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Archetype In Life Of Pi

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Mental Battles at Sea
227. The number of days Pi survived at sea with little food, little water and, even a Bengal Tiger..or so he thought. Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel, describes the journey of a young boy named Piscine Patel, also known as Pi, whose father owns a zoo in India. When his family decides to sell the zoo and move to Canada, the freighter they travel in breaks down and sinks. Luckily, Pi gets on a life boat just in time but weirdly enough, with four zoo animals who were also in the freighter. Pi continues his journey by learning how to live in a small space with these animals and even training one of them. In the end Pi reveals another story with people replacing the animals that were on the lifeboat before. Pi had initially used animals which best represented the people who were really in the boat. This showed how throughout the story, since these people were put into a life threatening situation, they had revealed a more primal side. Life of Pi is accompanied with various symbols, with each …show more content…

The shadow self archetype represents the traits that one doesn’t like in themselves or even tries to cover up. The shadow self of Pi is especially shown when Pi retells his story toward the end of the book. His story reveals that instead of the tiger eating the hyena, since Pi is revealed as Richard Parker, Pi really killed and ate the french cook. This is quite surprising since Pi is a vegetarian but his will to live and anger at the chef for killing one close to Pi overcomes him. We also see this is a shadow self since Pi used a tiger to describe that part of himself instead of admitting it was him. After this, Pi describes the killing of the cook/hyena surprisingly easy, this is the shadow self and survival instincts shining through as well. what does this say about pi? Has this changed him? Go into more depth, this seems a little rushed. Concluding

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480 Words | 2 Pages

Thunder and rumble, I feel the wrath of God on the ocean we are sailing. Suddenly I hear a crash, and I fly across my cage violently, the yelling of the voices on the vessel in shock and suddenly I hear the words “We’re going down!” A zoo keeper comes down the the hull of the ship and begins opening the cages of animals- the zebra, the monkeys, the hounds, all released waiting patiently for my turn the zookeeper falls over. He does not move and water comes crashing into the hull-I’m going to die. I lie down on the ground as water pours in accepting my fate.

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315 Words | 2 Pages

Because of the occurrences in his first story, Pi was able to move on and live a happy, married life. I think the men preferred the story with with the animals because it was more intriguing, and less gruesome compared to his second story. I believe that the first story is the “correct” story and I prefer it over the second one because Pi is not a liar, meaning he wouldn’t make the story with the animals and the green carnivorous island all up. Furthermore, there is more detail in the first story than the second. While the first story has 100 or so more pages where the Life of Pi novel mostly focuses on, the latter story only has a few pages towards the end of the

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802 Words | 4 Pages

Significance: This quote is significant because it shows how a fictional story gave Pi the ability to separate himself from the tiger who he shared the lifeboat with. Fictional stories make it seem as if real life is not happening and acceptance is easier. “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 animals or the story without

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1116 Words | 5 Pages

Since the inception of literature, heroes have been created to embody the most important traits of a culture. In The Odyssey, an epic poem composed by Homer in Ancient Greece, Odysseus is an epic hero, representing the classic values of Greek rulers and warriors through his long journey back from the Trojan War. Including his time in Troy, Odysseus was absent from his estate in Ithica for twenty years, during which his son Telemachus grows up in a home where arrogant suitors abuse his hospitality, consume all of his resources, and attempt to court Penelope, believing that she will lose hope that her husband Odysseus will ever come home. Odysseus' nostos, or return trip, has been prolonged by Poseidon, the Greek sea god who begrudges him for

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187 Words | 1 Pages

Unlike Cain, who did not feel guilty after his brother’s death, Pi “wept heartily” after the fish’s death. Clearly, this event had a great impact on Pi. This incident is very important, because it further emphasizes that Pi must abandon his morals if he wants to survive at sea. Growing up, Pi was a vegetarian. As a result, he never ate meat and considered it to be morally wrong.

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162 Words | 1 Pages

Our own heroic journey, an undertaking that we all must power through in our lives. Though many of us would like to believe we in fact are responsible for the outcomes of our many journeys during life, there are actually a plethora of people who contribute to our tragedies and victories. These people who affect us in ways we might not even see fall into categories called archetypes. However not all archetypes have to be people, our furry companions may contribute to our journey along the way, and who knows that acceptance letter may just be your herald to go and begin an adventure. In the case of Cheryl Strayed in the novel Wild she faces many different archetypes along the path of her heroic journey, some of these even being within herself.

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1455 Words | 6 Pages

Even though Pi was living in the perfect life, the ship sinking caused his whole lifestyle to be flipped upside down. As one can imagine, being alone with a very scary animal in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is extremely terrifying. At the beginning of Part 2, Pi felt very helpless and was extremely scared of his circumstance. “I looked out at the empty horizon. There was so much water.

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1301 Words | 6 Pages

There is one moment in the story where all his developed instincts were challenged. He was met with a school of flying fish that would jump out of the water and into the lifeboat. He had wrapped one fish in a blanket and intended to kill it with a hatchet. He could not bring himself to kill this fish with a hatchet but ultimately can not go through with it. Pi ends up

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1928 Words | 8 Pages

In every survival story and survival manual, the priority always includes plenty of food. In Pi’s case he uses his conscious survival guide to go to the extremes when he eats uncivilized food and hunts for meat. Pi’s civilized traits start to slip away when he eats food he would have never eaten on civilized land. Such activity shows the deadly hand he has been dealt; that “I know [his] survival is hard to believe.” (Martel 282)

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1297 Words | 6 Pages

“It's important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go. Otherwise, you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse.” (316-317). The novel “Life of Pi” is about a young protagonist Piscine Molitor Patel that has faced traumatic obstacles, and had to struggle for his survival, in a heart of the Pacific Ocean.

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1296 Words | 6 Pages

There is one moment in the story where all his developed instincts were challenged. He was met with a school of flying fish that would jump out of the water and into the lifeboat. He had wrapped one fish in a blanket and intended to kill it with a hatchet. He could not bring himself to kill this fish with a hatchet, but ultimately cannot go through with it. Pi ends

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714 Words | 3 Pages

Envision being stranded at sea for two hundred and twenty seven days. Would you survive? This is precisely what the main character faces in Life of Pi by Yann Martel. The book tells the story of Piscine Motor Patel and his obstacles as he is stranded on a lifeboat with a 450 pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker- they had been on a Japanese cargo ship called the Tsimtsum until it sank in a “monstrous metallic burp” in the middle of the Pacific ocean (121). Piscine, otherwise known as Pi, goes against all odds as he fights for his survival.

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645 Words | 3 Pages

He is unable to understand why the Lord isn’t listening to his prayers and why everything is detrimental to him. Keeping his religious beliefs at sea is very challenging for Pi, this leads him to experience feelings of disbelief towards God. Despite his doubts, Pi continues to pray and practice his religions. He eventually comes to the conclusion that once everything is taken away from him and he is in complete darkness, he will always have his faith. He admits that loving God is difficult, but it’s something he must do if he is to survive his journey across the ocean.

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1599 Words | 7 Pages

Not everyone can stand eating or drinking unpleasant substances, survive while being blind, and live next to carnivorous creatures. Pi on the other hand withstands all this misfortune for nearly a year. Additionally, another theme that comes to mind is that survival instincts result in some

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447 Words | 2 Pages

This idea may be based off of the fact that he had to kill the fish in order to survive, and to keep Richard Parker (the tiger) alive as well. Following the time of killing the flying fish (which Pi uses as bait) he catches a dorado, and explains that the food he is catching is for Richard Parker. Pi states, “It was for Richard Parker and he would have dispatched it with expert ease” (Martel 89). Through a religious aspect, it can be seen that Pi did not necessarily change is values, but had to go against his morals because of the specific scenario of survival. This may be true; however, Pi directly mentions that he is changed from the time of killing the flying fish to taking the life away from a beautiful dorado.

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