Life of Pi Essay Analysis

The second event was when; Piecing had to tame Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger that he was stuck on the lifeboat with, in order to have even the dimmest hope of survival until being rescued. Lastly Pi had to surpass many psychological barriers that his life was shaped around and had to defy his religions. He had to eat meat and fish to keep alive. Overall, these events are just a minor glimpse of what Pi Patella, a sixteen year old boy, faced and how he coped with the obstacles that were thrown at him. Pip’s entire journey resulted in him experiencing death over ND over again starting with the death of his family.

Losing ones parents is always a traumatic event, but losing one’s parents at a young age can cause serious mental devastation. When Pi is stranded alone on the lifeboat, he maintained hope that his parents and brother survived the sinking ship; they were alive and that they will rescue him shortly. However Pi lost more hope everyday as each day went by; until he finally accepted that his parents and brother died on the sinking ship and that they would never come back. They were dead; could no longer deny it. What a thing to acknowledge in your heart!

TO lose a brother is to lose someone with whom you can share the experience of growing old, who is supposed to bring you a sister-in-law and nieces and nephews, creatures to people the tree of your life and give it new branches. To lose your father is to lose the one who’s guidance and help you seek; who supports you like a tree trunk supports its branches. To lose your mother, well, that is like losing the sun above you. I lay down on the tarpaulin and spent the whole night weeping and grieving, my face buried in my arms. (Page 141) In the quote above, Pi has finally accepted the death of his family and is grieving for his loss.

Pi explains his pain vividly by describing the anguish he is currently suffering and the misery he potentially will suffer in the future from the death of each member of his family. “As the life p progresses and the individual reaches adulthood, the psychological and interpersonal consequences of this disturbance may manifest in long-term mental health problems,” (Nickering). This quote clarifies that the loss of Pip’s family could possibly cause severe “devastation” to his mental and psychological health as he grows older.

Even though this might have been one of the most difficult things Pi had to face, his troubles did not end there; they had only begun, especially with a man-eating tiger on the same lifeboat as him. Now most humans cannot even stand near a perfectly tamed tiger, the fear would consume us and the self-preservation instinct would cause us to flee. Piecing Patella was trapped on a small lifeboat with a man eating Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Pi did his best to maintain distance from the tiger; even building a small individual raft that he attached to the lifeboat where the tiger could not reach him.

Nonetheless, he knew he would have to eventually tame the tiger so he could reach the supplies in the life boat and prolong his survival till he could be rescued. I had to tame him. It was at that moment that I realized this necessity. It was not a question of him or me, but of him and me. We were, literally and figuratively on the same boat. We would live – or we would die – together. He might be killed in an accident, or he COOL_SLD die shortly of natural causes, but it would be foolish to count on such an eventuality.

Most likely the worst would happen: the simple passage of time, n which his animal toughness would easily outlast my human frailty. (Page 1 81 ) This quote demonstrates that Pi eventually came to an understanding that it was not just about him or the tiger; it was about both of them. If he was going to survive long enough to be rescued he would have to tame Richard Parker. In terms of symbolism that Yawn Marvel used, Pi would have to face and prevail over his problems. Here tiger represents the troubles and fears that one has to overcome in life and the lifeboat represents life itself.

Through the symbolism we can see that by overcoming his fears and robbers Pi is becoming more confident, mature and in turn mentally strengthened. Richard Parker made his point with me four times. Four times he struck at me with his right paw and sent me overboard, and four times lost my shield. I was terrified before, during and after each attack, and I spent a long time shivering with fear on the raft. Eventually I learned to read the signal he was ending me. I found that his ears, his whiskers, his tale, his teeth and his throat, he spoke a simple, forcefully punctuated language that told me what his next move might be. Earned to back down before he lifted his paw in the air. (page 229) Again from this quote from the novel we can determine that Pi has matured and is examining key details that would help him tame the tiger. Only someone with a clear and mentally strong approach could identify such tiny details and use them to their advantage. Overall the Pip’s experience of taming a man eating Bengal tiger and overcoming his fears, not only made his survival on the life boat a little easier, but it made him mentally stronger as well. With today’s modern technology, life boats are equipped with GAPS trackers so Orvis’s can be easily and rapidly rescued.

On the other hand, Pip’s story took place before many of these technological inventions existed. He survived on that life boat for 227 days straight and one of his biggest concerns was food. Pip’s life boat did have supplies of food, but they were nowhere even near to what was essential to survive all that time out at sea. Pi knew, that in order to persist he would have to possibly eat meat and fish. Put the hatchet down. I would break its neck, sight unseen, I decided. I wrapped the fish tightly in a blanket. With both hands started bending it.

The more I pressed, the more the fish struggled. I imagined whit it would feel like if I were wrapped in a blanket and someone were trying to break my neck. Was appalled. I gave up a number of times. Yet I knew it had to be done and the longer waited, the longer the fish’s suffering would go on. (Page 202-203) The quote above explains how Pi had trouble killing the fish and eating it. He could not get over the emotional and psychological issues with killing and eating the fish, even though he knew if he was going to survive, he would eventually have to do it.

On top of his own feelings and emotions, Pi followed Hinduism which clearly states that killing and eating another living creature is a sin. This does not apply to honoring the remnants of ambassador or sanctified food first offered to Lord Krishna and then eaten by the spiritual preceptors who mercifully leaves some for their devotees which is then glorified by them smash ambassador. Madhya means unsanctioned foods due to not having been consecrated by first offering it to the Supreme Lord and thus impure. Partaking of foods in tama guan such as meat, fish, fowl, eggs, wine, alcohol, etc. Reeds dark insistence and great ignorance. Baghdad Gait, Chapter 1 7, verses 8, 9, and 10) This is a passage from the sacred holy scripture of Hinduism, the Baghdad Gait. Pi had read almost all of the holy scriptures of all the religions he followed and obeyed most of what they preached. Since the Baghdad Gait said it was against the religion’s beliefs to eat meat, it caused a serious moral dilemma within him. In the end he had to eat both fish and meat in order to us;eve. By doing so he was once again scarred for life, which caused further mental devastation. Though Pi suffered al these traumatic events, he survived and was eventually rescued.