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Theme Of Isolation In Life Of Pi

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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. Martel powerfully demonstrates that an individual’s humanity can be chipped away through traumatic isolation; throughout his journey, Pi digresses from predatory behavior to desperation to cannibalism. …show more content…

Pi encounters a French castaway; the castaway foolishly enters Pi’s lifeboat and is eaten by Richard Parker. After Richard Parker kills the French castaway, Pi starts using the leftover flesh for his own uses, such as fishing: “I will confess that I caught one of his arms with the gaff and used his flesh as bait” (322). In his isolated state, he thinks of nothing but survival and how he will receive his next meal. Soon after, Pi even goes to the extremity of eating the flesh of the mangled dead castaway. This deed of cannibalism barely registers in his mind as he admits, “... I ate some of his flesh. I mean small pieces… they slipped into my mouth nearly unnoticed” (322). Pi’s humanity dissipates, causing him to blindly commit such barbaric acts. In times of traumatic isolation, an individual’s humanity can fade away over time. In Life of Pi, Yann Martel depicts this loss of humanity through Pi’s predatory characteristics, desperation, and cannibalism during his days at sea. Martel links isolation to loss of humanity, a harsh reality evident in the world today. Those who have been isolated from society often carry out incredibly inhumane acts; the loss of community and connection to others can lead an individual down a dark path that eventually causes their humanity to

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Above the rungs on the little lifeboat I see four figures a zebra, an orangutan, a ravenous hyena and my owner 's son- Pi. I lie and stay still under the rung of the lifeboat as the sun beats intensely on the boat. Pi looks afraid as the hyena is growling viciously. Out of nowhere, the hyena sprints and mangles the zebra until it lies there dead, but this hyena was thirst for blood and it devours the orangutan as well covering the boat in the metallic blood. Knowing I could not survive of this boat alone, I have to protect Pi.

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Isolation can bring out the best in people, like the boy’s constant desire to not become like the bad guys that eat people. When they boy and his father are going to sleep after a long day the boy asks the dad “Are we still the good guys?”, in which the father reassuringly responds yes(77). The kid is worried about becoming bad and becoming what the other people are like, which is a good mentality because no human should succumb to what the groups are doing. The father and son have an unspoken pact, this pact is that if one dies the other will too. This is expressed by the father when he says “that you won’t survive for yourself.

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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.

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Richard Parker is a very unique and unorthodox character that has not seized to amaze so far. His human like qualities can be shown throughout the book so far and come out in a variation of ways. One of his very distinctive qualities that can be associated with a human from Richard Parker is Isolation from Pi and the other animals. He mainly stays under the tarpool and does not interact. He formed his own boundary from those around him which can be associated with humans needing their space or looking for some peace.

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