The Life of Pi by Yann Martel: Living A Moral Life and Surviving in an Amoral World
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel is part philosophical meditation, part "Survivor" story. It tells the tale of a young protagonist, a boy named Pi, who must survive on a raft with wild animals after a shipwreck. Martel's book poses the question-how can a religious person like Pi continue be moral yet survive according to his moral laws in an amoral, dog-eat-dog world? The answer the book provides is complex and simple all at once-Pi must hold true to his values of tolerance, yet be adaptive enough to learn to and respond to his environment.At first, before he becomes a castaway, Pi is obsessed with religion, and how to live as a religious person. But when cast adrift from civilization, Pi is faced with the even more pressing dilemma of how to survive physically in the natural world. Soon, one of the animals, a hyena, eats every animal on board-except for the tiger, that Pi names Robert Parker. The tiger eats the hyena, thus saving Pi, as Pi was sure that he was the hyena's next meal! Pi takes care of the tiger but grows weak and blind. He is nearly murdered by another traveler passing, but
Their two examples show what may be appropriate in human society may not be appropriate on a raft, just as Pi did not behave like the tiger when he was learning from religious teachers. Embracing a moral code does not mean exclusivity in faith. So-called civilized human beings, the story counsels, are not necessarily superior to animals. The tiger carefully maintains a balance between itself and the environment, only taking what it needs to live, no more-yet also, no less. Pi keeps the tiger alive when it is ill, and the tiger protects Pi. The tiger is not a moral beast, but the boy and the tiger forge a connection, out of their difficult circumstances. Pi claims at the beginning of his tale to be a believer in three religions, Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity. It is not a moral being like a human being, but by respecting its life, Pi benefits from the animal's presence. His attitude on the raft encompasses the acceptance of fate of the Eastern religion of Hinduism, and the forgiveness of Christianity. Although Pi grew up the son of a zookeeper, only by seeing the tiger in a natural environment was he able to fully learn the lessons of the animal's life. In fact, Pi learns by observing the animal that the tiger, as wild, primal, and animalistic as it may be, can actually survive better on the raft than he can. In the end, he does not deny the need for human belief and a moral code. Flexibility is the key to a better life-for example, as a Hindu, Pi is a vegetarian, but if he were to have kept to his vegetarianism when cast adrift, he would have died. Pi, although he is a kind and caring individual, quickly sickens when he is away from civilization. Without the intervention of the tiger he would have been either eaten by a beast or murdered by an evil member of his own kind.
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Acceptance Essays
