The Life of Pi by Yann Martel - Literature Essay Sample

Paper Type:  Book review
Pages:  5
Wordcount:  1129 Words
Date:  2021-06-04
Categories: 

Life is full of ups and downs. It is never a smooth ride as many of us want it to be. There will always be trying times; moments you feel like you want to give up. Although many of us are quite aware of this sad yet fact about life, not everyone takes this point well. Human beings will tend to celebrate the happy moments, success, and achievements but detest the hard times, adversity and failures forgetting it is a package deal. People will become so emotional, sad, and even depressed when life turns it back on them. Some take a lot of time feeling sorry for themselves and perceive themselves as a failure, losers or unfortunate. They forget that life happens to us all and it is never about the circumstance but rather how we respond to it. A few will take life challenges positively and accept them as they come. In one of the greatest poems of all times by Rudyard Kipling If, it says that if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and putting it on you, and you can treat triumph and disaster just the same, then, yours is the earth. In adversity, it is tempting even to lose faith in God, but that should not be the case. This is a book review of The Life of Pi, a story fascinating enough to restore ones faith in God in the hardest of times.

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Life of Pi is an exciting novel written by Yann Martel and was published in the year 2001. The novel is a fantasy adventure one and explores different themes of spirituality, reality, and practicality. The book is an interesting read for people across all age brackets, and its target audience is everyone with a sense of religion and hope. The novel revolves around a young boy from Pondicherry who finds himself trapped in the Pacific Ocean stranded on a boat with slim hopes of surviving. The young boy is terrified to the say the least and hopeless at best. However, whatever happens to him in the next 227 days will redefine the meaning of hope and faith in God completely. Below is a summary of the Life of Pi.

Just like every other person in the world, Pis life was not without challenges. Growing up in Pondicherry, his boyhood was punctuated with suffering and hardships. However, he found solace in zoology and religion. Pi was an excellent swimmer, a skill he was taught by his fathers good friend and close associate, Francis Adirubasamy. Pis love for the zoo can be attributed to his father who was once in charge of the Pondicherry Zoo. He taught him the basic facts about animals, and there was a time he crossed the line when he fed a live goat to a hungry tiger as Pi and his brothers watched to pass across a message that animals are dangerous. Pis spiritual life was confusing if not controversial as he practiced Hindu, Christianity, and Islam at the same time.

This approach towards religion is strange yet interesting. Many authors talking about religion choose one and stick to it. They do not care to explore other faiths, and this somewhat gives the reader the notion that religions have nothing in common. However, in the life of Pi, the three religions have remarkable similarities and themes. The multiple faith approaches make the novel universal and relatable to the three religions. All other religious teachings aside, Pis perspective on religion is that the most important thing is to love God. It does not matter whether you are a Christian, Muslim or Hindu to love God, God is love, and that is what He expects from us. The novel advice the readers to explore other religions and be open minded when it comes to spiritual matters. Yann Martel pointedly avoids advocating from a single religion. Instead, he chooses to focus on the nature of worship and faith itself. It is not about whether you are a Christian or a Muslim, it is about how deep your faith is in God (Martel, Yann).

In the novel, the dominant theme is religion, and Pi embraces all the three religions, none more than the others. He likes the Hindu stories of the gods and has memorized their various incarnations. He also has many Hindu shrines in his home to symbolize his life for the religion. When it comes to Christianity, a crucifix and the rosary he possesses says it all, and lastly, he uses a Muslim prayer rug and is punctual when called to pray at different times of the day. This is symbolic that the three religions can coexist peacefully and religious differences should never be a concern. Everyone has the right to choose and determine their faith. No one is a Christian, Muslim. Or Hindu at birth even though their parents belong to those religions. Faith is a personal matter, and one can choose whichever suits his/her value, principles, culture and belief system. Pi knows this too well and chooses all the three (Martel, Yann).

Pis innocence and goodwill do not allow him to have a conflict of interest about faith. At one point when he was walking in the marketplace with his parents, he came across a group of religious leaders from the three religions. Just like many religious leaders do in the present day world, they tried to compete for Pi, each claiming for Pi himself. They go ahead and begin debating who best deserves Pi and the most suitable religion for him. They have an acrimonious debate before they pass the ball to Pi and ask him to choose one of the three religions. This question puts Pi in an ultimatum, and after a meaningful and thoughtful silence, he said that he just wanted to love God. Simple. That was all he wanted, and it is all he been doing and practicing all this while. The answer leaves the religious leaders embarrassed at the unusual yet refreshing stand held by the boy on religion.

The core of the novel is based on the conflict between logic, reason, and argument versus pure religious faith and love for God. Religious leaders and people, in general, are so stuck up to religious groups, doctrines, cultures and practices that they forget that the whole idea of religion is the love of God and purity of intentions. During the 227 days that Pi spent stranded in the ocean, it is faith that saved him and not the fact that he was Christian, Muslim, or Hindu. Pi walks in the light of reason and allows his faith in God to lead him through the darkest of moments (Martel, Yann).

Works Cited

Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. Edinburgh [U.A.], Canongate, 2012.

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The Life of Pi by Yann Martel - Literature Essay Sample. (2021, Jun 04). Retrieved from https://midtermguru.com/essays/the-life-of-pi-by-yann-martel-literature-essay-sample

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