Theme Of Blindness In Life Of Pi

The people who tend to be the most blind are those who essentially have complete physical sight. Blindness is an essential theme in both Life of Pi, by Yann Martel and Oedipus, by Sophocles. The main character in Life of Pi is stranded on a life boat with a tiger after losing his whole family from a sinking ship. Fortunately, with help of the many Gods that he worships, Pi lives to see the day of rescue. In a completely different era, Sophocles wrote about a man named Oedipus who unknowingly follows a disgusting prophecy that was placed upon him at birth. Oedipus married his mother and killed his father, and, out of guilt, stabs his own eyes out, leaving him blind. In both the works of Oedipus and Life of Pi, Yann Martel and Sophocles incorporate

In Oedipus, the city of Thebes is suffering from a plague which was placed on them as revenge against the murderer of King Lauis. Oedipus is adamant about avenging the murderer until he realizes that the murderer is Oedipus himself. Oedipus was figuratively blind to the fact that he is the actual reason for the city’s suffering. The prophet Tiresias explains, “Blind who now has eyes, beggar who now is rich, he will grope his way toward a foreign soil, a stick tapping before him step by step.” Although Oedipus is now knowledgeable about the truth of his life, because of his blindness before, he has brought himself to complete and utter downfall. On the other hand, Pi’s blindness to the truth is more of a coping method for his scary journey on the life boat. Many people find Pi’s story of his journey with the animals extremely unrealistic and think that he made up the story as a way to psychologically block out the dark period in his life. In this situation, Pi blinds himself to the truth by giving things shape, like making animals up, to help him understand what he went through on his journey at sea with God. Pi’s conversation with the two investigators presents this