The Religion of Pi
Religion is the naturality of life. Piscine Molitor Patel’s birth religion was Hindu, his father was hardly religious, and his mother was a modest worshiper. His passion for god was a calling from within himself. At this time India is in a state called “The Emergency”, which was a 21 month period where certain civil liberties were restricted or withheld from indian citizens due to internal conflict in the nation (TheHindu). “If Mrs. Gandhi is what being modern is about, I’m not sure I like it” (p.94) this is what pi’s mother said while speaking with pi’s father, santosh. Santosh has been persistently worrying about the ongoing politics of india and he suspects that this “new age india” and its female leader Indira Gandhi is having an effect on piscine’s religious choices. His family could accept his christian faith because he had attended baptist schools, but the Muslim faith was no good to them
…show more content…
Piscine spends a chapter explaining how nature works in unusual ways, such as how the rhinos lived pleasantly with the goats, and how a boy survived in a boat with a tigre. Picene unintentionally comes to believe in pantheism (BartaStudy). Rather than encouraging the reader to believe in god, it seems more logical to assume that the author's intention was to have the reader appreciate all of the world and its inhabitants through this story. While this may be be something the author is highlighting, he is also showcasing a series of unfortunate events that have unfairly bombarded Pi. This creates a mood of resentment towards god, but Pi does not act on this self-pity. Piscine even came to appreciate Richard parker. He recalls that he could not have survived without the tigre. So what is the author trying to tell us about religion and