Yann Martel’s “Life of Pi” is a story jeweled with lofty ideologies about religion, faith and morality. Martel institutes the character of Pi, providing a rich context of character progression through his tumultuous experiences at the ocean developing him to be morally intact and mature. Pi’s extraordinary story highlights his inner struggles to stay sane and morally intact, making him victorious and become a fully developed man afterwards. The experiences of Pi in the sea with a Bengal man-eating tiger is no joke. In fact, his extreme experiences test his sanity and faith as he battles for survival. Pi experiences the wholeness of the frailty of being human as he shifts his faith and moral principles from time to time. However, the decision of Pi to hand his concern to God who is more powerful than him and his situations, makes him see a light that can never be taken away from him.
Pi’s experience in the sea made him revert from one mood to another and experienced several tectonic shifts of faith as he is tested in various ways. Based on his line, “You may be astonished that in such a short period of time, I could go from weeping over the muffled killing of a flying fish to gleefully budgeoning to death of a dorado” (Martel, p185), it is evident the Pi had a series of mood swings in his feat. Pi went through rough challenges in the sea. He is covered with fear by the presence of Richard Parker, while at the same time he uses his optimal physical and mental strength to survive. There are moments when he would wail out loud out of frustration and temporary defeat. He cries over various reasons on several instances. And there are also several moments of temporary celebrations such as when he catches sufficient rain for his drink, when a flock of flying fish provides for his food, when he witnesses how the whales dance, and other gifts of nature that no one else experienced. However, afterwards, he has to get back on his feet and reestablish his focus on how to keep himself intact for the sake of survival. The characterization of Pi is richly decorated along the way where he amazingly ends up morally changed for the better self.
Pi’s wrecking experiences and his severely long time isolation in the sea can drive him to hopelessness. But he is kept physically, mentally and morally intact due to his tiger companion. Pi confessed that, “It was Richard Parker who calmed me down. It is the irony of this story that the one who scared me witless to start with was the very same who brought me peace, purpose, I dare say even wholeness” (Martel, p 179). The essence of the story of Pi is all about faith. The presence of the Bengal tiger, Richard Parker, is for the completion and development of the characterization of Pi. The tiger holds some kind of power over Pi such that Pi recognizes that his life is toggling at the tip of the tiger’s paws. Richard Parker is deadly. He is ferocious and is waiting to reach out to Pi to make him as the next victim. But Richard Parker is holding an unfathomable purpose. Despite his ferocious appearance and deadly presence at the boat, he is the very essence why Pi made it through his severe isolation at the sea. At any point during his tragic experience, it would have been easy for Pi to curl with self-defeat. However, the enigma of the tiger holding the key for life and death is a constant waking call for Pi in the whole plight. Pi is forced to use his basic and primal instincts on how to survive. He is forced to unleash his potentials and drive him to his optimal strength to gather his wits and fight his on -going battle. he paradox of the presence of the tiger holds the life of Pi. His very presence considered as dangerous on the macroscopic perspective. But, on the microscopic level, with consideration of the mental, moral and spiritual aspect, his effect to Pi was a blessing. Due to Richard Parker’s presence with Pi in the boat, he is kept intact. He experienced a kind victory that can never be taken away from him. Thus, Pi owed his moral progress, peace, and a deep sense of purpose to Richard Parker.
The havoc that Pi had gone through made him encounter darkness in his life. However, the darkness was soon replaced by an unexplainable wisdom that lighted him from the inside. As Pi stated, “Despair was a heavy blackness that let no light in or out. It was a hell beyond expression. I thank God it always passed. A school of fish appeared around the net or a knot cried out to be reknotted. Or I thought of my family, of how they were spared this terrible agony. The blackness would stir and eventually go away, and God would remain, a shining point of light in my heart. I would go on loving” (Martel, p 232), it was obvious that he passed both the dark and light moments of life. Pi has undergone moral changes within him as he experienced the tumultuous events in the sea. His first time experience with real danger and fighting it alone made him a totally different man. This reality was evidence that when man is subjected to rough and life threatening circumstances, he would be bound to change drastically. At some point, Pi went through tough challenges that tested his sanity and morality. Pi’s faith was put to test as he struggled about the existence of God. Man’s natural move to question the existence and love of God during the darkest moments in lie was but normal. Pi’s state of mind and spirit was going through ups and downs as he faced very dark moments of his life. But Pi had seen the light through the darkness. He saw God working through his circumstances. He saw the hand of God providing him the means to survive. Pi thanked God for the times when he found rest in the middle of the ocean with a tiger on the same boat. Pi saw the purpose of Richard Parker aboard his boat. The blackness of his experiences made him realized that he cannot go through life without a powerful and divine hand to intervene upon him. And God surely did intervened. Richard Parker, despite his dangerous presence, was actually God-sent. And after all the many experiences of Pi in the ocean, when he arrived at the land intact, he was a different man. His wisdom was no longer shallow. Instead, he held priceless morals that can turn a man from evil to good.
The experience of Pi during his voyage by the boat with a man-eating animal is no joke. Pi is struggling for his life. Though he had tumultuous experiences in the sea, his human tendencies to be shaken and break up into pieces are proofs of the frailty and limitations of man. Pi recognizes that fact. And this recognition makes him cling to God tighter and more intense. Like a present day Job, Pi had no one else but God. He knows that only God can rescue him from his lowly situation. And when he finally surfaces into land, Pi tells his amazing story. Pi had life threatening experiences in which he confesses that he would not be alive without the help of God. His reliance to God makes him change into a better person. He is a totally different man after he dislodges from the boat and said goodbye to his boat companion Parker. The extraordinary and extreme experiences of Pi had shaken him. But because of Pi’s decision to rely and come to God, Pi ends up victorious. He goes on with his life like any normal human being. Pi’s moral stability is something that he is proud of after everything he has gone through.
References:
Martel, Y. “Life of Pi”. (2001).
