Essay On Life Of Pi Religion

Life of Pi is a recent book that I’ve read for my grade 11 English summative and it took me approximately 20-25 days to read. The author of the book was Yann Martel and the length of it was approximately 356 pages long. The genre of the book was fictional, magical realism, adventurous, and philosophical. The theme of the story was about faith and survival.

Piscine Molitor Patel or Pi Patel was the protagonist of the book who grows up in a small town in India. Pi is the narrator for most of the novel and gets his unusual name from the French word for pool. A student of zoology and religion, Pi is deeply intrigued by the habits and characteristics of animals and people. He is fascinated by the habits and characteristics of animals and people.

The story progresses by discussing the human-animal relationship. Pi’s youth is filled with religious explorations and practicing their beliefs he simultaneously starts believing in three religions Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. Hinduism was his first religion he was captivated by its spirituality and by the thousands of gods and goddesses the religion has. Pi learns something through all these beliefs with Christianity he learns about how Jesus went through hunger and thirst and become a savior. Through Islam, Pi’s perception of the world changed and his beliefs in love and unity emerged. Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, institutes new martial law and as a result Pi's parents decide to leave India. They board for Canada, with some of the animals they're selling to North American zoos, a Japanese cargo ship. A massive storm hits prior to the shipwreck and Pi lands on a lifeboat with life jackets thrown to him by the crewmen. No one survives except Pi and a menagerie of animals: a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and a Bengal tiger. All these creatures, including Pi, are in a lifeboat. As the hyena kills the zebra and orangutan he too is soon killed by Richard Parker. Leaving Pi alone on the lifeboat with royal Bengal tiger, Pi constructs a small raft for himself so he can distant himself from Richard Parker. Pi

However, the book very tedious at times and it had lots of chapters. But overall I found the book to be a great read. It was not very easy to comprehend since it is told in a complex way through several layers of narration. The book’s vocabulary was not immensely challenging which helped me go through the book with ease. Interpreting the animals as actual people was kind of intimidating as I found it hard to associate Pi being Richard Parker but upon further analysis, I was able to comprehend and grasp the human to the animal association. I would recommend this book to a friend if they like animals and share a connection with them. Also if they prefer books that have adventurous, magic realism, and philosophical genres. Although there is a movie on this novel I have not seen it yet. The author wrote a fantastic book capturing the detail of a magnificent adventure and journey experienced by Pi. His use of imaginary was phenomenal which was why I enjoyed reading the book. I never had such an adventure nor have I ever been stranded with nobody around so the book did not really connect to my personal life. Life of Pi had three main themes the will to live, storytelling, and religious beliefs. Pi’s entire journey at the sea was a perfect illustration survival through seemingly insurmountable odds. He spends 227 days on sea live