Karel Y.D. Lirazan
Mrs. Bennett
AP Literature
01 December 2015
The Exile of Pi Patel The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, tells the story of a young boy named Piscine Molitor Patel, also known as “Pi”. After his family decides to move to Canada, Pi finds himself in the midst of a storm uncertain of his and his family’s fate. The ship he aboards sinks and he is left alone and isolated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. He fortunately ends up on a lifeboat with an injured zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a four hundred fifty-pound Royal Bengal Tiger, named Richard Parker. The three animals are killed leaving Pi and Richard Parker the remaining survivors on the lifeboat. Despite facing adversity, Pi manages to survive two hundred and twenty-seven days as a castaway through his enriched faith. Pi’s time on the lifeboat also reflects the meaning of Martel’s work as a whole. Before Pi becomes a shipwreck survivor, he is drawn apart from his birthplace of Pondicherry. He knows that he will have to leave his traditional customs in India and assimilate himself to Canadian society. (insert quote here). This shows Pi’s separation from his former rituals in order to survive in an alien culture. Furthermore, he is torn away from his family as they fail to survive the sinking ship. Pi…show more content… Through experiencing adversity, Pi has strengthened his faith because he can only turn to God to provide his needs. “High calls low and low calls high. I tell you, if you were in such dire straits as I was, you too would elevate your thoughts. The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar. It was natural that, bereft as I was, in the throes of unremitting suffering, I should turn to God (283-284).” In this quote, Pi explains how he turns to God when he is suffering in the middle of the Pacific. For Pi, he is the only one who can help him survive as he states in the