Will And Religion In Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

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Will to Live of Pi In the novel Life of Pi written by Yann Martel, the themes: will to live and religion are thoroughly shown throughout the story. Martel provides a theme of will to live through Richard Parker, a Bengal tiger, stranded on a boat with Pi, the main protagonist, for a miserable 227 days. The theme of religious beliefs are displayed in many ways as Father Martin informs Pi about his three religions—Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. Instantaneously from the start of the novel, Martel shows us a theme of religious belief through saying to the narrator “I have a story that will make you believe in your God” (Martel Author’s Note). Learned from the beginning of the book, Pi is a religious man, he finds himself …show more content…
Parker who is in reality a Bengal Tiger. “I would have given up—if a voice had not made itself heard in my head and in my heart… Yes, so as long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen’” (Martel 148). Pi knows that if he doesn’t keep God close to his heart, he has a much slimmer chance of survivable. This quote also suggests that the inner tiger—the one Pi has living deep inside of his soul and his spirit, is being released and is being reflected through Pi’s personality as he is realizing the fate of his own death. Pi believes that he needs to channel and contain his inner rage that, in turn, will give him the motivation he needs to stay alive. Pi knows that without that urgency of wanting to stay alive, he will not make it to safety and he will tarnish and expire like milk out in the sun, so therefore Pi tries his hardest to keep himself breathing. “It’s no use. Today I die. I will die today” (Martel 240). Pi has the urge and the prevalent want to stay alive; however the conditions he is facing are dramatically holding him back. Martel displays themes of will to live and religious beliefs, all shown as symbols throughout his book. He uses these to tell us about Pi’s treacherous seven month journey at sea, and how he overcame
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