Title of Book: Life of Pi
Yann Martel--an award-winning writer speaks about his own personal experiences with nature and animals through the 2001 adventure: Life of Pi. The book tells an astonishing story about a boy (Pi) living in Pondicherry, India. He discovers his morals through engaging in the study of different religions as well as in the zoo that his family owns. In his teenage years, his family decides to move to Canada; along with the animals, Pi and his family get onto a boat and head through the Pacific. On the way, however, the boat mysteriously sinks and Pi is the only human survivor. He makes way through struggles on a lifeboat for many treacherous months and discovers human nature through living with the sea. But also he is living in the presence of a Bengal tiger.
Martel is able to tell an engaging and appropriate story through the grand yet fragile setting it is laid upon. The story originally takes place in 1976 when the Tamil Nadu government was brought down by New Delhi. Following this social and political collapse, the state of India changed dramatically. This prompted Pi’s family to try to get away from the mess. The Pacific experience for Pi is best described by this statement in the story: “I was alone and orphaned, in the middle of the Pacific, hanging on to an oar, an adult tiger in front of me, a storm raging about me” (Martel 140). In times Pi lost hope, and other times he was energized with just a little bit of fish. Martel does a wonderful job keeping the setting intriguing and depth-defying by writing in descriptive language. It is truly incredible how he grasps the reader even in such an unexpected and unknown setting as the ocean.
Additionally to the setting, the characterization plays a very important role in this incredible story. Earlier in the story, Pi is a very humble boy who learned manners and acceptance of animals in India. Martel also chose to add very specific detail to Pi’s life that proved to be a very predominant characteristic to telling a compelling story. Pi is a vegetarian, and when food runs out on the boat that he is in, he must turn to fishing. There was one symbolic life change that Pi had when he killed his first fish. The book said: “[As] tears flow[ed] down my cheeks, I egged myself on until I heard a cracking sound and I no longer felt any life fighting in my hands” (Martel 245). A disturbing message the author revealed to the reader that the will to live changes people, was clearly distributed here. While Pi changed dramatically throughout the book, the tiger that accompanied him did not. While the reader may have wanted the tiger to change, the intent on a static character is to move the story along--in fact, that is just what he did. He proved as a major being in Pi’s life. The story said: “A part of me did not want Richard Parker to die at all, because if he died I would be left alone with despair, a foe even more formidable than a tiger. If I still had the will to live, it was thanks to Richard Parker. He kept me from thinking too much about my family and my tragic circumstances. He pushed me to go on living” (Martel 219).
Martel’s writing style in the novel is very unique especially considering the fact that he tells two stories at once. The chapters alternate from telling the story of Pi’s adventure to the story of after Pi’s life. And in between the stories, there are so many figurative words that engage the reader. Martel wanted to incorporate many elements to make the story come alive, and that’s exactly what happened. The story is so vivid and colorful with all the details. One such comes when Pi catches a dorado: which is a very colorful fish. “The dorado did a most extraordinary thing as it died: it began to flash all kinds of colours in rapid succession. Blue green, red, gold and violet flickered and shimmered neon-like on its surface as it struggled. I felt I was beating a rainbow to death” (Martel 248). Under certain circumstances, this scene could sound horrifying but Martel did a beautiful job of using foreshadowing and hyperboles to symbolize life on the ocean. The writing style allowed the reader to feel what it is like living in the Pacific ocean.
Life copes together in the most unexpected ways. In some places it greets you and nourishes you—it stays with you and comforts you. But it also deceives you and pains you. It closes your eyes without [you] moving a muscle, it tests your morals, and worst of all—it leaves you just when you get used to it. A beautiful theme represented in the story--Martel writes in a way to show the hardest parts of life as well as the life we take for granted. In the ocean, Pi was surrounded by life of all kinds, from highways of colorful underwater habitats--to animals that get stranded with him on a lifeboat. And sometimes life is unpredictable, but isn’t that the joy of life?
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