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Themes of Life of Pi
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LIFE of PI ThemesSurvival
Pi’s father teaches the value of survival instinct for a man as well as for animals. When Richard
Parker, the tiger, becomes a predator, he has to kill other animals as his prey for the sole
purpose of survival. Pi has to share the journey with Richard Parker for survival and not for
dying without a companion.
● It is also the survival instinct of Pi that forces him to drink salty water.
● He has to catch sharks to break his habit of being a vegetarian in order to satisfy his and
Parker’s hunger.
During his near-death experience, he comes to know how survival is instinctual and competes
with other animals. Much of the action of Life of Pi consists of the struggle for survival against
seemingly impossible odds.
Pi is stranded on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific for 227 days, with only an adult Bengal
tiger for company, so his ordeal involves not just avoiding starvation but also protecting himself
from Richard Parker.
● Pi is soon forced to give up his lifelong pacifism and vegetarianism, as he has to kill and
eat fish and turtles.
● In a similar vein Orange Juice, the peaceful orangutan, becomes violent when facing
the hyena
● Richard Parker submits to being tamed because Pi gives him food.
● In this way Martel shows the extremes that living things will go to in order to survive,
sometimes fundamentally changing their natures.
The struggle to survive also leads the characters to commit deeds of both great heroism and
horrible gruesomeness.
● Pi finds an amazing resourcefulness and will to live within himself, and he resolves to
live peacefully alongside Richard Parker instead of trying to kill the tiger. When he
leaves the algae island Pi even waits for Richard Parker to return to the lifeboat before
pushing off.
● The French cook, on the other hand, sinks to murder and cannibalism in his attempts to
survive.
● In Pi’s second version of the story, Richard Parker is an aspect of Pi’s own personality,
which means that the tiger’s violence is actually a manifestation of a side of Pi’s soul that
will do anything to keep living.
From the start we know that Pi will survive his ordeal, as he is telling the tale as a happy adult,
but his constant struggle to stay alive and sane keeps up the tension throughout the novel.
Ways to survive (according to the novel):
● Adapt to situation
● Remember valuable lessons learnt
● Hold onto hope
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