme that the book urges to all readers, which is to have faith in your beliefs. Through the character Pi, Yann Martel proves how hard yet ultimately rewarding, it can be to have faith.…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    | The narrator, in making a seemingly offhanded comment about Rat’s tendency to lie, reveals another major point of the novel: the truth of a particular story is differing from person to person. Each person, with his or her own perspective, will relate or retell a story in a way they believe is befitting. While some may see this as a lie, others may see it as a necessary exaggeration of the truth in order to achieve the full meaning of the storytelling.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout Pi`s journey there are doubtful events that hint at his unreliability as an narrator. These incidents can…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Life of Pi

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages

    - “This son, on the other hand, who goes hungry, who suffers from thirst, who gets tired, who is sad, who is anxious, who is heckled and harassed” ( 91 )…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life of Pi

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Pi begins to realize that he and Richard Parker are the only survivors of the sunken ship, and his survival mode takes a few days to kicks in. “I was alone and orphaned, in the middle of the Pacific, hanging on an oar, an adult tiger in front of me, sharks beneath me, a storm raging about me” (133). He knows he is alone with a 450-pound Bengal tiger, and that’s all he can think about. When survival mode kicks in, he begins to search the lifeboat for supplies and food that he would need in order to survive. Pi also realizes that he must make it clear to Richard Parker that he is the alpha male on the lifeboat in order for his life to be spared by the incredible cat. Pi is extremely alienated from all things on this lifeboat. Obviously he is alienated from his homeland while being stranded on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. He is also alienated from his family, seeing as they have all drowned from the ship sinking. He has never been stranded on a boat before. He has no idea what to do. Everything he has been accustomed to at his home on land no longer applied to his life now on the ocean. As Said had said, the sadness of being exiled could never be surmounted. Pi felt this sadness. “That second night at sea stands in my memory as one…

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life Of Pi

    • 924 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Life of Pi by Yann Martel, follows the life of a young boy named Pi, who is marooned in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean after a shipwreck. He is only accompanied by a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a brutal, barbarous Bengal tiger. Young Pi must confront the elements and live at the will of Mother Nature throughout the book as he tries to stay alive in the vast abyss of the Pacific Ocean. How to Read like a Professor, by Thomas Foster is a guide to unlocking the hidden truths in any work of literature. In Chapter 19, “Geography Matters”, Foster explains how geography can play a leading role in literature in shaping the plot, characters, tone, and theme. In Life of Pi, geography assumes a central role in Pi’s narrative.…

    • 924 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Life of Pi

    • 4739 Words
    • 19 Pages

    1. Did you grow up believing in God or practicing a religion? Do you now? 2. Do you think of science as different than religion? Why or why not? 3. Can science and faith coexist?…

    • 4739 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life of Pi

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The important thing isn’t that we can live on love alone, but that life isn’t worth living without it. In the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the author tells a story of Piscine “Pi” Molitor Patel, who is struggling with religious and psychological issues. In addition to that, after the ship sinks Pi must survive on a life boat with a tiger for 227 days in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The Bengal tiger, Richard Parker was named after an Edgar Allen Poe character from The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838). Pym and a friend leave Nantucket on a ship. It capsizes and the two find themselves on the hull of the ship with another survivor. Starvations lead them to killing him and eating him. The character that is lunched upon has the last name of Richard Parker. In Life of Pi, the author uses the symbolic character, Richard Parker to show that he is an essential part of Pi’s life.…

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pi’s terrible sea troubles in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi are very similar to those of the troublemaker Louis Zamperini in Unbroken. The life of the young, smart, little Pi is not far from different from that of the middle age military man Louis Zamperini. This essay is about the similarities in the books Life of Pi and Unbroken. Turns out they seem to be very similar. These stories are both about people (Pi and Louis), who were wrecked at sea and became lost at sea. Both of these stories are very similar.…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life of Pi

    • 888 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the book Life of Pi the author Yann Martel wrote about a young boy named Pi Patel surviving on a lifeboat by himself. Throughout the entire book Pi was very close to religion and in the end his religions were the main reason he had survived. At the start of the book Yann Martel introduces three religions, Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism. There are three main points that aided in Pi’s survival. One being that Pi was open to religions and started to follow the Islamic faith. The second reason is that Islam believed that one should pray five times a day, and Pi did exactly this. The last reason is that the religion believes that suicide is completely forbidden and Pi was thinking of committing suicide on the boat. Pi believing and following the Islamic faith most defiantly helped him survive on the life boat.…

    • 888 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Life of Pi

    • 1679 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Martel's "The Life of Pi" is a coming of age story about a young man's reaching maturity through tragic but uplifting story of loss and miraculous survival. The story is based on a journey which contains adventure, tradgedy, humour, and also the survival of the fittest mentality. Yann Martel depicts a story of a youth who seeks knowledge, wisdom, connectivity, and spirituality through religeon and zoology. Applying the craft's he has practiced and is taught, protagonist Pi Patel seeks survival on a stranded boat with an orrangatang, a tiger, an injured zebra and a hyena.…

    • 1679 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Life Of Pi

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages

    3. Pi’s father said that ‘you only need to convert to three more religions and your whole year will be a holiday, this relates to the search for meaning and faith pi was going through because every religion have different holy days so if pi converted to 3 more religions his whole year would almost be a holiday. His father also says ‘how can he find his way if he never chooses a path’ meaning that he will be lost in the religious world if he chooses 3 religions instead he should only choose one so he can find his way.…

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    In “Life of Pi”, by Yann Martel, Pi had to overcome emotional obstacles in order to survive his 227 days in the Pacific. Pi faced challenges that would have prevented his physical survival; hesitation, loneliness, despair and boredom. These obstacles would have crippled his mind if he did not conquer them. Pi not only overcomes these obstacles to survive the journey, but takes away valuable lessons from his experience. In order to face the challenges that were presented to him, Pi had to face the imperfections within himself.…

    • 1648 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pi Hero's Journey

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the beginning, the reader follows Pi's life, introducing them to his beliefs and philosophy.…

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    English 9ap Critical Lens

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sylvester Balboa once said, “Literature often teaches the individual that what one sees is often mistaken for the truth.” In other words things are not always as they seem. From the outside things can be perceived differently than they actually are. In order to show this is true one must examine two points. First, in The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci shows that things are not always as they seem. Second, in the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell shows that this idea also pertains to the short story. After seeing these examples it will be clear how this idea is true.…

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays