My Life with Pi

I was not thrilled at first with the concept of reading a book that has a tiger on the cover, and talks about the number pi. Learning to not judge a book by its cover seems to apply to my situations right about now. At first I did not care for the book, or the characters. Calling this book a great work of science was like calling a journal entry about at Star Wars convention a great work of science: it was mentioned in the background, and it had occasional trace elements, but really it seemed like an over generalization that appeared to be the closest related category. However, as the class expounded and as we talked together, wrote together, prepared together and visualized together, the quality of this book began to be seen by me. It began to grow and become a great book, which deserves to be talked about more.

Critical Analysis

Yann Martel was able to create a house (a story) with many well placed bricks (sentences), paintings (imagery) and lighting (character development and emotion). Picking just one example of any of these categories would not do the book or Mr. Martel as an author justice; but attempt it I shall. On page 95, at the very beginning of the chapter, there is a sentence that reads “It made a sound like a monstrous metallic burp.” Last I checked, ships don’t burp, but the way it was phrased humanizes the ship as well as the ocean and the situation. Simply stating that “it made a loud noise” wouldn’t really cause much thought or be viewed as a well thought out sentence. But by simply giving that ship the human quality of burping, the sentence – and the situation – come to life.

“The sea briefly imitated every land and feature – every hill, every valley, very plain.” (108) and “Precisely where I wanted to be most still – my legs – was where I trembled most.” (106) are sentence variations that we have learned about in class. The first sentence emphasizes every feature as it names them after the hyphen; the second sentence uses hyphens to emphasize legs. Had it been emphasized by parenthesis or commas, the effect wouldn’t have been so drastic. While this story could have survived without these hyphens and repetitions of the word “every”, they certainly help had variation to the story, and the emphasis of what is going on in young Pi’s life. Describing the situation of handling a capsizing boat while simultaneously dealing with a tiger on your life boat is made more visible by the varying sentences that Yann Martel uses.

The imagery used on page 122 and 123 is very vivid and easy to imagine, whether or not you wish to. It becomes all too real when one properly reads the description of the colors, the situations, the movements, the innards. It is a very powerful paragraph in creating imagery. I will probably never see a hyena eat a zebra alive from the inside, but with Yann Martel's words, I will never need to; my mind has seen it already.

It is hard to find any example of the development of a character or one sentence that shows an emotional connection. If there was a chapter that captured this all, it would be chapter 61. The situation of needing food, needing to survive, being scared yet assertive, and eventually shocked and grateful are all things we have felt in life, and cause us to connect (even minimally) with Pi. It was in this chapter, that I began to share my emotions with Pi, to be with him in the boat: my life with Pi.

Great Works Paper for Life of Cake--I mean Pi

Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Science--all are dominant systems of belief around the world today. But which one is correct? Must there be just one? Can they all exist together harmoniously? Such are the questions contemplated by Life of Pi’s main character Pi Patel.

Before writing Life of Pi, the author Yann Martel said he had been going through a difficult period in his life. In an interview concerning the book, Martel tells of how he was lonely, and believed he had no direction in his life. He wrote Life of Pi to help him cope with these issues and opened up his mind to new possibilities. During his lifetime, Martel has traveled to countries all over the world, and has ventured to India on multiple occasions. India is an absurdly populated country and as such, is full of various religions and beliefs. Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity are the three most populated religions in that region. It can be assumed that during his time of personal exploration he thought back upon these religions and contemplated each one’s respectable attributes, realizing that none were evil or entirely incorrect. This is a parallel to the character Pi and his search for what he believed to be truth.

Although Pi Patel seems an insignificant little Indian boy, he completely reshapes the way the world looks at beliefs. He begins the story as a Hindu, but curiosity urges him to learn about other religions as well, and eventually becomes Christian and Islam. Pi is much more at peace with himself and the world when he becomes a member of these beliefs, but the world is not at peace with him. No member of his family can understand why he has interest in these religions. The three different theological leaders chastise him for his ways and each claim truth in their own religion. In essence, each argument states that all of Pi’s beliefs cannot coexist. To these jibes, Pi responds by saying, “All religions are true. I just want to love God.” The religious scholars are at a loss for words at this point, and surely they can not rebuke him for simply wanting fill his life with more love.

This whole religious situation is symbolically foreshadowing Pi Patel’s future. After a tragic accident sailing from India to Canada, Pi becomes stranded in the middle of the ocean on a lifeboat with nobody for company but a monstrous Bengal tiger. All logic says that only one of these survivors can live while the other dies. For a time, Pi is convinced of the idea and said, “I hatched several plans to get rid of him so that the lifeboat might be mine.” Upon further deliberation, he realizes that any plan to free himself of Richard Parker would lead to disaster, and his only chance for survival is to keep him alive. Against all odds, he lives on the lifeboat with the tiger for months. Against all odds, Pi becomes an engaged member of three religions.

For me, this was a truly humbling book to read. I feel that I can easily get along with and be accepting of any personality type, but I can’t say the same for accepting the beliefs of others. I have difficult time patiently listening to others’ policies on religion, relationships, politics, and other ideas when I believe that I know what is right. At the point in the novel where the imam, the priest, and the pandit become angry with Pi, I became upset with them and was hurt that they would be so unking to Pi. This was, of course, until I realized I was being entirely hypocritical and that to others I may sometimes appear as the religious leaders did to Pi.

Pi taught me that it is not only important, but crucial to accept the convictions of others. At first, Richard Parker and Pi Patel seemed to go together as well as pickles and marshmallow fluff, but later realized that they needed each other to survive. Though I was not struggling for direction like the author Yann Martel was, we both learned valuable lessons from Life of Pi. From now on, I will make it a commitment to myself to be full of love towards those around me even when our beliefs may not entirely agree.

Life of Pi Historical Context - Christopher Nolan

For those that challenge this doesn't follow under the category "Historical Context" consider the quote from George Tate that states the historical context section can ask "Is it a good example of a certain style?" Christopher Nolan has a distinct style in directing movies by following a unique structure, and I have noticed Life of Pi follows this structure.

Historical Context:

Life of Pi follows the exact structure of award winning movies created by the famous director Christopher Nolan. His films – including: Following (1998), Memento (2000), The Prestige (2005), and his most recent film Inception (2010) – all follow the same format. The format can be summarized in three sections.

Section one: The beginning of these movies, as well as Life of Pi, shows the end of the story. In the novel it tells of Pi at an older age relating his knowledge of zoology and religion, his college and high school life, and living in Toronto Canada. Although the end is shown at the beginning, it does not give away any significant part of the plot. Essentially, the end is the beginning and is what catches the audience’s attention, making them wonder how they got to where they are. After showing the audience the end, the story immediately goes to the “real” beginning, which is Pi’s childhood. In Memento, it starts off with the protagonist killing a person; after showing the murder he wakes up in a mysterious hotel room 3 days earlier, starting his journey.

Section two: Part two of Life of Pi tells Pi’s main adventure. After giving all the background needed to understand the characters, the story gives all the “filler” that compliments the beginning and leads up to the unexpected ending that questions the whole story. In the novel this is the whole section where Pi is on the boat with Richard Parker. This part of the story tells all the details and conflicts and creates a vivid picture in an attempt to get the reader involved. In The Prestige, this section shows the feud that happened between the competing magicians, all the magic and fancy special effects, how he got the machine to do the trick, and his success with it. It also is the bulk of the story and is the reason for the reaction to the end.

Section three: This is the most important part of the story! In Life of Pi this is when Pi is relating his adventures on the sea to the Japanese men. After they don’t believe him he tells the “real” historical version. This part of the story is supposed to dramatically shock, amaze, and bewilder the audience (which is usually the outcome). It is unpredictable and confuses the audience letting them decide which story is true. A perfect example of this is in Nolan’s latest work, Inception. At the end, the protagonist spins a top which determines if he is in reality or not. The very last shot of the movie shows the top quiver; leaving the audience to determine for themselves if it is the real world or an alternate reality.

This story structure has been used in many other movies and novels but I have chose Christopher Nolan’s “Great Works” because I have seen every film he has directed and noticed the similarities between them. These films have also been extremely popular to audiences around the world, received hundreds of positive reviews from well known critics, have won fourteen prestigious awards, and have been nominated for double that. Life of Pi won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, an internationally recognized award, and has also received many positive reviews. I think Martel may have seen either Following, or Memento and received inspiration for the structure of his novel before publishing it in 2002.

The Story of A Story

About his book, Life of Pi, Yann Martel said "I was sort of looking for a story, not only with a small ‘s’ but sort of with a capital ‘S’ – something that would direct my life." As he attempted to give direction to his own life, Martel, perhaps subconsciously, clarified the meaning of life for his race as a whole. Taking place mainly on a lifeboat in the Pacific, the story of Piscine Molitor Patel seeks to explore human nature in its most basic state, though in an undoubtedly peculiar situation. No pun intended, we are all in the same boat, and as we look deep inside Pi, we look deep inside ourselves. Pi finds himself defined by the two great sisters, science and religion, that organize the understanding of mankind, and as he explains his relationship with the two from his unique perspective, we are brought to look at our own relationships with them, both as individuals and society.

First of all, Pi is emphatic in his belief in God, and his relationship with Him is narrated vividly. His peculiar story of the "Three Wise Men" serves as the introduction to his relationship with religion. Innocently going against the popular belief that it’s a one-or-the-other decision when it comes to religion, Pi views religion as merely the way to commune with God. This reflects his apparent view that God is within us rather than a separate being from us, corresponding with the Islam faith. In the moments of his deepest despair at the loss of his family and loneliness, he says, “The blackness would…eventually go away, and God would remain, a shining point of light in my heart.” He has a deep connection with deity from the beginning clear through even his most heinous trials, praising Allah at every wonder he sees and saying things like, “So long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen.” As we view his story and his relationship with religion, interesting yet firm, we are forced to ask ourselves where we stand with deity.

Martel’s story offers a grand perspective on science as well as religion. Describing the wonders of nature with clarity that ranges from picturesque to grotesque, Martel’s obvious effort to bring science into an exciting light cannot be ignored. He puts science to story. In fact, as he presents a deeper, perhaps more controversial idea about science, he relates science to a story. The mind boggling story of the flesh-eating island is told in such a way that leaves even the reader wondering. After all, this experience apparently happens just after his delirious state—who’s to say the tale wasn’t just part of his insanity? Also, the men prodding him for the facts at the end figure his story in general is impossible at first, it being so bizarre. However, Pi shares Martel’s view of science when he tells them, “The world isn’t just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no?” Thus, our understanding shapes our world in a real way, and we must trust that understanding, like we trust a story, with no guarantee that it’s right. He says “Be excessively reasonable and you risk throwing out the universe with the bathwater.”

On this same train of thought, Martel connects religion to science with the idea that both science and religion are based just as much on the study of ourselves and the “quiet meadow of the heart” as the study of our surroundings. He says that when we “lack imagination,” we will “miss the better story,” the story that resides both within and without us. He concludes “Life of Pi” with his experience with the probing Chinese men, Pi fighting to help them see that science and religion, like a story, can be believed only by those with imagination. He gives them a choice between the “true” story, or the more believable one, and the “better” story, as they call it. The very last sentence reveals the men’s eventual belief in his story, stating in their official report, “Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long at sea as Mr. Patel, and none in the company of an adult Bengal tiger.”

Great Works - Life of Pi

Historical Contextualization
Pi's struggle to decide what religion to belong to ends up with him choosing the best of each to adapt to his life. He stresses the fact that it is better to believe something than in nothing at all. Today, in the religious community, many people are disillusioned about faith and religion as a whole and approximately 16.1 percent of Americans are listed as unaffiliated (http://religions.pewforum.org/reports). Pi's age acts as an interesting factor in his interest in finding the truth because children are not always seen as intelligent and many children with brilliant ideas are turned away. An example of this is the prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith Jr. He searched for religion at a young age, and at the age of 16 had a vision where a set of ancient plates where revealed to him. Many persecuted him and the religion he started.

The backdrop of political persecution of Pi's parents serves as an interesting aspect. In India, the government has been known to be very secular for a very long time with many religions originating in India, and also many having very strong roots there. It is interesting that Pi, as a child coming from this country, is so interested in religion. It is also interesting that his family's departure is politically charged. It poses the question that maybe Pi sees religion and beliefs on a personal level to be more relevant and important than widespread laws and government involvement which contributes to a theme of individuality.

Pi's solidarity on the lifeboat happens by accident, but historically being stranded has served as an opportune time to explore ideology. An example is Christopher McCandless, who left what would be considered a privileged life to explore beliefs while in solitude. Although Pi's isolation is not chosen, he develops many beliefs during this time. Pi's only surrounding are animals which give him inspiration and show the true nature of beasts, even though Pi is in the middle of the ocean on a small raft.

At the end of the book, when Pi is describing his story to Japanese officials, they do not believe him at first, but when he makes up a story about each animal actually being a person, they then go back to believing the first "story". This is interesting because after all of Pi's soul searching for truth, they don't at first believe his true story but upon hearing a duller tale choose to believe the more exciting choice, which happens to be the truth. Often stories are made up for entertainment, but in more recent years, especially in films, movies are made based of real events and in essence have a sense of truth to them. Examples are The Blind Side (2009), Freedom Writers (2007), and Invictus (2009) to name a few. Also such movies such as The Cove (2009) and other documentaries show what can be considered a version of an absolute truth to audiences.

Pick One, Pi

Exploited, yet she stands holy to three different religions. Harassed, yet war has raged for centuries for possession of her. Explosions occur daily in her heart, yet men will lay on her surface to worship. The great city of Jerusalem is holy to three religions, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The ongoing war between the Muslims and the Jews and Christians rages, but why? Some would wonder why all three religions cannot coexist in the city and be content. In context, the religions harmonizing sounds perfect, but in reality, is impossible; their religions, like white socks and flip-flops, clash. They do not believe the same way, and each religion will continue to fight until the Holy Land is in their possession. Piscine (Pi) Patel, a character in Life of Pi by Yann Martel, practices three religions, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Because of the religions’ mass differences, fervently practicing all three is impossible.

Pi grows up in India where Hinduism stands as the primary religion. Currently, 80.5 percent of Indians are Hindu. Naturally, Pi’s first religion he stands loyal to is Hinduism, a religion believing in reincarnation and Supreme Beings in every form. Although attending a Christian school grade school, Pi never investigates Christianity. He obtains some ideas about Christians and thinks they are just people who have “few gods and great violence.” After discovering an open door in a church, and after speaking to the priest, conversion begins. Pi finds it intriguing that the answer to every question comes back to Christ’s sacrifice for mankind and His eternal love. Two religions, two totally different beliefs, yet he continues to exercise both. One believes in many gods, the other has one God. One religion believes in reincarnation, the other, life after death where people will not return as someone or something else. The conflict only becomes worse.

The introduction to Islam comes after Pi walks into a Muslim shop and witnesses the shopkeeper roll out his prayer rug, praying towards Mecca (one of his five daily prayers.) The worshiping together started in the shop, and continued through Pi’s life. Muslims believe in one God, Allah, and that Muhammad was the last prophet. Like the Christians, the belief in one God exists, but the Christians do not consider Muhammad holy.

A belief in certain aspects of different religions has happened through the ages, or else we would not have so many different branches broken off of Christianity. After a foundation of beliefs is laid though, two choices remain. One can choose to join the church that comes closest to all his beliefs, or establish a whole new church. Pi does not choose either. In Pi not choosing one religion or establishing his own (maybe he could call it the Histianlam church to combine the parts he likes from each religion) the reader comes to the conclusion that a complete loyalty and conversion to religion does not exist. Pi is not completely interested in figuring out his personal beliefs. “One cannot serve two masters,” and, in practicing three contradicting religions, Pi is trying to.

A significant part of the novel is portrayed at the visiting of the “three wise men.” Pi invites a priest – Christian, an imam – Muslim, and a pandit – Hindu, to the zoo to meet each other and come to a realization that Pi is a common denominator between them. To say the meeting went horribly would be an understatement. Accusations are thrown around like footballs with comebacks made immediately to follow. The three argue about who’s religion is correct (which is pointless because none would end up changing their beliefs because of what another man says.) The imam expresses one sentence of truth when he says, “But he can’t be a Hindu, a Christian, and a Muslim. It’s impossible. He must choose.” He must choose.

Pi runs on the platform of only wanting to worship God. Valid, but again contradicting in the way he wants to go about it. Hindus believe in many gods. The Christian religion is based on God sending his son to redeem all men. Muslims believe God has no sons and that Jesus was only a Muslim prophet of God and was not crucified. Pi needs to find out which God(s) he want to worship, and once he does that, he will be moving towards a more complete and pure worship of God.

A situation like Pi’s confusion in religion will appear one way or another to everyone at a certain point in their lives. People think for themselves and a time will come in their lives when a personal testimony of beliefs must be gained. They cannot and will not only believe what everyone tells them forever, they must find out for themselves. I was born into a family who taught me about my religion. I have found out for myself numerous times that the religion is right for me through prayer and personal revelation. I still practice the same religion I was born into, and I know for myself it is true; I know the way I want to worship God. My religion guides my life and affects every choice I make. I know what I want to do in life because of my religion. The confusion Pi’s experiencing will end up affecting crucial, life-changing decisions he will make in the future, and in order to obtain stability, he needs a firm foundation, a firm foundation of one religion to lead his life and help him build a relationship with the God he wants to worship.

The Journey of a Lifetime

Historical Contextualization:

_____According to Regunta Yesurathnam, “…contextualization broadens the understanding of culture to include social, political, and economic questions.” Within Yann Martel’s award-winning novel Life of Pi, historical contextualization is extremely prominent, creating the story’s dynamic conflict. Life of Pi begins in India, the home of the main character Pi Patel and his family during the mid-1970s. Pi describes the troubled times:
In February 1976, the Tamil Nadu government was brought down by Delhi. It had been on of Mrs. Gandhi’s most vocal critics. The takeover was smoothly enforced-Chief Minister Karunanidhi’s ministry vanished quietly in ‘resignation’ or house arrest-and what does the fall of one local government matter when the whole country’s Constitution has been suspended these last eight months? But it was to Father the crowning touch in Mrs. Gandhi’s dictatorial takeover of the nation (74-75).
Because of the political uproar in India at the time, Pi’s family decided to move to Canada, placing them on the very ship which would sink and leave Pi to face the Pacific Ocean for 277 days. Without the historical contextualization of the political downfall of India in the mid-1970s, Life of Pi would not have developed its enthralling plot and powerful story.

Critical Analysis:

_____As a Great Work of Science and Technology, Life of Pi truly is an incredible novel. For science, the book reveals many facets of zoology, navigation, and the scientific method. Since Pi’s father owns the Pondicherry Zoo, Pi gives great detail of the animals that he observed while growing up. For example, Pi describes “…the iridescent snout of a mandrill; the stately silence of a giraffe; the obese, yellow open mouth of a hippo, the beak-and-claw climbing of a macaw parrot up a wire fence” (15) and so much more. As Pi grows older and studies zoology in college, he also describes his study of the three-toed sloth in the equatorial jungles of Brazil. Both pages 3 and 5 go into great detail of the creature, granting scientific knowledge to the reader that would most likely not be previously known. With navigation, Pi describes the exact dimensions and features of the boat he escapes on with great precision. In fact, there is even a diagram on page 134 to better reveal to the reader what a boat looks like and how it functions. When Pi is coming up with plans to survive in the Pacific Ocean, he utilizes the scientific method. He begins with the simple question, “How in the world am I going to survive this great challenge in my life?” After questioning his situation, Pi goes through six separate plans in his mind. In great imaginative detail, Pi carries each of them out, eventually discarding each individual hypothesis and concluding that he would either die in each situation or the carrying out of the procedure was physically impossible under his current circumstances. Finally, Pi decides to test out whether he can tame Richard Parker, therefore removing his carnivorous threat and gaining a partner throughout his long journey. First Pi remembers his observations of going to the circus as a child to gain the idea and then uses his knowledge of navigation to rock the boat intensely, making Richard Parker seasick while Pi blew his whistle over and over again. Over time and practice, results began to show themselves as Richard Parker associated the blowing of the whistle with seasickness. Pi had successfully succeeded in using the scientific method to tame Richard Parker and attain survival. Overall, Life of Pi’s use of science within the fiction allows the reader to gain knowledge of zoology, navigation, and the scientific method with ease.

Personal Reflection:

_____Personally, Life of Pi has become my favorite fictitious novel of all time. The story of a boy in the Pacific Ocean with a tiger enthralled me, the use of religious conflict intrigued me, the implications of science and technology taught me, and I was fed. Although the language was simple for the most part, advanced vocabulary cleverly strewn about the book allowed me to look up exciting word that I can now use in everyday life. At the same time, Yann Martel’s writing style utilizes multiple sentence styling techniques and creates a wonderful visual image of each character and scene for the reader. At the end, the ambiguousness of Pi’s two separate stories left me speechless. Because I could not know for sure if Pi had travelled with a tiger, or rather had to fight his way to the death with another human being, I was left questioning the entire book. This exciting twist to the story added another layer upon the plot and thought process of Yann Martel, and gave me the desire to read the novel again. I fully agree that Life of Pi should be classified as a Great Work of Science and Technology, and had no problems with reading its manifold pages. Reading the novel has truly given me a greater appreciation of life, nature, and family that I wouldn’t have previously attained. I have now made it my solemn goal to recommend Life of Pi to all of my family members and friends, wishing to have the book enrich their lives as it has blessed my own.

Question/Help Please

Hello everyone. For the great works paper on Life of Pi, I'm wondering if someone can elaborate on the Historical Contextualization section. Can this be on the time period the book was written or is it on the time period in which the book takes place? Also, can anything be analyzed for the critical analysis section? I tried to look up these requirements on the honors website, but all I can find is a sheet saying there needs to be format for texts cited....

Thanks.

I don’t have answer to the question: What is greatness?

One definition of great -Large in size, dimensions, numerous,

unusual or considerable in degree, power, intensity, notable, remarkable, outstanding, consequential, distinguished, noble, principal, social standing, much in use or favor. Extraordinary powers, admire and a standard.

It can be entertaining, valued, and there’s a depth to it.

It has a large effect on society.

“Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person, object or place.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greatness

“The hardest task one can have is to continue to love his fellows despite all reasons he should not.

And the true sign of sanity and greatness is to so continue.

For the one who can achieve this, there is abundant hope.

For those who cannot, there is only sorrow, hatred and despair. And these are not the things of which greatness or sanity or happiness is made.

A primary trap is to succumb to invitations to hate. “ –L. Ron Hubbard

I think in many societies would or could agree that this is greatness in the making.

Great works are preformed, not by strengthen, but by persistence.

Great things are small things brought together.

Greatness leads to the unknown.

The greatest impact and influence in the world is Christ, because in the scripture we are told that is by the Pure Love of Christ that we shall be saved. By his strips are we healed, even by his grace which is sufficient for all men that come unto him by repenting of their sins, even as a bagger begs. And even as I plead for forgiveness on this paper.