Relative Truth In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

Since the beginning of time, religion has been a common characteristic for humans across the world. Religion has helped mankind make sense of this world full of mysteries and given them a purpose in life. However, religion has also divided man, causing turmoil amongst them about which religion is correct. It has even pushed man to war, not only physical but physiological wars as well. In the book Life of Pi, main character Pi is experiencing an internal war as he can’t simply choose one religion. Pi intertwines three religions and sees dilemma: “Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat wearing Muslims” (pg. 53). In Pi’s mind, there is no “correct”
His extensive use of referencing and incorporating all three religions served to remind us that Pi had no different view on the three. Pi’s view on religion ties in greatly with relative truth as Pi sees the correct religion to be the one you see most credible, but relative truth can be seen in our entire lives not just religion. A memorable moment of relative truth lies in the ending; Martel ends the book with two different stories. One story sticks to the book involving animals, and the other replaces the animals with people. Yann does not give a definitive answer on which is true, but rather he leaves the decision to the readers. Through his literature Martel shows the importance of relative truth nut just in religion, but in our lives. In our lives we will have to come to choose certain paths, our choice will be influenced by our perspective but Martel is telling us there is always more than one option. He is making us rethink our truths to see if really believe them. Even at the end, when we question which story is real, Martel simply leaves us with