Life of Pi written by Yann Martel - Essay Example

? Life of pi The paper circumscribes around the elucidation of one of the significant characters of human behavior that is will power with respect to that of the famous novel, “Life of Pi” written by Yann Martel. Through the narration in a first person conjecture in the novel the author tries to explain that the human beings with their will power can attain harmony and infuse within them an immense tolerance level which provides solutions to various complications related to the survival of the living beings on the earth. The novel consists of 100 chapters but in this paper with the constraint of developing facts from every chapter is not possible. However a robust endeavor is made in reflecting the theme of the paper by selecting important information from the novel. Special emphasis have been given on the dimension of religion, human comparison with other animals and the overcoming of the prime protagonist Pi against adverse odds explained in the novel has been exhibited with a strong message. In depth analysis will direct the reader towards grasping the crux of the theme which the paper demands. The extravagant novel, ‘Life of Pi’ written by Yann Martel is a solid exposition of the fact that the strength of will power is one of the greatest attributes of the living beings which have the capacity of overcoming all the obnoxious odds and develop from within a power which will be cherished as optimal. Before plunging in to the realms of detailed discussion some show of the will power which has been mentioned in this story can be mentioned. The story points out that the inhabitants of a wrecked ship did not simply agree to succumb to their fate rather they fight against it and overcome all the odds. The prime protagonist Pi also rejects his lifelong vegetarian habits and started to eat fish for maintaining his sustainability. The peaceful orangutans fight fiercely with the zebra in order to stay alive. The painful struggle through which these creatures went through in the story can be said to be the exhibition of strong will force as well as that of highly focusing on the strength of life. The author in his novel has stated that the creatures often perform extraordinary and unexpected things in order to survive. But the negative sides of will power are also exhibited which can be seen from the hyena’s treachery and the turn towards cannibalism by blind Frenchman which directs towards the extent to which these creatures can go when they are faced with the possibility of being getting extinct. The novel guide the readers through various situations and helps in analyzing the steps which the reader would be having in order to take the decisions in circumstances which will be exhibiting life-death situation. The paper with its synchronized analysis will point towards the force of the will power used in the novel and will also highlight on its robustness. Authors’ association The author has concentrated on the notion of the will power in his novel as one of the fundamental tools in explaining the subject matter of the novel and in this endeavor it can be said that the author himself has written down the novel with sheer will power as a main motive behind its creation. The idea about writing this novel came in the mind of the author when he was in Portugal and came to India at a time when he has vey less money yet his passion for writing the novel was omnipotent and within his writings wild life gets highly focused as he has done bachelors’ from a reputed University in United States with zoology as a major subject. It is his strong determination that despite having tough financial constraints, he has been able to write the novel and he describes how he first came to know that about the fantastic tale of Piscine Molitor Patel. Within the framework of Martel’s narration, Pi’s fanatical first-person account of life on the open sea forms the bulk of the book. The end of the novel has been taken from a transcript which has been derived from the interrogation of Pi which reveals the possible truth of the story within a story. The story states that there were no animals at all and that Pi had spent his 227 days with the human survivors who have actually perished by leaving himself (Martel, 2003, pp. vii-ix). Backdrop The novel takes place in India, Pacific Ocean and Mexico. In India, in the union territory of Pondicherry, father of Pi runs a zoo. In the decade of 1970s, father of Pi decided to relocate to Canada. During the course of their travel in a Japanese shipping boat they lost their way and their journey heralds. He spent around seven and half months at the sea and then ultimately ends up in beach in Mexico. The life of Pi has been described in his journey through the Pacific Ocean and that of the island where he was trapped in and while in this case he has been utterly strong in his endeavor and his exposition of will power is also outstanding. After all the hardships, Pi was taken to a hospital in Mexico where the final duration of the story has been mentioned (Life of Pi by Yann Martel Concept/Vocabulary Analysis, n.d.). Initiation –scrutiny and recovery The major part of the book starts with the declaration of Pi that he has been under a great deal of suffering which left him despondent. Pi states that he has continued his religious as well as zoological studies and was a very meritorious student. He also states that his religious studies thesis addresses at the aspects of Issac Luria’s theory of cosmogony. He states about the sloth and visualizes that their survival is highly ensured by the fact that they are indeed slow and dull and as a result they seem to disappear into the background. Pi highly misses the country India and he loves Canada as well and he also misses a person named Richard parker. He also mentions that his stay in the hospital of Mexico has been great and he has been exceptionally well. He also lists all of his ailments like that of anemia, fluid retention, dark urine as well as broken skin and also states that he was awake and walked in about a week’s time. Pi also states that he fainted for the very first time when he turned on a water tap and he listened to the water tap as well as the water rushing forth and also elucidates that he felt highly wounded when he faced criticisms for the usage of fingers for eating. The waiter criticized him saying that, “Fresh off the boat, are you?” (Martel, 2003, p.7). The author made experiments on the three toed sloth which was largely lazy as well as slow and when it is motivated it is almost 220 times slower than a motivated cheetah. But close scrutiny of the sloth came with the result that the it kept a good natured smile always on its lips and the author has himself visualized the same. The author never tried to replicate human emotions within the animals but after analyzing the characteristics of the sloth, the author did symbolize the nature of the sloth with human traits. In his words the sloth was compared to that of the Indian yogis. The expression can be reflected from the quotes of the author as follows: “ I felt I was in the presence of upside-down yogis deep in meditation or hermits deep in the prayer, wise beings whose intense imaginative lives were beyond the reach of my scientific probing” (Martel, 2003, p.5). The author has suffered a lot in his life and that in such a jeopardized condition in life, every additional pain adds to the utmost suffering. Pi’s life has been shattered and he states that his life is like that of a memento from European art and stated that there is a presence of a grinning skull by his side which reminded him of the follies of human ambition. Yet being in such a condition he used to mock the skull and stated that, “ You’ve got the wrong fellow. You may not believe in life, but I don’t believe in death. Move on!” (Martel, 2003, p. 6). Pi’s health condition was utterly dangerous. It was not known through which type of devastation he went through but still it can be easily said that the adverse condition through which Pi went was absolutely immense. His blood tests revealed that he was anemic and that his sodium levels were very high with low potassium levels. It seemed to him that his legs were grafted with that of elephant legs. But still he held his nerves and recovered. Overcoming the negative constraints In the novel, Pi’s childhood can be seen to impose a significant emphasis and he recalls that his name have been taken after a pool. Pi’s parents did not like water and he learned swimming from a family friend named Francis Adirubasamy whom Pi called Mamaji. His Mamaji was a champion swimmer at his young age and he was the person who infused within Pi the attribute of ritualistic nature of swimming with subsequent strokes. Mamaji’s favorite pool in the world was in Piscine Molitor in Paris and Pi’s name has been derived from that pool. Religion is being held at a high position in the novel. His mamaji told that , “ It was a pool the gods would have delighted to swim in” (Martel, 2003, p.11). Santosh Patel who was the father of Pi ran a zoo in Pondicherry and from Pi’s elucidation throws us the idea that he has been grown up within an atmosphere where he believed that zoo was indeed a paradise. According to Pi the wild animals in the zoo lead a peaceful life and with respect to nature he stated that the wild animals were kept at the mercy of nature. Pi also narrates about the feelings of the animals by saying that, “There’s no place like home”? (Martel, 2003, p.17). He states that a familiar territory will be helping the wild animals to avoid the enemies and make provisions of food and water. In a zoo, the animals are nurtured by the human beings as they nurture their own homes. It can be also known that the Pondicherry zoo has been closed and several people believed that both zoos and the religions share a disgraceful correlation. In his student’s life as well as in day to day life Pi was subjected to immense negative externalities which could impart a negative psychological effect and lead to moral degeneration in the minds of any students. But Pi was an exception from the lot. Pi used to be a subject of bullying with respect to his full name. His full name as it is known earlier was Piscine which his fellow school mates satirically called with the name of pissing which means urinating. We will come to this point after providing an example which will direct towards exposition of Pi’s tough mind when he tackled a possible circumstance of mockery which is associated with that of ordering a pizza. In his university days, Pi visited Montreal with his friends and he was vested the responsibility of ordering pizzas. He was aware that his name could be subjected to a situation of mockery. When he ordered the pizza over telephone, the man from the other side asked him his name. In reply Pi stated that, “I am who I am” ( Martel, 2003, p.19). Such was his attitude towards life and will power to prove the wrong ones wrong. In this note it can be stated that when he was twelve years old and he saw his Roman soldier standing at the schoolyard and at Pi’s arrival Pi witnessed the flash of an evil genius within his dull mind. The Roman soldier put up his arm pointed towards him and shouted at him saying that, “ It’s Pissing Patel!” . At this every students started laughing at him .The school mates also started by calling with this name like, “Where’s Pissing? I’ve got to go” and sometimes they also said, “You’re facing the wall. Are you pissing?” (Martel, 2003, p.20). Pi in return to this just neglected and pretended that he have not heard them but he also states that those words hurt him really bad as if the hurt lingered as that of the smell of piss long after it has evaporated. It was even more magnified when the teachers started doing the same. Pi explained that the tongues of the teachers were like that of charioteers driving wild horses. The teachers were able to manage the first syllable that is Pea but eventually while pronouncing the second syllable they messed up with their frothy mouthed steeds and pronounced it in an awkward way. Pi made use of the process of repetition in order to train his schoolmates and the teachers responding to him as Pi. At a certain day, in the school Pi leaps up during the attendance marking by the teachers and writes his full name on the blackboard and emphasize on the fact that his preferred nickname was Pi and he speaks it aloud. He continued to act in this way in each of the classes in the classroom during the time of the roll call to the point where his fellow students started to follow along. According to Pi, it is applicable for both humans as well as animals that repetition is a procedure which acts as an effective teacher and it is through repetition that these traits are developed within the living beings just like the process of biological adaptation and shows an excellent feature of his will power as well as that of application of biological theories in which he had mastery (Martel, 2003, p.20).His strong will power also gets reflected when he went for studying in the best private English medium school in Pondicherry named Petit Seminaire. He was also well cautious about his name when he went there. His brother Ravi read in the school and he was quite popular. Pi was ready to accept any other name than Pissing even if he is recognized as Ravi’s brother. But he made some stronger plans in his mind. On the first day in the school, when there was introduction through calling of names, Pi got up from his desk and hurried on to the blackboard by picking up a chalk and he wrote on the board, “ My name is Piscine Molitor Patel, known to all us” (Martel,2003, p.21) . After that he double underlined the first two letters of his name as “Pi Patel” and for a better understanding told that it was ‘?=3.14’ which is geometrical measure and he circled on the board by bifurcating into two pieces with a diameter. The teacher was impressed and he was offered his seat and the teacher told that he should not leave his desk before being asked and this led to the fixation of the matter regarding his name and his will power led him to this and never again in his life he was embarrassed regarding his name (Martel, 2003, pp. 21-22). Man as the most dangerous animal Having acquainted with that of the wild for many years in the zoo, he also got a lot of information regarding the wild from his father and he came to know that among the most dangerous of all the animal is man. Pi also explains that the flight distance is the minimum distance at which an animal. Pi also states that the presence of the humans within the zoo and their help with the provision of food, water to the animals will be the prime concern in the smooth functioning of the zoo. This will prevent the animals from going into the wild and a harmonious relation can be established with the wild creatures and the human beings. The animals usually run or hide away when they are frightened by the human beings or get frightened by some other foreign invaders frightening them with the infiltration in their territories. It is only the sheer will power that will lead a man to come forward and save the earth and its outstandingly beautiful inhabitants ( Martel, 2003,pp. 31-37). Emphasis on the notion of one religion Pi was born in Hindu and he always liked the heritage and traditions of the Hindus. In the zoo he met with biologist Mr. Satish Kumar who was a communist and in the zoo he indicated to a pit stating that “ If we had politicians like these goats and rhinos we’d have fewer problems in our country”. In response Pi replied that, “Religion will save us”. In reply Mr. Kumar stated that, “Religion?, I don’t believe in religion. Religion is darkness” (Martel, 2003, p.25). But Pi was astonished listening to this and he thought that Mr. Kumar was testing him. In a holiday he came across a church although he has never been to church previously. The father of the church father Martin told him about the story of Christ on the cross. It seemed to be strange to Pi. But when Pi was told by the Father that love is the core of Christianity, Pi hurriedly took up a decision in his mind that he would like to become a Christian. He was also enchanted by the influence of Islam as well. At the age of fifteen when he came across a Muslim baker and a mystic who told Pi for praying but he refused. But as soon he was delivered with the message that Islam is about the Beloved, he started visiting local mosques and started praying Muslim prayers. It can be said that it is only through the way of love and mutual loving that harmony can be established among the living beings on the earth and Pi believed in a religion of unity and God is one. It is we that differentiate each other in terms of religion. This can be reflected from the sentences used in the novel from the sayings of Ravi Kumar that, “So, Swami Jesus, will you go on the hajj this year?” (Martel, 2003, p.67). Lessons of will power and replication of human beings into animals The author generally pulls the depiction of the animals within the children’s tale for the purpose of strengthening the story as well as making a line of distinction as well as the synonymous behavior between the humans and the animals. The animals are seemed to be behaving in a realistic way and are acted in the way of their character of the species. The believability of Richard Parker’s account has been compared to a talking tiger which turns into his very character into Pi’s best friend. Pi directs towards the point that humans are not all different from the animals and with the deprivation of the luxuries and conveniences man has survived themselves in modern times and the instincts of human beings are highly attached to that of the basic instincts attached with the roots of animal. In his voyage in the Pacific Ocean Pi describes the human ability as well as that of the willingness of exploring the truth and rejecting the lies. The novel also aims at the difficulty of arriving into a single truth opposed to the deviance of the interpretations of the events. The message is sent in the novel that a word is a generally a symbol or a signal which are used in the pointing out the things which exists in the earth. Even in the tape recorded conversation between Pi as well as the two interviewers was not impartial which Pi pointed out because it was executed through the help of a third party. The final report of Okamoto which was delivered to the ministry of transport also seemed to be selective as well as subjective and within the documents and accounts seems to possess an amount of creative authorship involved. The idea which is transferred in this case refers to the fact that there can never be only one piece of right account of an element with the notion that the path of experience is always subjected to that of interpretation. Through the depiction of his two interviewers Pi states that reality is really harsh and the evolution of the imagination as well as that of invention is nothing but a device of self preserving mechanism. The harsh reality is depicted through his mother’s death as well from the cannibalistic attributes of the cook which is indeed very heart breaking and awkward demeanor of the human nature respectively. It points to revealing of the fact that ferocious instincts of the animal nature are one of the inherent aspect of the human nature. The life of the animals away from the humans is much more enjoyable and the story of the Bengal tiger is indeed a charming chapter overall. He states at the end of a “ better story” where he states that it is through the power of the story which actually helps people in succeeding against all odds with the perfect dependence on the miraculous transmission of a person’s idea into the head of the others. In the Pondicherry Zoo as for example, recapitulation reminds of the statement that, “ imagine a hot and humid place, bathed in sunshine and bright colors” (Martel, 2003, p. 13) and even though the memory of the huge place is “ so small it fits in [Pi’s] head” (Martel, 2003, p. 13) he has been highly capable in describing the story. It is not the words but the imagination which does the deed . It is found from the statement that, “…. Language founders in such seas. Better to picture it in your head if you want to feel it” (Martel, 2005 p.33). It is through the inner will power that the human beings are able to succeed all the odds. Pi states that religion is a kind of lifeboat which helps keeping all the animals afloat in the face of the mortality of the people. All of the religion states in an indirect way the nature of the human life. At last Pi asks to the readers of the better story and wants their ultimate answers (Shmoop, Shmoop Staff, 2010, p.3). Post modernism and Life of Pi In post modernism the stripped down tales corresponds to that of narrative strategies. In majority of the postmodernism narratives, primarily it causes the reader with the identification of a central character after which there is an abrupt undercutting of the terms of identification. One of the characteristics of the post modernism is that it leaves the readers in an attitude of skepticism regarding the protagonist; it also encourages the reader’s perception of skepticism and identification with the protagonist’s story even knowing it to be false. Life of Pi also extends away from the boundaries of distinct religion and belief on the notion of worshipping only one god. It can be found from his words that, “I Just want to love God”. Postmodernism directs towards the domain of skepticism and the novel, Life of Pi directs towards a central positive belief. In a sharp contrast between these two it can be also said that in a place where post modernism favors de centered, deceptive states of knowledge , the novel Life of Pi encourages on the attributes of unity, willpower and love (Eshelman, 2009, pp.54-55). Conclusion The paper elucidates the different aspects of the novel, Life of Pi written by Yann Martel but conjectures around the theme of will power acting as a primordial tool for overcoming all the odds. Through the beautiful first person autobiography the author has blended several elements of his own life and the story of overcoming them with the correct ways possible. One strong message which is delivered through the novel is that of the strong positive moral acceleration of the human beings which will be helpful for them in making their lives as well as the lives of the other animals in a perfectly harmonious platform. The concept of religion has been diluted and intersected into one common religion that is ‘God’ who preaches unity and universal love. Only the will power of the individuals will be required for breaking down the barriers of religious constraints and that of inner negative attributes which will is absolutely necessary for the establishment of a dynamic future. References Eshelman, R, (2009), Performatism, Or the End of Postmodernism, The Davies Group, Publishers Life of Pi by Yann Martel Concept/Vocabulary Analysis, (n.d.), retrieved on August 2, 2012 from: http://novelinks.org/uploads/Novels/LifeOfPi/Concept%20and%20Vocab%20Analysis.pdf Martel, Y, (2003), Life of Pi, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Martel, Y, (2005), BookClub-in-a-Box Discusses the Novel "Life of Pi", Bookclub-in-a-Box Shmoop, Shmoop Staff, (2010), Life of Pi: Shmoop Bestsellers Guide, Shmoop University Inc Read More