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Faith In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

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In Martel’s novel, the idea that through faith, one can find salvation, is present during Pi’s times of doubt. Pi believes in three different religions at the same time, he is amazed and in awe of the different beliefs and wants to get closer to, and love God by practicing them. His actions are questioned by many and the idea that he should only believe in one thing is pushed on to him by his family and believers in the church. His belief in multiple religions helps Pi find peace within himself, feel connected to the world around him, and realize his suffering has meaning. Even so, Pi still struggles with his beliefs: “But God 's hat was always unravelling, God’s pants were falling apart, God’s cat was a constant danger, God’s ark was a jail, God’s wide acres were slowly killing me, God 's ear didn 't seem to be listening.” (Martel, 264) Pi questions …show more content…

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. According to a Critical Essay on Demian by Liz Brent “Each individual must "devise" his or her own set of religious or spiritual ideas; this should come about a result of much self-reflection, or soul-searching” During Pi’s 227 days at sea, he had hours daily for prayer and self-reflection. This helped him understand his beliefs and shape his own religion and spiritual self. Over all, his time of prayer and self-reflection led to the strengthening of Pi’s beliefs. His doubts about God and religion are what helps him strengthen his faith and reach

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