Life Of Pi Faith Quotes
Karen Ramirez
Pre-IB English/ Mr. Ratner
3/1/10
6th period
Word count: 862
Life of Pi Essay Many people that are religious look to God for guidance and comfort. Especially in disastrous situations. In Yann Martel’s novel, Life of Pi, the theme of will to survive is presented and demonstrated as having faith, letting animal instincts take over, and determination. Pi keeping his faith shows how strong his faith in God is. He discusses some Hindu symbolism to describe how insignificant he feels, then "mumbled words of Muslim prayer and went back to sleep"(177). Praying is a sign of hope for Pi. Pi is hoping to live through the night and he is trusting God to keep him safe. Instead of being terrified, he trusts God enough that he is able …show more content…
In Pi’s darkest moment he explains that "This was the terrible cost of Richard Parker. He gave me a life, my own, but at the expense of taking one. He ripped the flesh off the man's frame and cracked his bones. The smell of blood filled my nose. Something in me died then that has never come back to life"(255). Pi is not only talking about killing another person, but he is talking about himself. Each time Pi took a life he was killing a piece of Pi’s old self. When he killed the Frenchman that is when all of Pi’s old self was killed and pure instinct took over. Pi can only bear to remember so much; he can list the sensations but he does not go into the awful event's effect on his psyche. This moment, more than any other in the text, seems to mark an absence of God because of his hopelessness and guilt. It is also the moment where Pi's life is most explicitly threatened. If Richard Parker is seen as a symbol of the pure survival instinct, this is the one moment in the text where that instinct wins out completely over morality and control. Describing the scarcity of food and water, Pi realizes “of how low I had sunk the day I noticed, with a pinching of the heart, that I ate like an animal, that this noisy, frantic, unchewing wolfing-down of mine was exactly the way Richard Parker ate”(225). He is starting to connect Richard Parker and himself. Pi’s subconscious makes up
Pre-IB English/ Mr. Ratner
3/1/10
6th period
Word count: 862
Life of Pi Essay Many people that are religious look to God for guidance and comfort. Especially in disastrous situations. In Yann Martel’s novel, Life of Pi, the theme of will to survive is presented and demonstrated as having faith, letting animal instincts take over, and determination. Pi keeping his faith shows how strong his faith in God is. He discusses some Hindu symbolism to describe how insignificant he feels, then "mumbled words of Muslim prayer and went back to sleep"(177). Praying is a sign of hope for Pi. Pi is hoping to live through the night and he is trusting God to keep him safe. Instead of being terrified, he trusts God enough that he is able …show more content…
In Pi’s darkest moment he explains that "This was the terrible cost of Richard Parker. He gave me a life, my own, but at the expense of taking one. He ripped the flesh off the man's frame and cracked his bones. The smell of blood filled my nose. Something in me died then that has never come back to life"(255). Pi is not only talking about killing another person, but he is talking about himself. Each time Pi took a life he was killing a piece of Pi’s old self. When he killed the Frenchman that is when all of Pi’s old self was killed and pure instinct took over. Pi can only bear to remember so much; he can list the sensations but he does not go into the awful event's effect on his psyche. This moment, more than any other in the text, seems to mark an absence of God because of his hopelessness and guilt. It is also the moment where Pi's life is most explicitly threatened. If Richard Parker is seen as a symbol of the pure survival instinct, this is the one moment in the text where that instinct wins out completely over morality and control. Describing the scarcity of food and water, Pi realizes “of how low I had sunk the day I noticed, with a pinching of the heart, that I ate like an animal, that this noisy, frantic, unchewing wolfing-down of mine was exactly the way Richard Parker ate”(225). He is starting to connect Richard Parker and himself. Pi’s subconscious makes up