Preview

Life Of Pi Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
783 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Life Of Pi Essay
Life of Pi Essay

Imagine getting lost at sea after losing some of the most important people of your life. How will you motivate yourself to survive, let alone taking care of someone else. In the book “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel a similar event happens to “Pi” Piscine Patel.
Throughout the book, Pi is lost at sea after a shipwreck and losing the people closest to him. Yann Martel uses symbolism to show how when put in a dangerous situation it brings out the strength of an individual. The color orange, Richard Parker, and the Algae
Island all represent something in Pi’s life.
In the book the color orange symbolizes hope and survival. Just before Pi talks about the Tsimtsum sinking, the narrator describes visiting the adult Pi at his home in
Canada and meeting his family. Pi’s daughter, Usha, carries an orange cat. This moment shows the reader that the end of the story, if not happy, will not be a complete tragedy, since Pi is guaranteed to survive the wreckage. As the Tsimtsum sinks,
Chinese crewmen give Pi a lifejacket with an orange whistle; on the boat, he finds an orange lifebuoy. In this part of the book it shows how the color orange is a symbol of survival, both the lifejacket and the lifebuoy are used so that you don't drown at sea.
While on the lifeboat Pi encounters Orange Juice, an orangutan that provides a measure of emotional support that helps Pi maintain hope in the face of horrific tragedy.
This color orange in the book has a greater meaning than just a color, it represents hope of survival and a reason to want to survive.
The Algae Island represents represents Pi’s religious beliefs. Up until he reaches the island, Pi does not choose a specific religion he just wants to "love God." When he is on the lifeboat, Pi treats all religions equally. "Vishnu preserve me, Allah protect me,
Christ save me," he screams when his life is in danger. But on the island, he abandons
Christianity and Hinduism, seeing only Islam: "As my heart

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    During the water rafting, the raft turned over and Hal and two other persons drowned. The Rafting Company fitted each person on the raft with a life jacket with “normal adult buoyancy rating”. According to Provincial Authorities a more suitable life jacket would probably not saved Hals life because of swiftness of river at accident site…

    • 606 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel it says many of the relatives or shipmates of the men lost during the sinking…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    They are frequently tossed off and have to get back on. With no cell phone service and barely any food. There seemed like there was no hope. As they battle hard in the freezing cold water they began to lose faith. Planes and helicopters are flying by but can’t see them. They’re frustrated mentally and physically exhausted. Corey smith is the first man to die due to starvation after seventeen hours in the water. The rest of the crew is in shock. He was a NFL player and in great shape. Five hours later they lose Marquis Cooper, the captain of the boat. He couldn’t survive and gave up .” It was the hardest thing ever in my life to watch my freind drift away literally, right before my eyes”(145). Nick couldn’t do anything to save the two. Now it was only Will and Nick left struggling on the boat. They had made it for thirty six hours, wide awake and threw the nights , so far and keep telling each other they could do it and someone is going to find them. At the forty two hour mark Will is taking in a lot of salt water and eventually can’t keep getting back on the boat and drowns. Now Nick devastated and exhausted has only one thing to do, wait. After seven more hours the coast guard rescue boats gets him and then call a helicopter for him to lifted off and rushed to the closest hospital. He’s in shock that he made it. His family and friends were waiting…

    • 1239 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Pi hasn't eaten anything for three days and starts searching for drinking water. Not afraid anymore of the hyena because of the presence of the tiger, he describes the lifeboat.…

    • 1901 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    I thought that this best fit into the plot of the story because imagine what it would’ve been like to be Pi, to manage surviving out of a sinking ship and knowing that all your family members have died in the ship as it sunk deep into the ocean and being stuck in a lifeboat with wild animals not knowing if or when they’re going to eat you. It must have been a…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Piscine Molitor Patel is the narrator and main character of this unusual story that begins in Pondicherry, India. The son of a zoo keeper, Pi, as he comes to be known, has an extensive knowledge of the animals that inhabit his own backyard, as well as an interest in stories of all kinds and a fascination with the spiritual. He practices not only his native Hinduism, but also Christianity and Islam. When Pi is sixteen, his family - his mother, his father and brother, Ravi, emigrate from India to Canada. They set sail aboard a Japanese cargo ship, Tsimtsum, along with many of their zoo animals, bound for their new homes.…

    • 5330 Words
    • 22 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The color red is a consistent symbol throughout the story, as it is a word in the title. The color red has numerous symbolic meanings. It can be interpreted differently depending on the situation and experiences of an individual. Red can create a variety of emotions ranging from love to violence and war. Many cultures associate red with purity, joy and celebration. In China red is the color of happiness, prosperity and good luck. In the Native American culture, the color of red represents faith and communication. The title of the story is the main source of communication between the brothers…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although the bare essentials to human survival are just food, water, and shelter, there is also other things that humans need. They need spiritual needs like believing in a faith. Or emotional needs like friendships and feelings. In the novel, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Yann gives Pi spiritual, physical, and emotional needs. Pi meets these needs by staying true to his faith.…

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Life standed on the sea is very grueling and risky. Only a few are able to face the…

    • 2055 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Images can often times create symbols within novels. In The Great Gatsby, the color green is mentioned many times by Nick, such as “the fresh green breast of the new world” or “long green tickets”. (Fitzgerald 149). The color green alludes to a bright future full of light and happiness. In The Old Man…

    • 688 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    It is the widespread smear of blue, the vibrant sprouts of green and the sight of all things on earth.Colors are made up of everything and although what the human eyes claims to see is not certain that every organism sees has played with our imagination through childhood. Each of the infinite colors has it’s own value and personal definition to everyone. It engages the eyes with the mind into imagination and in some ways are deceptive. For example red, was feared in America during 1920’s because it was associated with communism and uncertainty. Red is usually associated in the cinema as the evil force. However, it is also a symbol for good luck in China and India. Colors have their own symbolic definition that are associated with. In a similar…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better 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

    Color is a very important part in explaining this chapter. The author used colors rather than direct adjectives to explain people's personalities and some scenes. Color can make a chapter boring, sad, or…

    • 274 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When it comes to the existence of a god or gods, there are three kinds of people in this world: Those who believe, those who do not believe, and those who do not concern themselves with the subject. In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, it is promised that Pi Patel’s narrative “will make you believe in God” (X). In Life of Pi, there are two stories by this protagonist: Pi’s “dry, yeastless factuality” (63) tale of survival and the “better story” (63). Martel does not indicate to the reader which story actually occurred, and neither can be proven as the legitimate one, which parallels the arguments between the existence of a god and scientific reason. In the story, Pi’s father believes in humankind’s contemporary discoveries, which contradicts Pi’s…

    • 1158 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Life Of Pi Survival Essay

    • 1294 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Like many good novels, Life of Pi had many themes. One of these themes was that of survival, as basic or obvious as it would seem. A way that Martel made me understand the theme was through the intelligence of the characters. There were many examples of this in the book, ranging from as small as a thought to as large as…

    • 1294 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays