Life of Pi free essay sample

Life of Pi is a suspenseful novel with a treacherous plot line and has human and animal characters. It has numerous conflicts and life-changing themes. The author in Life of Pi creates many literary devices to animate the story. This book has lots of the unusual settings. Life of Pi is a first-class book to read. Life of Pi has many major and minor characters. Pi is the protagonist of the story. He is a teenage Indian boy who practices three religions, and his father is a zookeeper. Richard Parker is the Bengal tiger that becomes Pi’s nemesis as well as his reason for living. The minor characters are Francis Adirubasamy (Mamaji), Santosh Patel, Gita Patel, Ravi Patel, Satish Kumar, and Father Martin. Mamaji is a close friend of the Patel family and a former aggressive swimmer, and he teaches Pi swimming. Mr. Patel is Pi’s father and a zookeeper, he teaches Pi about animals. We will write a custom essay sample on Life of Pi or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Mrs. Patel is Pi’s mother and helps him in education. Ravi is Pi’s older, sarcastic brother and likes to tease and bully Pi. Mr. Kumar is a baker that influenced Pi to become Muslim. Father Martin influenced Pi to become Christian. All these characters give him faith and skills to help him continue his journey. The animal characters in this story have similar traits to a human. The tiger, Richard Parker, is very friendly toward Pi when he is not hungry and is always overprotective with anything in his territory. The hyena is very fast, sly, and greedy; when it sees its prey, the zebra and the orangutan, it will stop at nothing to get it. The orangutan is polite and is found on island of floating bananas. The zebra is innocent and an easy target for the hyena because he has a broken leg. These characters’ human like behavior help project how they think, act, and behave. Life of Pi has different settings. First, it takes place in Pondicherry. In Pondicherry, he lives most of his childhood there. He visits the Pondicherry Zoo, church, mosque, temple, and Mr. Kumar’s bakery often. Another important setting is the ocean in which Pi is stranded on. Next important setting is the carnivorous island. The last setting is in Mexico. These settings help Pi have experiences and help him choose subjects in college. In this story, Pi has many conflicts through out the story. At the beginning of the story, he has many conflicts with the people at his school because they would tease him because of his name. He would have problems going to the mosque, temple, and church; because he practiced three religions. The next conflict is when he is stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger, hyena, zebra, and orangutan; and he doesn’t know how to survive. Then he fights himself to decide if he will live or not. Next he fights nature to survive; such as the sun, ocean, weather, and carnivorous island. These conflicts help story go on by giving more things to achieve. Life of Pi has two main themes. The first theme is humans act more like animals than they think. This is one of the major themes because Pi behaves like an animal to survive. He uses his instincts, turned into a non-vegetarian, and eats whatever he finds. The second major theme is friendship has no species, race, religion, shape, sizes, and color. This goes with the story because in the story he makes friends with Richard Parker and starts to train him. These two themes are important because they show the importance of friendship. The literary devices in this story usually describe what is going around Pi. The author describes sounds, the tiger, and weather movements using similes. The author also describes religion and destination by metaphors. In addition, the author describes thoughts sharks, waves, and darkness through personification. The literary devices in the book project pictures of what is happening around Pi. Life of Pi is an interesting novel to read. It has many characters. Life of Pi has several conflicts that make the plot line more interesting. It uses literary devices in a meaningful way. Life of Pi has various settings. This book is important to read because it shows lots of faith, religion, bonding, and other traits that help you go through life. Life of Pi is a book that I recommend to read. Life of Pi free essay sample Life of Pi Analytical Essay In the novel Life of Pi, Yann Martel uses the protagonist Pi to demonstrate how faith, ritual and one’s will to live save one from the barbaric and carnivorous reality. Pi Patel, lover of faith and various gods and their beliefs loses his family after a shipwreck and drifts on the Pacific Ocean with a zebra, hyena, orangutan and a tiger, Richard Parker each struggling in their own way to survive. Yann Martel uses the protagonist Pi to claim that one retains his or her survival will through writing.Martel includes the fact that Pi writes, â€Å"I die† as his pen runs dry because it symbolizes the break of his daily ritual. Pi unconsciously makes a ritual for himself daily to follow in order keep himself busy that he forgets the notion of time. Pi is able to survive because he makes an effort to forget the amount of time that passes (242). We will write a custom essay sample on Life of Pi or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The element of time symbolizes the Pi’s despair but as he slowly forgets the existence of time, he also forgets his desolated situation. Pi dedicates himself daily to working hard to not remember or think deeply about how much time has passed.If Pi were to think about the amount of time that has elapsed, he would remember his loss of family and friends making him once again look forward to death. By nature, animals including humans favor consistency and dislike change and disruptions in their ritual. Pi unconsciously conducts his own religious rituals within his daily routine and grants him continued faith in God to survive. But Pi’s religious rituals also each lack a requirement necessary for example his Mass lacks Communion and his darshan lacks murti. As his routine gradually breaks apart, so does Pi’s confidence in sustaining life. The Communion and murti represents the disruption in Pi’s life but his routine of recording his everyday life at sea in his journal substitutes for the missing elements of his religious ritual and helps Pi sustain his will to survive. Daily writing in the journal led Pi to sustain his humanity while being isolated from society. Writing down his thoughts allows Pi to retain his last grasp on human society and it gives him a sense of hope.The journal keeps Pi from cannibalism and alleviates his loneliness but as journal entries stopped, Pi gradually began to lose his sense of humanity. Pi’s last entry in his journal, â€Å"I die† signified as the death of his humanity and â€Å"driven by the extremity of my [Pi’s] need and the madness to which it pushed me, I ate some of his flesh† (322). Due to Pi’s religion, he is a vegetarian and refuses to eat meat yet to survive, he abandons humanity. Being at sea gradually forces Pi to lose memories of his life in society.Pi admits to his â€Å"madness† when he decides to eat human flesh. From the perspective of society, eating human flesh is judged as cannibalism and when Pi begins to accept the fact of eating human flesh, he has already begun to lose a part of his humanity. Writing in the journal allows Pi to retain the thinking of society including its norms such as the consuming of the same species is unjust and mentally insane. When Pi’s ink starts to run out, he is unable to continue writing and that ends his last form of connection to his previous life living on land.At this point of the novel, Pi acknowledges his decline of humanity and with it, degrades himself and his will to live when he eats human flesh. Judging himself with the eyes of society, Pi begins to waver in his faith to survive. If Pi were able to continue his journal, Pi would not have mentally been driven to its end forcing Pi to give up humanity and slowly lose his will to survive. Pi’s last humane note, â€Å"I die† demonstrates how ritual, faith and humanity pushes one further and signified the beginning of a new hope.Martel portrays the significance of one’s will to live on a long voyage across the Pacific Ocean by challenging faiths and beliefs and questioning human’s sanity when driven to the extreme. Writing is a form of communication that is a vital part to society, Martel illustrates this point when Pi’s one and only form of communication is lost. Writing helps one organize their thoughts and is a part of oneself, also one’s connection to society. Society representing humanity and vice versa can be retained through writing in order to increases one’s will especially will for survival. Life of Pi free essay sample The Aura of Orange Human, animal, plants, and all the Earth’s content is survivor. They are fighting for their rights in order to live in this beautiful world. The novel Life of Pi written by Yann Martel, has employed a lot of symbols that is related to the life. One of the most significant symbols is the color orange. The author uses orange as a symbol of maintenance of the spirit to survive in survival. This can be proved as most of the objects that are in the color orange in the novel generate feelings of hope, can develop courage in survivors, and last but not least can keep them continuously energetic; in order to strengthen their hearts and spirits to face all the possibilities in life. With the presence hope, the spirit of survival can be maintained well as orange color represents the color of hope in the novel. We will write a custom essay sample on Life of Pi or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It is because the orange color is bright and inspires people and also gives hope to them. This is related as the theme color of firefighter is orange; when they are going to rescue the victims, their present has gives those who need to be rescued a hope being saved, (Theme). This can be shown in the novel Life of Pi as the sunrise gives hope to Pi and Richard Parker to be saved. â€Å"Warmth came only when the sun, looking like an electrically lit orange, broke across the horizon, but I didn’t need to wait that long to feel it. With the very first rays of light it came alive in me: hope. As things emerged in outline and filled with color, hope increased until it was like a song in my heart. Oh, what it was to bask in it! Things would work out yet. The worst was over. I had survived the night. Today I would be rescued. To think that, to string those words together in my mind, was itself a source of hope. Hope fed on hope,† (Martel 199). Based on this quotes, Pi says that the sunrise does give them a hope to survive everyday in the lifeboat and hope to be rescued. Every day that have passed, they have succeed to face it and still survive for 227 days stranded on the sea. Based on the real world, most of the people will be happy as the day is coming cover the night. People can go for work to find some stuff and money to support their needs; students go to school or college to gain more knowledge to have a better life, thus, people will appreciate every second that goes by. On the other hand, the orange color of objects has give an impact to express hope on overcome their obstacles. This can be seen through a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, when he is trying to save his life by fighting with the sea and the big wave. As Pi says to Richard Parker, â€Å"‘do you see this lifebuoy, Richard Parker? Do you see it? Catch hold of it! HUMPH! I’ll try again. HUMPH! ’ He was too far. But the sight of the lifebuoy flying his way gave him hope. He revived and started beating the water with vigorous, desperate strokes,† (Martel 98). The color of the lifebuoy is orange as it is the color of survival that being used in the survival’s tools. These has give Richard Parker a hope to survive in the scary ocean since he is not a really good swimmer during the storm. Thus, the present of orange objects or the rays of orange do give a full meaning of hope to survive in order to keep their spirit alive. Development of courage can magnify the spirit of survival as the bravery can be represented by the orange animals in Life of Pi. This is related when a person has enough courage and ready to defeat his fear, the spirit of survival will increase and his big obstacle in life that is fear; can be settled down. The color of fire is majorly in orange color. Although the fire of matches, people always afraid of it. This shows that the color of orange is symbolize courage and determinants. This can be proved in the novel by the act of a female orang utan, Orange Juice who tries to hit the hyena; as the hyena being cruel to the zebra. Orange Juice has act, â€Å"she thumped the beast on the head. And what a thump it was. The beast’s head hit the bench it had just reached, making such a sharp noise, besides splaying its front legs flat out, that I thought surely either the bench or its jaw or both must break,† (Martel 130). Although Orange Juice is just a weak animal that never haunt any animal and just love to eat fruits, however, her courage overpowers her ability. As Pi monologue, â€Å"an adult female orang utan cannot defeat an adult male spotted hyena†¦ What does fruit eater know about killing? Where would it learn where to bite, how hard, for how long? † (Martel 130). This is something amazeing as the orang utan is very brave to face the hyena. One of the reasons why Pi called the female orang utan as Orange Juice is because the orange animals do represent the courage in an animal. On top of that, Richard Parker the Bengal tiger also represent courage in an orange animal as he is being scared by the hyena. The flame-colored carnivore emerged from beneath the tarpaulin and made for the hyena. The hyena was leaning against the stern bench, behind the zebra’s carcass, transfixed. It did not pull a fight. Instead it shrank to the floor, lifting a forepaw in a futile gesture of defense,† shows that the hyena was afraid of the orange Bengal tiger that look fierce on him (Martel 150). This is how the Bengal tiger stay to survive in the lifeboat on the spooky ocean. Therefore, it is true that orange is the color of courage; and this can spread up the spirit of survival to promote the important of life. In order to maintain the spirit of survival, energy is very important both physically and emotionally, orange objects on the boat in the novel encourage Pi to be energetic. Both physically and mentally need to be strengthen and energetic enough to think and react at any circumstances. â€Å"It seems orange-such a nice Hindu color-is the color of survival because the whole inside of the boat and the tarpaulin and the life jackets and the lifebuoy and the oars and most every other significant object aboard was orange. Even the plastic, beadless whistles were orange†¦ How true it is that necessity is the mother of invention, how very true,† as Pi start to create an idea on how to invent and innovate something using all the things surround him to full fill his necessity that is safety, (Martel 138-139). He uses these orange objects to build a raft, to save him from Richard Parker and the sharks. As in the Aura’s theory, orange helps with assimilation of new ideas, broaden the minds, helps in cope with life, and stimulates energy, (Color). Furthermore, when the orange color has turn to pale, however, their spirit to survive has fallen down. They are dying when they have stayed for very long time in the lifeboat in the sea, â€Å"What was orange became whitish orange†¦ we were two emaciated mammals, parched and starving. Richard Parker’s fur lost its luster, and some of it even fell away from his shoulders and haunches. He lost a lot of weight, became a skeleton in an oversized bag faded fur. I, too, withered away, the moistness sucked out of me, my bones showing plainly through my thin flesh,† (Martel 338-239). This tells that their spirit has turned pale as what happen to the orange color. Therefore, orange color objects can be shown as hyperactive behavior and color of energy; this will maintain the survivor to be always energetic and can hold their spirit safely. In conclusion, orange color or objects or any the references in the novel Life of Pi can generate some ways to keep holding their spirit up to stay survive in this nasty world. As well as orange color can be symbolized as a source of giving hope, element of showing courage, and encouraging survivor to be energetic. As a human being, spirit or belief in ourselves is very important to let us be ready to face this world, thus, preparations of it must be prepared in any circumstances. If orange fruit can protect itself by being sour taste and has thick cover; on the same time gives vitamin C to those who eat it that really benefits to health. So, why not human become tough physically and mentally also in order to maintain their wisdom and rationality? On the one hand, they full fill others needs. That is the real meaning of survival.