A Life for Reflection: Life of Pi

An intricate story of life and survival is one that speaks to humanity. Life of Pi by Yann Martel is a novel that utilizes allegory for symbolic expression. It tells the story of life’s greater meaning through a tale acted out by humans, animals, and even plants. Yann Martel has crafted a seemingly fantastic tale involving zoology and botany, religious experience, and ocean survival skills to explore the layered meaning of stories in our lives, whether inspired by religion, or fueled by our own minds as a way to understand and interpret the world around us.

Pi is the nickname of the main character and narrator of the tale. His name is symbolic, because Pi the number goes on to infinity; therefore Pi the person, we can likely assume, does the same. Yann creates a symbolic relationship between the main character and his namesake, thereby encouraging readers to question their own identities and reflect upon their own lives in a deeper manner. The main character is one who survives a wild experience, and one hopes that his story will endure forever, as well.

The plot involves Pi, a sixteen-year old Indian who is the son of a zookeeper. The boy, in his exploration, practices three religions, and gets shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean on the way to Canada with his emigrant family. He is the sole human shipwreck survivor. However, he is not alone because Yann includes an animal survivor, as well. On the lifeboat with Pi are a 450 pound tiger and several other animals from his father’s zoo. Much of Yann’s content focuses on the story of Pi’s survival, not only from the catastrophic wreck, but from the peculiar fear of being confined in diminutive quarters with one of the most dangerous animals on the earth. The details surrounding this precarious scenario give life and energy to the story. It is not every day that one must share a boat with a tiger.

The thematic nature of Yann’s novel is eloquently crafted, and done so to make the story both entertaining and believable at the same time. The story asks us to ponder the concept of fear, and question how we might react if in a similar situation. Yann writes “I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unnerving ease. It begins in your mind, always ... so you must fight hard to express it” (Martel 161). When we see Pi struggling to survive on such a tiny boat with such an enormous animal, it is only natural to contemplate the level of fear he faces. How does fear control our decisions? How does fear predict our outcomes? These are some of the questions Martell leaves us pondering through the story.

Pi has a multitude of challenges to sort through after the wreck. First, he must process the fact that his family has suddenly disappeared forever. He must then devise a plan for attaining food and water. Finally, he must consider the reality of being stranded on a boat with a tiger. He must decide whether he is capable of killing him, and if so, how. When Pi finally decides that he will simply share his space with the tiger, it is with a sort of humble acceptance. He manages, in a clever way to do so, but just barely.

His relationship with the tiger is an uneasy one, and Yann provides several examples of the tension throughout the story. “It is true that those we meet can change us, sometimes so profoundly that we are not the same afterwards, even unto our names” (Martel 20). The challenges that Pi faces are truly outstanding, for any human, and especially for a young person. The tiger is suggested as a metaphor for our selfish planet. We can't get rid of the people we dislike, and in a bizarre way, we don’t necessarily want to. It's a matter of reaching some sort of accommodation with them, a sense of balance.

Life of Pi depicts Pi’s survival at sea, and with detail paints the image of food trapping, shark avoidance, storm enduring, and even skin afflictions. Each of the tribulations is meticulously and realistically portrayed. Pi’s emotions are also portrayed in the same manner. His expressions include despair, loneliness, and fear. At some point, he also expresses hope. The entire fascinating experience is written with detail and includes several surprising, yet believable revelations. Pi struggles and endures for 272 days before he finally washes up in Mexico.

The interesting twist in Martell’s story is that nobody really believes that Pi was stranded on a boat with a tiger. By the end of the story, Pi is washed upon the coast of Mexico after being shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean. It is easy for the locals to believe he was ship wrecked, but they are unwilling to believe that but that a 450 pound tiger is now running loose in the Mexican jungle. Martell comments in the story by saying “If you stumble about believability, what are you living for? Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?” (Martel 375). Therefore, Pi devises a different story.

His story is believable, in a sad way, because it involves men acting brutally towards each other. After telling both stories, Pi asks, "Which is the better story?" And the investigator, the younger one says the story with animals is the better story. And Pi says, "And so it goes with God.” This reflection on humanity suggests an unfortunate tendency toward violence and negativity that are somehow acceptable in our world. Intertwining these realities in a subtle manner is what make Martell’s story so rich and profound.

Life of Pi is a testament to the nature of truth and faith. Pi leaves the reader feeling as if he or she has a choice between accepting truth and faith, or not. One is free to believe, to have hope, like Pi, and one is equally free to choose the opposite. Martell’s novel is rich with symbolism, and detail. The tiger, for example, might be a metaphor for God. In essence, he saved Pi, in that he was a diversion for an otherwise endless contemplation of his fate. The boat is painted white and orange, and might be a symbol for Hinduism. Without the trusty boat, Pi wouldn’t be alive. Christianity might be symbolized by the mysterious blue ocean, filled with life, yet contained with deadly creatures, as well. The green island might be a metaphor for Islam. Pi’s survival relied on all three of the religions.

Life of Pi is a captivating, multi-layered story. Martel's message is that all humans use stories to process their reality. They rely on the stories that reflect their history, and stories that reflect our interactions with family and friends. Without stories, a lengthy stream of events from everyday life would be uncategorized. We would have no way to process all of the detail. In essence we all choose our own stories to understand and accept our realities. Some people rely on faith, and some rely on science. The style we choose determines our interpretation of the world around us.

The message from Life of Pi is that human experience always involves interpretation, that each individual has limited knowledge, and that both religious belief and lack of religious belief both require a leap of faith of some sort. It is essentially impossible for either of these options to give a clear answer as to what the future holds. It becomes necessary, then for us to decide which we will choose, and then accept the proceeding circumstances. Although we might face difficulty in making these choices, without them we would remain immobilized.

Pi’s message in the story suggests that we shouldn't limit ourselves only to beliefs that can be proven empirically. Instead, we should make choices that bring richness and meaning to our lives. Martel’s story implies that we should exercise faith and strive for ideals in the manner that most suits us. Pi himself says that "To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation” (Martel 86). The story leaves us questioning the productiveness of doubt, and suggests that it serves as a hindrance, and not a help. If doubt is immobilizing, then faith must be progress. How we choose to decide between doubt and faith is a very subjective matter.

In the end, Martel’s genuine message is that God is a matter of choice. The story is akin to a mirror held to the reader, a test to see what kind of worldview he or she holds. Pi himself says, 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 the animals?" (Martel 317). In the journey of life, it is ultimately our decision to choose the paths we take. Our unique experiences are what make our lives so interesting. For Pi, it is not always simple making such decisions. Much of his fate rests on the choices he must make, and this is true for all human beings. What makes Martel’s story so convincing is the fact that everyone can find some way to relate to the major themes.

Questions about reason and emotion are also important when reading Martel’s story. Throughout the story, one reflects on how and why decisions are made. Do I live my life by reason, or by emotion? Or do I live my life with a mixture of both? For Pi, it appears that his belief comes by way of emotion. Pi holds a particular skepticism about reason and calls it "fool's gold for the bright”. Pi holds a subtle yet real foundation for his belief in God. However, believing still doesn’t come easy for him. Despite his trusting persona, Pi acknowledges that love, life, and God are all difficult to believe. In conclusion, it is not that a life of faith is easier for Pi Patel. Instead, it is simply more worthwhile.

Work Cited

Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. New York. Harcourt, Inc., 2001.