Survival In Life Of Pi

When faced with a life and death situation, people will often do amazing, heroic, and shameful things to survive. Yann Martel’s brilliant novel The Life of Pi has many themes. The story revolves around an Indian boy, who upon being faced with a shipwreck catastrophe is forced to remain in the ocean for 227 days with a live tiger on board. As a deeply religious person, he is in a constant battle between morality and his will to exist; and how far he must go in order to do so. The main theme in Life of Pi is the contrast between survival and religion. While on board, the passengers of the lifeboat are forced to partake in a trial of the survival of the fittest, turning to savagery and murder that results in the loss of Pi’s innocence. Uncharacteristically, Pi betrays his religious beliefs in order to survive when he eats meat, fish, and eventually human flesh.

It can be said that Pi’s faith is what kept him alive. At the beginning of the book, we know that Pi is a strict vegetarian. He is a devout Hindu and avid follower of religion. He attends church to pray to Jesus, has a prayer mat to worship Mohammed, and often brings up his admiration towards the Hindu god Krishna. As his journey begins, he is careful not to harm any living creature, not even a fly and survives off of
Pi, only 16 years old, goes on a spiritual transformation throughout the novel. He battles loneliness, grief, and is faced with many difficult decisions. While this is not a typical teenager’s life story, there are any relatable instances where distress can shape a person into something never thought possible. This is demonstrated with Pi’s killing, loss of family, and loss of faith. “Humans aspire to really high things, right, like religion, justice, democracy. At the same time, we’re rooted in our human, animal condition. And so, all of those brought together in a lifeboat struck me as being… as a perfect metaphor.” (Yann Martel,