Yann Martel's Life of Pi

by Aditya Mittal - August 22, 2004

Disclaimer:  This page is by no means a substitute to this terrific book Life of Pi, but merely a collection of some of the themes and ideas presented in the book.  This page also promises not to explicitly give away the ending for those who have not read the book and would like to read it, however, cannot take responsibility for ensuring that it will not allude to the end.

Quick Summary - without the ending:

Pi Patel, a God-loving boy and the son of a zookeeper, has a fervent love of stories and practices not only his native Hinduism, but also Christianity and Islam.  When Pi is sixteen, his family and their zoo animals emigrate from India to North America abroad a Japanese cargo ship.  Alas, the ship sinks-and Pi finds himself in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger.  Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi.  Can Pi and the tiger find their way to land? Can Pi's fear, knowledge, and cunning keep him alive until they do?

Separating God from Religion

Quote:  "I know a woman here in Toronto who is very dear to my heart.  She was my foster mother.  I call her Auntieji and she likes that.  She is Québécoise.  Though she has lived in Toronto for over thirty years, her French-speaking mind still slips on occasion on the undertaking of English sounds.  And so, when she first heard of Hare Krishnas, she didn't hear right.  She heard "Hairless Christians", and that is what they were to her for many years.  When I corrected her, I told her that in fact she was not so wrong; that Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat-wearing Muslims."

Then the elderly man said, "I have a story that will make you believe in God."

Throughout, this book proves to us that it is not religion that makes us believe in God, instead, it is God's own miracles that make us believe in God and these miracles are very personal.  A person without experience that is his and his only, a person without thoughts that he hasn't shared, a person without a God that is personally with him has nothing.  A good religion is one that brings together these notions of God people have and Life of Pi brings their core together.

Fear

The book has much positive energy that takes a lot of fear out of the reader.

Pi - The Boy

Richard Parker - The Tiger