A story to make you "believe" in "God"

Critical Analysis:

in his novel Life of Pi, Yann Martel eloquently proposes a philosophy about understanding the world and about seeking truth. Pi is an amazingly observant 16 year old. This is the life blood of Martel's story and of Pi's survival. Observation is the first step in trying to understand the world. If we don't ever observe anything and analyze it, then we cannot give our brain enough information to come to correct conclusions or in other words to find truth.

What Pi observes is that Religion and Science, or belief and reason are both fundamental ways of viewing the world around us. Pi realizes that both of these institutions are seeking to find meaning in life through different, but similar means. He does not dwell on the differences between different religions or different theories of science, it is not the differences that interest him, it is the similarities. His survival relies on the use of every ounce of truth that results from looking upon the world through these many different lenses.

The novel Life of Pi can be viewed as a plea for tolerance in a world of contention. Martel often juxtaposes different life views in order to compare and contrast them, with the end goal of showing us that it is possible and even necessary for them to coexist peacefully together. This happens when Pi's family runs into the 3 religious men on the beach. These three men who live different hills in the same city, who all believe in God, are all suspicious of each other, but all of them see Pi in a positive light, as a devout believer and as a holy person. Perhaps this relationship can be seen better in the meeting of the two Mr. Kumars at the zoo. They both look at the zebra from what we would consider to be different backgrounds, but in awestruck wonder they both can come to agree on obvious truths about the zebra.

The third and most important example of this is that of Pi and Richard Parker on the Life Boat. Reduced to a state of deprivation, this is the ultimate test of any positive relationship between these two seemingly different belief systems. While the two are seemingly opposing forces for the duration of Pi's experience on the life boat, they are still interdependent of one another, and both will die if an appropriate balance between and respect for each other is not maintained. I believe that one of the central themes proposed by Yann Martel is not only that of tolerance between all types of religious belief, or even between all scientific disciplines, but also between religion and science or reason and faith --both very good and correct ways in which to try and understand our world.