Book vs. Film(life of pi) - Essay Example

The second part describes the circumstances that led to the sea voyage that forms the core of the story, and the third section is a detailed description of Pi’s experiences at sea. The fourth and final section of the novel includes the author’s sentiments and tells of Pi’s rescue and explains the how the story developed. Pi’s adventure starts when the ship they were sailing on gets shipwrecked and he is stranded on a life boat in the company of a Bengal Tiger named Richard parker. In the film, Pi is accompanied by Richard Parker, an Orangutan monkey, a Zebra and Hyena.

This paper seeks to discuss Life of Pi by focusing on several points and the spirit of survival, its impact and significance in life. Pi was brought up as a Hindu by his family a characteristic that can be attributed to him being a vegetarian. As Pi grew older, he discovered the existence of Christianity and Islam religions, which he investigated and explored extensively. He came to the conclusion that the three religions had their benefits thus; he decided to practice all of them since all he wanted was to love God (Martel, 2012).

This is illustrated by his conclusion regarding the two visitors to their zoo who belonged to two different religious affiliations, yet they had identical names. Pi concluded that even though they belonged to two extremely different religious inclinations, they still sought to gain a higher understanding and love a higher supreme deity. Pi’s experience with the three religions can be construed to have prepared him to deal with what he faced at sea (Martel, 2012). The aspects above are better illustrated in the book than in the film adaptation because the book offers the reader the opportunity to use their imagination, understanding, perspective and insight to recreate the author’s intended premise.

Pi faced a life threatening situation at sea and his faith in religion can be attributed to his triumph over adversity especially in matters of faith when he was faced with doubt. The animals that were in Pi’s company on the life boat served to enlighten Pi on the need of being string when faced with adversity. The Hyena threatened Pi’s life by snarling at him an indication that it meant him harm. The hyena killed the grants zebra and the orangutan monkey then ate them after which Richard Parker the tiger killed and ate the hyena leaving it and pi as the sole occupants of the vessel.

This served as a very significant lesson for pi because it helped Pi realize that in order for him to survive; he had to gain control of the tiger. This incident also taught Pi that the world was only meant for the strong and those who were ready to live by any means necessary (Martel, 2012). It helped Pi realize that the world had no room for the weak as illustrated by the way the hyena eliminated the other animals who could not fight or fend defend themselves on the life boat. Pi comes to the conclusion that in order to secure his survival he has to establish a hierarchy on the life boat so as to facilitate a peaceful coexistence between him and the tiger.

Pi’s use of animal psychology and training techniques he learnt from their zoo is an illustration of how adversity has the ability of exposing an individual’s hidden potential and abilities. The film adaptation of the novel is more illustrative of the above aspects because the situation on the life boat is brought to life for the audience. The theme of life is