Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

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Throughout Yann Martel's novel The Life of Pi, Piscine Molitor Patel, or simply known as Pi, encounters many obstacles on his quest to survive while stranded on the raft with Richard Parker. During his ordeal, the primacy of survivalism overwhelms all of the morals and principles that he had held before. And it’s not just Pi who must abandon his integrity. The will to survive overcomes the himself and the various animals that he became stranded with, his actions against the blind frenchman, and the altering of his own reality, during his past, present, and future. While stranded, Pi and the animals abandon all of the previous ethics and morals that had guided them before, as well as see how far survival has driven the individual that he meets.…show more content…
The animals that were thrown in his boat also have their sense of reality and expectations changed when presented in a life threatening environment. Although their community existed peacefully for a small amount of time, it shatters when the hyena attacks and eats the zebra’s leg. However, the zebra simply grinds its teeth, clinging to life, until the hyena finally eats the beast. This shocks Pi, and is his first step into the unknown. The hyena, driven mad by its hunger and will to live, finally succumbs and kills the zebra. Orange Juice, the orangutan, who was normally peaceful, violently attacks the hyena while it is devouring the zebra, until it ends with the hyena killing the second creature. All of these actions defy what is normally thought of them, which was brought on by their will to survive. Knowing that she was going to die soon, the orangutan decided to attack the hyena, but failed. However, the sheer violence from such a peaceful beast shocks Pi “I thought I knew her so well that I could predict her every move...This display of ferocity, of savage courage, made me realize that I was wrong.” (Pg. 163). In addition to the animals losing their way, Pi also loses sight of who he was previously in India. While living with his family, he embraced Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism, finding harmony in their common theme of love in…show more content…
The one with more experience and more materials. However, when Pi is faced against another castaway, his sense of reality is further clouded. While drifting on the raft for an extended amount of time without water, Pi goes blind from dehydration, and slips into a delirium. He believes that he is talking to Richard Parker, the tiger, about all of the things he misses most, which for the most part is about food. However, the voice soon presents itself as another castaway, who admits to have killing a man and woman. Pi suggests joining their rafts together, and when he does, the frenchman attacks him, with the intent to eat him as he did to the two previous castaways. However, Richard Parker saves Pi by killing. Richard Parker was able to give Pi life, but at the cost of another. The frenchman was an example of how far his will to survive pushed him, to the unthinkable. He saved his life by killing two others, and then eating their flesh to survive. At the same time, Pi’s reality was shaken even further. Knowing that he doesn’t have enough food, he admits to drying and eating some of his flesh, thereby changing his reality to one of the man he just killed. “I will further confess that, driven by the extremity of my need and the madness to which it pushed me, I ate some of his flesh” (Pg. 321). The needing to eat, and wanting to survive changed Pi’s reality even

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