Life
of Pi
Yann Martel
What’s the image in your
mind if we mention “danger”? A psycho with a bloody knife? Or an old car
speeding in narrow allies? How about drifting on Pacific Ocean by a small and
shabby life boat with a Bengal tiger?
“Life of Pi” is a story
about how did a boy grow and change after experiencing a cruel and terrible
shipwreck. At the beginning of the story, I guessed that would be an
interesting and inspiring story. However, I was totally wrong. Nothing about
survival is interesting, it is truly sad and appalling. I had even felt myself
shivering or shedding tears several times when I was reading. However, except for
those tearful and cruel plots, “Life of Pi” also talking about philosophic
thinking of struggle between faith and survival as well as the conflict between
divinity and the primitive desire of human. In order to make the appalling
story fantastic, the author pictured the story metaphorically. But still, we
readers can follow the clues that the author had left for us.
Reading Pi’s story is
reading the process of his changing. He was a naïve teenager before the terrible
shipwreck, however, after starving, serious sunburn, rainstorm and the horrible
mental shock, he got a new life. I can not directly and easily judge if Pi’s
experience is good or bad because one of the lessons that this story had taught
me is that everything has at least two aspects. Just like the symbol of Taiji,
a circle which is divided into black part and white part. Those two parts are
in the same shape and size, which has added some balanced phenomenon to the
symbol. Though it seems like the color had already divided the circle exactly,
there are two little circles, a white one and a black one, being put on the
black part and the white part, making the color black being surrounded by white
and white being surrounded by black. Except for the conception of balance,
Taiji also means “coexistence”. The disaster is a refinement for Pi’s spirit,
but this refinement is based on catastrophe.
Also, his changing reminds
me that all of us are changing in every moment. It was the world shapes us in
the ways that out of our imaginations. Pi would be an innocent boy ever after
if he dies in the shipwreck with his family, but he didn’t. He caught the very
chance to climb on the little life boat and started his adventure of struggling
for his survival. After that, the world shaped him and polished his eyes to see
things not just from a religious and pure vision but a realistic one.
During Pi’s journey, the author showed
readers the conflict between divinity and the primitive desire of human by the
relationship between Pi and Richard Parker. In the past, Pi religiously
believed in Christianity, Hinduism and Islam as well as chose to be a
vegetarian. Through the baptism, Pi learnt how to hunt fish and turtles and
viewed them as delicious food even though all of his preys were uncooked. Pi
hunted not just for feeding himself but also Richard Parker. As long as it was
full, it would not attack Pi. In my opinion, Richard Parker symbolizes Pi’s
desire and physical needs, which is opposite to divinity, an idea being
symbolized by “Pi” the character. Nobody can deny that everyone must have the
primitive desire, and that is what supports human being to be alive. However,
once human trying to explain those things which were too hard for them to
understand, they create religion for it. People set some doctrines to follow
for pursuing the divinity, and it was the reason why Pi fed Richard Parker── getting
divinity is based on satisfying the primitive desire. The disappear divinity
will be back until desire has been satisfied, and I think it is the reason why
Pi left the carnivorous island, which is a metaphor for picturing that Pi was
living on his mother’s rotten body. Also, it can explain why Richard Parker
left Pi after they finally went ashore.
When it comes to the carnivorous island, we can interpret it in two
ways. First, based on the story without animals, we know that the carnivorous
island means Pi’s mother’s body. The island was so-called “the carnivorous
island”, but actually it was physically eaten. It was her body that fed him,
turned the situation better and evoked Pi’s desire. Second, however, while the
spirit of desire awoke, Pi’s divinity was suppressed. The only thing that the
carnivorous island had eaten was Pi’s divinity. But as we mentioned above, getting
divinity is based on satisfying the primitive desire, Pi finally got his rationality
back after he was satisfied.
The island is really an
excellent food for thought and so did the two stories, both of the one with
animals and the one without animals. Somebody said that they believe the story
with animals and the others claimed that they believe the one without animals. In
my opinion, I think both of them are true. René Descartes said “I think, therefore
I am.” After all, everything has at least two aspects. To people who weren’t on
the drifting life boat, the story without animals would be fact, but to Pi and
Richard Parker, the truth may be the story with animals.
Aside from the
above, the last one of my reflections is that we should cherish things around us.
It’s wrong to take anything for granted. Even if there were so many bad and
unfortunate things happened, life itself is worth appreciating.
