ipl-logo

Metaphor In Life Of Pi

1757 Words8 Pages

1. Metaphor: It implies or hides comparison between two different objects that are unrelated. The two things show common characteristics.
In the novel Life of Pi, by Martel Yann, he uses an extended metaphor to describe Pi 's despair: "Despair was a heavy blackness that let no light in or out. It was a hell beyond expression" (Life of Pi 264). Here the comparison is between despair and blackness. It suggests that Pi falls into despair and shows his inner struggle. Pi is scared and desperate when he survives at sea. Darkness is the absence of light. "Heavy" means great in intensity. It emphasizes the darkness which Pi faces. The author uses "hell" as a noun to emphasize that the cruel sea makes Pi feel desperate and helpless. Darkness stands for a hell. The purpose of this metaphor is to reveal Pi 's internal struggles and strengthen his emotions by making comparison between despair and darkness. It suggests that if Pi wants to escape from the hell, he must conquer the darkness. Only God gives him a strong force to lead him out of despair.
2. Personification: It describes inanimate objects by representing human qualities including actions, thoughts and remarks.
In the novel Life of Pi, by Martel Yann, he uses a personification to reveal Pi 's loneliness and …show more content…

In the novel Life of Pi, by Martel Yann, he uses a juxtaposition to show Pi’s ambivalence: “It’s not right that gentleness meet horror. Better that you had died right away" (139). Here the contrast is between “gentleness” and horror”. These two words show Pi’s ambivalent feelings. He thinks the Orange is a great mother but he does not hope that she comes to his lifeboat because she will arouse a massacre. The author uses “Meet” to connect these two opposite things. It suggests that she not only brings happiness but also brings pain. The purpose of this juxtaposition is to reveal the contradiction of “gentleness” and “horror”. It improves the novel’s appeal and reveals the Orange’s substantive

Show More
Related
153 Words | 1 Pages

Also metaphors like “but instead he stood there, very cold, his face a mask of ice” which is the comparison between his face and a mask of ice. Another one is “a book is a loaded gun in the house next door” that compares the book to a loaded gun. All throughout

Read More
480 Words | 2 Pages

Thunder and rumble, I feel the wrath of God on the ocean we are sailing. Suddenly I hear a crash, and I fly across my cage violently, the yelling of the voices on the vessel in shock and suddenly I hear the words “We’re going down!” A zoo keeper comes down the the hull of the ship and begins opening the cages of animals- the zebra, the monkeys, the hounds, all released waiting patiently for my turn the zookeeper falls over. He does not move and water comes crashing into the hull-I’m going to die. I lie down on the ground as water pours in accepting my fate.

Read More
1015 Words | 5 Pages

This made the boys think that he was the beast. The dead man being in the dark, made the boys scared because they couldn’t see him. This is an example of the dark representing fear.

Read More
205 Words | 1 Pages

Out of the images Night, Fire and Death, the one that stands out the most has to be Night. Night, throughout the book, symbolizes Death and the loss of hope. Many of the most tragic events happens through the night. “On my father’s cot there lay another sick person. They must have taken him away before daybreak and taken him to the crematorium” (111).

Read More
666 Words | 3 Pages

When humans are surrounded in an endless chasm of darkness, they find it necessary to grasp onto whatever dim hope may be near them. They find it necessary to set their minds onto a mission or action, however feasible or relevant, and turn all thoughts away from death or despair. Light and dark are words commonly thrown about, usually to describe gradients of color. But humans need light in the sense of comfort, a way out, or the promise of salvation. They have to find this light in life, to turn away from the darkness.

Read More
761 Words | 4 Pages

The clinging to the death garments- The rigid embrace of the narrow house- The blackness of absolute night- The silence like a sea that overwhelms- The unseen presence of the conqueror worm. 2.

Read More
238 Words | 1 Pages

This quote from Life of Pi in chapter 24 I believe is an example of a literary device called foreshadowing. In this quote spoken by Pi, it is able to describe the events to come in the novel. It deals with the truth and his imagination. However it is up to the reader to decide what is truly certain and what is made up from his imagination. It is important to the novel because it relates to religion where the whole theme of the novel is focused on.

Read More
1382 Words | 6 Pages

Yann Martel is an award-winning Canadian author with many notable works, including Life of Pi. In this novel, Trent University alumnus depicts a story of a young Indian boy, Piscine Patel, who is stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger after a shipwreck. In Life of Pi, Yann Martel presents two stories to leave the reader conflicted as to what story is true, which emphasizes the reader’s subjective ideology and the realization that there is no absolute truth. Most readers presume that the relativity of truth isn’t introduced until the end of the novel, but the beginning of the novel also postulates that there is no absolute truth. The author’s note blurs the border amid fact and fiction.

Read More
256 Words | 2 Pages

Since he is still young, it is a road of up and downs, trial and error, to understand what it is like to become an independent adult. The mental boundaries mostly consist of how Pi’s religion(s) play into his life and his decisions. Because Pi is religious,

Read More
1524 Words | 7 Pages

Yet, in a moment, he somehow knew from the sound of that storm which rose so painfully in him now, which laid waste -forever?- the strange, yet comforting landscape of his mind, that the hand of God would surely lead him into this staring, waiting mouth, these distended jaws, this hot breath as of fire. He would be led into darkness, and in darkness would remain; until in some incalculable time to come the

Read More
1730 Words | 7 Pages

This place fits his vision of hell really well. The hell for everything in his world, or even beyond his world. He arrived at the gate of the city, during which he saw some of the corpses belonging to ancient times on earth, in line with the ethnic images on books and wearings in the

Read More
649 Words | 3 Pages

Every day, people are forced to face many challenges, physically, mentally, and socially. Life of Pi by Yann Martel is a key example of the challenges a character must face in order to survive in the vast ocean with no food, water, or company. Yann Martel’s masterful use of tone creates a character whose struggles for survival are not only physical, but also psychological. In Life of Pi, the author, Yann Martel uses humorous and reflective tones to further describe the main character, Pi’s primary method of coping with the challenges he faces throughout his life.

Read More
598 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout Prisoner On the Hell Planet, the colour black is largely intensified, in contrast to the rest of the novel which has a white background. The purpose of this is to highlight the dark themes of the situation. The intensity of the shading effectively portrays the grief and overwhelming sense of morbidity in the story. Even before reading the text, the reader instantly gets a foreboding feeling, based on the negative emotions associated with

Read More
1768 Words | 8 Pages

The role of darkness in his expression of emotion can be seen in page 15, “He used his entrenching tool like an ax, slashing, feeling both love and hate, and then later, when it was full dark, he sat at the bottom of his foxhole and wept.” The darkness here acts as the place where they experience their raw emotions without fear of judgment for deviating from “acceptable” behavior.

Read More
714 Words | 3 Pages

Envision being stranded at sea for two hundred and twenty seven days. Would you survive? This is precisely what the main character faces in Life of Pi by Yann Martel. The book tells the story of Piscine Motor Patel and his obstacles as he is stranded on a lifeboat with a 450 pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker- they had been on a Japanese cargo ship called the Tsimtsum until it sank in a “monstrous metallic burp” in the middle of the Pacific ocean (121). Piscine, otherwise known as Pi, goes against all odds as he fights for his survival.

Read More

More about Metaphor In Life Of Pi

Related Topics

Open Document