Life of Pi

The movie Life of Pi, directed by Ang Lee and released in 2012, tells the story of a tragic and magical adventure of a boy named Pi Patel and a tiger. When Pi’s family decided to sell their zoo and move to Canada from India, they embark on a trip at see. During a storm, the ship wrecks, leaving Pi to be the only one of his family surviving. He ends up stranded in a lifeboat with four animals, who all die, except for one – a tiger. Life of Pi tells the story of the two fighting to survive and the struggle between them as well as the struggle within each of them.

Although Life of Pi is seen as a fictional story, it confronts many issues and ideas that are seen throughout life. It portrays the true nature of both humans and animals, it confronts struggles with faith and religion, and it represents the idea of “there are two sides to every story”. From the beginning of the story, we are exposed to not only the true nature of humans, but the true nature of animals as well. Early in the movie, Pi’s dad forces Pi and his older brother to watch A tiger, the tiger that Pi later gets stuck on a boat with, kill and eat a goat. Pi gets caught trying to feed the tiger by his father so his father finds it necessary to demonstrate the true nature of this creature and to teach Pi that no matter how badly he wants the tiger and the human to be friends, it will never happen because of the nature of both species.

This nature of the tiger is continuously demonstrated throughout the entire time Pi and the tiger spend on the boat. As soon as the tiger sees Pi, he attempts, and fails, to attack him. He makes it extremely clear that Pi is not welcome on the boat and will NOT cooperate unless Pi is using food as a reward system. Felines are naturally selfish and independent, and the Tiger is the king of Felines. They rarely interact with other creatures, even their own species. Their main concern is the survival of themselves. This is seen in humans as well but humans also possess compassion. When the Tiger leaves the boat to hunt for a meal, he struggles to get back on the boat. Despite the aggression that the tiger had towards Pi from the moment they entered the boat, Pi still feels sympathy and helps to get him back on.

This demonstrates human nature. Humans are seen as extremely selfish, which they can be, but humans do not want to see other living creatures die. They will do a lot to help those around them and Pi demonstrates this by creating a system to get the tiger back on the boat safely. Both human nature and the nature of the animal are shown when the lifeboat eventually reaches shore. The tiger immediately runs away but stops before he enters the forest. Pi is almost certain the tiger is going to turn around and acknowledge him in some way, but he never does and because of that, Pi is extremely upset. This shows not only the compassion of humans but also the naivety that they possess. It also shows that no matter how long the tiger has spent with a human, he fails to feel a connection and still acts as completely independent. He is a wild animal and will follow his natural instinct no matter what.

Pi is conflicted with his spirituality while he is on the boat. Before he got stranded he practiced three religions: Hindu, Christianity, Islam. Seeing a person practice 3 religions at one time is not usually seen in today’s world. He grew up as a Hindu but as he got older he began to study other religions and felt connected to Christianity first and then Islam. He believed that there was a God and that he was great. Religion was Pi’s passion; something he could always go to and would always treat him well. When he becomes stranded on a boat with a wild animal for hundreds of days, his faith in God and religion is tested. Although it is never apparent that he has lost fate, he definitely begins to question himself and his religion. This represents the contraversy of religion in today’s world. There are countless types of religions and countless people practicing them. Some people love religion and some don’t believe in it.

This story represents the process of religion in the lives of some people. Everyone goes through a point in life of finding out who they really are and religion is a huge part of that. Many question religion as they go through this stage, whether they grew up in a certain religion or not. This is a stage in life of deeper thinking and much self-exploration. Questioning religion can be a huge part of that; “Is there a God?” “If there is a God, then why do bad things happen to good people?” The time that Pi spends on the boat represents this part of life that occurs for many people. He grew up with religion and something bad happened to him so he begins questioning God.

He asks himself why God would let this happen. A huge part of the plot of “Life of Pi” is what we see at the end of the Movie when Pi is in the hospital talking to news reporters. Although it is a short amount of the movie, it is extremely important to how one sees the story and perceives the entire time that Pi is stranded. He provides the two men with his story of the boat sinking and spending countless days with a vicious tiger and how he survived. The response of the reporters is basically, “We don’t believe you and no one else will”. They ask Pi for a more believable story So Pi immediately tells them a story of being stranded with not animals but people.

The people are his mother, the cook of the boat and an Asian sailor. This story is extremely violent and results in the Cook killing Pi’s mother and the sailor, then Pi killing the cook. Each person represents an animal from the original story, Pi and the tiger being parallels. As Pi lays in the hospital bed telling this story, he is extremely upset. Because of his overwhelming emotion and the connections between the humans in the second story and the animals in the original, it can be argued that the story with the humans is what really happened. It can be said that Pi made up the story with the animals so he didn’t have to deal with the reality of the horrible situation.

But the story with the animal can be argued for by saying that it was the entire story. We saw Pi experience the story with the tiger, making it more believable than the other story. This part of the plot goes with the common saying, “There are two sides to every story.” It is up to the person watching to decide which story he believes, like any story that someone hears. Life of Pi is an amazing story of the time Pi spent stranded on a lifeboat. Although the story demonstrated seems straightforward, there is so much more underneath it. It represents many issues and ideas throughout the life of Humans and Animals. It provokes deep thought and leads the watcher of the film to make decisions for themselves about the plot.

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.

Richard Parker and the other animals? In the realistic story Pi encounters a number of challenging, horrific, and life altering events. In the ‘better story, Pi tells how Richard Parker attacks and eats humans, has no morals and is very savage. But once the realistic story is told, it is understood that Richard Parker and Pi are one in the same, and it is really Pi who committed the crimes that he faults on Richard Parker in the first story. Richard Parker acts as an escape for Pi through allowing him to mask his sins, forget negative emotions, and overlook his immoral actions.

While on a lifeboat for an astounding 227 days Pi commits many sins. While being a devote Christian, Muslim, and Hindu these sins would not be tolerated under any form of desperation within these religions. Pi creates Richard Parker to mask his barbaric actions. In the second story after only a couple weeks at sea Pi and the Chef stole food without Pip’s mother knowing, Mayo selfish monster! ‘ screamed Mother. The only reason we’re running out of food is because you’re gorging yourself on it! ‘ ‘He had some to,’ he said, nodding my way’ (Marten 340).

Pi was so hungry that when the Chef offered him a ration he ate it without thinking of the consequences. It was very selfish on his part and regret did not hit him until he saw his mother’s disappointment. After the Chef kills his mother, Pi takes the next open opportunity to kill him, “Then we fought and I killed him” (Marten 344). Murder is not accepted under any of Pip’s religious beliefs but is also against the law in many countries. Pi contradicted his religious beliefs, the one thing that molded his character until the shipwreck. Pi becomes cannibalistic once he kills the Chef, “I ate his liver. T off great pieces of his flesh” (Marten 345). At this point in the second story Pi is thirsty, starving and now alone, he loses complete touch with his compassion becoming very primal. Being an honest and noble boy Pi would not able to live with himself without an outlet after committing such sins. Pi creates Richard parker as a figurehead to escape and take blame for his primitive moments. Richard Parker, as Pi describes him, is violent, impulsive and much like Pi in his immoral moments on the lifeboat. In the second story Pi becomes brutal and primitive.

Once he reaches land Pi does not want to acknowledge such negative and embarrassing behavior. This is his motive for the ‘better story’ where Richard Parker exemplifies all these negative traits instead of Pi. Pi loses a turtle, which results in the Chef getting angry and killing Pip’s mother, “We were starving. I was weak. I couldn’t hold on to a turtle. Because of me we lost it. ” (Marten 343). Pi blames himself for his mothers death. Although the blood was not literally on his hands he feels he is the directly responsible for his mothers’ death.

Pi becomes very anger and hurt when the Chef kills his mother: “He killed her. The cook killed my mother'(Marten 343). Pip’s mother was the last member of his family. It is understood Pip’s father and brother died in the shipwreck, and now his mother is also dead. For the first time ever Pi is truly alone and without guidance, he continues to lose touch with his humanity. Pi becomes ruthless and violent after killing the chef, “His heart was a struggle- all those tubes that connected it. I managed to get it out. It tasted delicious, far better than a turtle. ” (Marten 345).

The story becomes graphic and gruesome, but gives perfect depiction Of Pip’s desperation and how far he has strayed from his morals. These traits that Pi displays are not his true character. These traits arise because of his desperation and he is under extreme conditions. It makes sense for Pi to create Richard Parker as a scapegoat, he is ashamed of what he has become and never thought he could possess such immoral traits. Throughout the second story Pi loses his sense of morality. A young Chinese man with a broken leg is a passenger on the lifeboat. His leg becomes infected and the

Chef convinces Pi and his mother to help amputate it, “I can still hear his evil whisper. He would do the job to save the sailor’s life he said, but we would have to hold him”(Maritime 338). Amputating was against Pip’s morals, and he was well aware it would ultimately kill the sailor. As a result of the amputation the sailor died a painful and horrible death. Pi becomes selfish, primitive and purely survival driven. While aboard the lifeboat Pi is forced to dismiss his vegetarianism, “It came easier to me. Found hunger improved the taste of everything. “(Marten 343).

The reader would think being a devote vegetarian his entire life would make him want to resist the urge to eat meat. Pi is so hungry and so he is pushed to refute his ethics that he has lived with his entire life. The reader wonders, how strong Pip’s moral compass is with disowning his vegetarian ways so easily. The Chef is brutish and violent, although Pi still accepts him, and sees him as a friend. Richard Parker is an easy passage in Pip’s mission to escape his sinful actions. Richard Parker allows Pi an outlet to immoral and unethical behavior that would not be tolerated in Pip’s natural world.

But we couldn’t ignore him entirely. He was a brute, but a practical brute. He was good with his hands and he knew the sea. He was full Of good ideas. He was the one who thought Of building a raft to help with fishing. If we survived any time at all, it was thanks to him. (Marten 342) Even after butchering the sailor and eating all their rations, Pi accepts the Chefs help even though his methods go against his morals. Under the pressure of the sea Pi quickly and easily dismisses his morals, strays from humanity and becomes annalistic.

Richard Parker acts as a perfect guarded, the typical tiger possesses the traits and emotions Pi wants to avoid. Richard Parker acts as an escape for Pi through allowing him to mask his sins, forget negative emotions, and overlook his immoral actions. Pi see’s himself before the ship wreck as a holy, positive and honest being, but quickly dismisses all his morals in the light of survival. He becomes primitive, immoral and very annalistic. Pi uses Richard Parker to represent his instinctive mind and serve as an escape from the horrific level of savagery he sank to on the lifeboat. Pi creates Richard Parker as a coping method.

Canongate reveals Martel’s Holocaust tale Listen Select: ?? : BOOK NEWS Canongate has exclusively revealed details of the forthcoming novel by Yann Martel, his first since the 2002 Man Booker-winner Life of Pi was published eight years ago. Entitled Beatrice and Virgil, the book is due for publication next June. It is being released simultaneously by Knopf Canada, Random House imprint Spiegel & Grau in New York, Text Publishing in Australia and Penguin India.

The story follows Henry, who on being posed “a puzzle that he cannot resist” is pulled into the world of taxidermy, and the lives of the eponymous characters–a donkey named Beatrice and a monkey called Virgil. Canongate said the book, which tackles the topic of the Holocaust, “takes us somewhere truly unexpected and shocking”, asking “profound moral and philosophical questions about the nature of love and evil”.

Jamie Byng, managing director and publisher of Canongate, said: “Life of Pi was always going to be an extremely tricky book to follow up, not least because of the expectations of Yann’s many fans. “Thankfully, Yann has risen to the challenge by writing another exceptional novel, a wildly imaginative and multilayered story that engrosses from the first page and leaves you asking questions long after you have turned the last. I was stunned by Beatrice and Virgil and all of us at Canongate are enormously excited about taking this book to as many readers as we can. The publication will be supported by “an impressive PR and marketing campaign”, which will include consumer and social media advertising, widespread media coverage, author interviews, an extensive online campaign and events and festival appearances across the UK. Retailers are now being invited to pitch for signings. Canongate has “high hopes” for the book, as Life of Pi remains the most successful Booker winner ever. The publisher repackaged the title this July, which Canongate said trebled sales when compared with the previous year. ~~~~~~~~

Summary Piscine Molitor Patel – Protagonist in the story, also the narrator – also known as Pi Ravi Patel – Pi’s older brother by three years Santosh Patel – Pi’s father, owns a zoo in Pondicherry, India Gita Patel – Pi’s Mother Satish Kumar – Pi’s biology teacher in Pondicherry Father Martin – A catholic priest that introduces Pi to the catholic faith Satish Kumar – A Muslim mystic that shares the same name with Pi’s biology teacher Hindu Pandit – A man whom is never named, he becomes very angry at Pi for practicing religions other than his own Pi Patel, a Hindu boy from Pondicherry, India, narrates this novel.

The novel begins with Pi going into great depth about the life of a sloth, which reminds him of a god. Pi explains how he got his name – from a swimming pool. This leads into Pi’s life story, which begins with his fond memories of his father’s zoo in India. Following this is a memory of a trip he took with his family, where he meets a catholic priest who introduces him to Catholicism. Later on this trip, Pi meets a Muslim mystic who introduces Pi to the Muslim faith.

Pi is deeply intrigued with other religions and their practices, but his curiosity crushed when a Hindu Pandit informs Pi’s parents that he is practicing other religions than his own. Significant Quotes “I know zoos are no longer in people’s good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both. ” Page 21 This quote shows how closely related Pi sees animals and religion.

People misunderstand the life of animals in the wild; they do not understand that life in captivity at a zoo might very well be a better life for an animal – just as people misunderstand what it means for someone to be free of a religion. Religion can take away the harshness of reality, just as the walls of a zoo enclosure can show one reality, but not the one beyond the walls. Pi is trying to show how religion can make a life simpler and more enjoyable. “I can well imagine an atheist’s last words: “White, white! L-L-Love! My God! ”—and the deathbed leap of faith.

Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry, yeastless factuality, might try to explain the warm light bathing him by saying, “Possibly a f-f-failing oxygenation of the b-b-brain,” and, to the very end, lack imagination n and miss the better story. ” Page 70 This quote illustrates how closely religion is linked to creativity and imagination. How an atheist believes in the nonexistence of god, still believes in something and has the capacity to change their beliefs, where as an agnostics are uncertain, with no beliefs and therefore lacking imagination to devise a guide for their life.

Without stories of beliefs in our lives -like in an agnostics life – life is ‘dry ‘ and ‘yeastless’ or flat and dull. “I couldn’t get Him out of my head. Still can’t. I spent three solid days thinking about Him. The more He bothered me, the less I could forget Him. And the more I learned about Him, the less I wanted to leave Him. ” Page 63 This quote shows the depth of Pi’s faith at such a young age. He seeks God not only through his own religion, but also in religions that he adopts throughout his journeys. Pi’s goal is to love God – innocent but extremely powerful.

The novel itself is inclined with philosophy and how different kinds of religion affected the life of Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi), the narrator of the story. It started when Pi was in a ship with his family when a mysterious incident led the ship to sink in the ocean, leaving only Pi the human who survived the incident. Along with him are the different animals whom he had discourse and interaction with in the lifeboat. Things started to went somehow out of control when the hyena ate some fellow animals.

Long after, the tiger itself fed on the hyena but managed not to attack Pi. The two, Pi and the tiger whose name in the story is Richard Parker, continued to survive together and managed to keep each other’s company. After a long time, they found an island with a strange algae-dominated form. Soon they discovered that the algae were deforming themselves into acids at night and there’s this strange fruit that has a human-like teeth in it. Pi concluded that the island is an organism that eats humans. With these view of things, Pi and Richard Parker left the strange island and arrived in Mexico.

There they departed from each other after keeping each other’s company for 227 days. Pi went to the hospital and he was confined there. Two Japanese officials named Okamoto and Chiba visited him and interrogated him how the ship sank. He told them the stories about the animals and his stay with the tiger, Richard Parker. However, the two officials did not believe him. Then he told another story where he was in a ship with his mother, a cook and a Chinese sailor. This story was a disgusting one where the cook is someone who is barbaric in actions. Pi let the two Japanese officials choose whichever version of story they want and the latter chose the one with animals which they wrote a story with.

Pi was engaged in the three major religions in the world namely Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam where his life was patterned. He clearly portrays a character who did not believe in religion as a whole but in conviction in one sense. Belief as a human necessity could be seen through Pi’s character where Pi is a representative of human divinity.[1] His life, as well as his activities, is associated with god/s. For him, everything is related to god/s. Or may I say that everything can be related to god/s.

His personality here can be viewed as an attachment to a belief which creates a form of survival. This can be compared to what Emile Durkheim said in his research that those who are in a strong attachment, say Christianity, had a lesser probability of committing a suicide than those who are more individualistic. Moreover, a strong hold to a belief can lengthen one’s life because there is a definite belief that serves as a guide for a person throughout his/her life.

On the other hand, Richard Parker was also able to sustain the coexistence between them (with Pi) by his animal instincts. Example for this is the search and hunt for food, which is one of the physiological needs of human in order to survive and to perform everyday life functions. With this is a concept of the survival of the fittest portrayed by the hyena and tiger where they ate their fellow animals in order to survive. The weakest being can not handle to live longer while the stronger ones are those that have the capacity to hunt and kill for their own benefit in order to live. Another manifestation of this survival is when Pi and Richard Parker was the only one who was alive and they managed to live longer in the strange island and to go to Mexico where their lives were more secured.

Life of Pi was a unique combination of social reality and religion. According to the author Martel, it doesn’t matter which was believed the truth but that belief should be present. Truth is only a matter of understanding. What really exist are evidences of a history, whether it was true or not. It was we who give the definition of what the social construction of reality means. And what people believed to be the truth is a matter of collective approval. Approval of those in the dominate classes.

In the novel, stories were given. How can one say which story is true and which one is not? Martel says that ‘the facts do not always constitute the importance in the experience’.[2] Thus, one can say that unreliable facts which are given to us. We are the ones who will decide what is true and what is not. “Life’s story is one’s own, and faith trumps factuality.” What really matters for the truth to exist is the belief of people on it. Without the belief, a truth can not be truth.

Works Cited

Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. Canada: Knopf Canada, 2001.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org

[2] Ibid.

Jeff Ramos English101 Mr. Adams 11-21-2012 What to Believe In the novel Life of Pi, Yann Martel uses the protagonist Pi to demonstrate how faith, ritual and ones will to live save one from the barbaric and carnivorous reality. Pi Patel, lover of faith and various gods and their beliefs loses his family after a shipwreck and drifts on the Pacific Ocean with the zebra, hyena, orangutan and tiger named Richard Parker, each struggling in their own way to survive. In the end, Pi presents two different stories and leaves it up to the reader to decide which version is ultimately true.

Personally, I would believe the animal story was made up by Pi because the human story was too much for him to endure. But how do we define truth? Is something true simply because it is believable? Is something untrue because it seems unrealistic? The dictionary defines truth as 1) the true or actual state of a matter; 2) conformity with fact or reality; 3) a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle or the like. The relativity of truth is not emphasized as a major theme until the last part of the novel, when Pi recaps the entire story to the officials from the shipping company who are questioning him.

Pi lets them choose the version they prefer, and for them that version becomes truth. In this world, people believe the version of truth that they are most comfortable with. People would rather believe a colorful version of a story, over the gruesome details of the story that actually happened. For example, as Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chiba were interviewing Pi, he asks them “So tell me, since it makes no factual difference to you and you can’t prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with the animals or the story without animals? Mr. Chiba: the story with the animals.

Mr. Okomoto: Yes. The story with animals is the better story. ” (317). After hearing the two versions of Pi’s horrendous account, the interviewers agree the story with the animals is the “better” story, however; never do they say they believe it is true. As humans we tend to think that something is untrue just because it is unbelievable or we just haven’t had an opportunity to experience a certain situation yet. For example, when Pi is describing the atheists and agnostics last words he says “I can well imagine an atheist’s last words: “white, white? L-L-Love! My God” – and the deathbed leap of faith.

Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry, yeast less factuality, might try to explain the warm light bathing him by saying, “possibly a f-f-falling oxygenation of the b-b-brain,” and, to the very end, lack imagination and miss the better story. ” (64). This shows how the agnostic did not believe in god because he felt that it was untrue and unbelievable. Yet when he or she experiences it, they surely would become a believer. Pi seems to be bothered by the agnostic and their decision to doubt, to lack belief in anything. Another quote from Life of Pi shows that simply because Mr. Chiba and Mr.

Okomoto have never actually witnessed a floating banana they automatically believed that it is untrue and believe it would sink. ““Bananas don’t float. ” “Yes they do. ” “They are to heavy. ” “ No they are not. Here, try for yourself. I have two bananas right here. ” … “They’re in. ” “And? ” “They are floating. ” “What did I tell you? ”” (292-293). Through experience Pi knows that bananas float. Once Pi proves to the interviewers that indeed bananas do float, they believe. How do we decide what to believe? The theory of knowledge can guide us in deciding what to believe, what to ignore, what to question, and what we don’t know.

It is different from assumptions, rumors and myths. Which version do you believe? Do you think Pi, as a young boy, comes up with the fantastical tale to cope with the ugly truth? Or, is it somehow not the point to decide what actually happened? Maybe the beauty of the first story outweighs the believability of the second? Martel spends so much time developing the first story, and not much on the second. While it might seem totally unlikely, the details are all put into the first story. Ultimately, in Life of Pi, Martel leaves the decision of what to believe up to you.