Biblical allusions are often made in works of literature. From Mary
Shelley’s Frankenstein to C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, references to
the Bible are common features in literary works. In Yann Martel’s novel Life of Pi
and Daniel Wallace’s novel Big Fish, the protagonists, Pi Patel and Edward
Bloom, are allegories of Jesus Christ. Pi’s experience in the lifeboat corresponds
to Jesus’s trial on the cross while Edward’s arrival to and departure from Spectre
resemble Jesus’s ascent to heaven and his subsequent return to Earth. In
similitude to Jesus, Pi and Edward are cognizant that spiritual death is worse
than physical death. Just as Jesus was resurrected from the dead, when Pi and
Edward are relieved from their ordeals, there
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In the
midst of excruciating physical pain, Jesus addresses his father as “God” for the
first and last time when he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?” (Matthew 27:46). Following Jesus’s death, he is raised from the dead and
returns to Earth to spread the word about the kingdom of God. Pi’s trying time in
the lifeboat bears semblance to Jesus’s tribulations on the cross; both of them
experience a temporary loss of spiritual guidance due to their afflictions.
Edward’s brief visit to Spectre and his swift departure correspond to Jesus’s
interim stay in heaven before returning to Earth. Despite the fact that Pi earnestly
strives to make the best of his situation and maintain his faith in God, at times, he
is pushed past his tipping point. Like Jesus, he feels as if God deserted him and
struggles to overcome his doubts in the Almighty. But in spite of Pi’s deplorable
and hopeless situation, he still believes in the goodness of God: “Despair was a
heavy blackness that let no light in or out. It was a hell beyond expression…. The
blackness would stir and eventually go away, and God would remain, a