Compare and Contrast the Courage Theme in The kite runner and The life of Pi - Essay Example

The Kite Runner is a story revolving around family, friendship, betrayal, and salvation. This is a story of a young boy, Amir, who moves to America together with his father Baba after their servants- Ali and his son Hassan- left their home. Baba tries hard to make life possible in America. After his father falling sick for some time and dies, leaving him married and forced back to Afghanistan by a family friend where he realizes that Hassan is his half- brother, a secret kept from him by his father.

During massacre, Hassan and his wife died leaving a son who lived with Amir and his wife in America later on. In this paper, the courage theme in both the Life of Pi and the Kite Runner, exploring how the two stories relate is my major concern. Seeking redemption, love and tension between father and son and the persistence of the past are the major themes in the Kite Runner. Themes in the life of pie are the nature of religious belief and the will to survive. The two stories relate in various ways especially when comparing the themes.

For instance, the religious factor is inevitable in the two stories. In the Kite Runner, one of the courage themes is search for redemption. This is evidenced by Amir’s departure to America in order to start a new life with the aim of being born again, to leave behind sins and suffering and find a life full of freedom and finding forgiveness. Hassan’s death has really affected him and he thinks that this is the only way to let go off his past. Similarly, in the Life of Pi, religion is a common aspect.

Pi was born in Hinduism. According to BookCaps, BookCaps Study Guides Staff, Pi does not forget about religious beliefs when he survives from the boat as he “modifies his rituals to work for him in his current state” (Life of Pi 7). This implies that, all his life since childhood, he gave religion first priority and will stick to it always no matter what difficulty comes his way. The aspect of the “survival for the fittest” also characterizes both stories. Pi’s survival from the lifeboat was so miraculous because he was stuck there with a tiger, zebra, and hyena.

The time he spent in the lifeboat was very strenuous and had to come up with proper strategy in order to survive. Although he was a vegetarian, the only way he had to adopt in order to survive and move on with his journey was to feed on what was available, which was fish. Pi also had to restrict himself to the safest places of the boat (“BookCaps, BookCaps Study Guides Staff,” Life of Pi 6). Sobra is also a survivor. After his parents’ death due to massacre, he manages to escape narrowly from the massacre and in the end finds a safer place to stay with his stepfather, Amir.

There is the father- son relationship in both stories. Pi’s father developed a good relationship with his two sons. BookCaps, BookCaps Study Guides Staff states that they were taught zoo keeping since their father was a renowned zookeeper in India. He loved and cared for them so much and they left India together as a family to Canada (Life of Pi 6). Additionally, BookCaps, BookCaps Study Guides Staff narrates that Amir loved Baba even though they sometimes had differences with him and he thinks that he lives his life to his father’s expectations.

After father’s death in America, he came back to Afghanistan but he finds life challenged by his pas deed and so he decides to leave again to America where he also fathered Hassan’