How Does Religion Affect Pi's Life

Life of Pi takes the reader through Pi’s life and frequently turns back to his faith as a means of survival. As a young child Pi was deeply affected by the way people treated him because of his religious beliefs. Love, the core part of the christian faith, contributed to Pi’s survival during his journey on the lifeboat. During the endeavor on the lifeboat Martel makes various references to the christian religion. Throughout the book as Pi aged he became deeply rooted in the faith. Pi was deeply affected as a child by the way people treated him as a result of his religious beliefs. His dad was critical of his beliefs. At one point his father, Santosh, questions Pi about how he can practice three religions at once. In an attempt to win the dispute Pi replies that they are the same when he says “‘...They both claim Abraham as theirs...They recognize David, Moses, and Jesus as prophets.’” (Martel 91). However, as a child Pi also received criticism from other people, including the rest of his family just as when Christianity was a new faith, Christians received lots of criticism from outside faiths (“Christianity”).

Every time he would ask Father Martin a question the answer was always the same “Love” (Martel Part one). This was important because even though Pi was not a Christian at this time he was interested in Father Martin’s answer (Martel Part one). This leads the reader to believe Martel is making a religious reference when Pi is on the lifeboat because just as God sent his only son Jesus to die for his people, Pi gave Richard Parker food and sacrificed part of himself because he loved Richard Parker (Martel Part two). Along with this Martel makes a reference to love when Pi kills his first fish and says “I was now as guilty as Cain.”, which leads the reader to believe that Pi’s deep love for animals made that first kill a treachery to him