the better story life of pi essay

by Yann Martel

Life of pi essay questions.

Pi argues that Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chiba should take the “better story” as the true story. Argue that either the first or second story is the “true story.”

Suggested Answer: Either side can be argued. To argue that the first story is the true story: all characters in the text, even those originally skeptical, and including the author, eventually choose to believe the first story. Pi was greatly experienced with zoo animals, and manages to plausibly explain how he survived with Richard Parker for so long. Similarly, he seems truly depressed about Richard Parker’s desertion, such that it is clear that he, at least, believes his second story. To argue that the second story is the true story: Pi’s main argument to convince the skeptical Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chiba that the first is true is that it is better, which is irrelevant in an argument about absolute truth.

Yann Martel has said that the hyena is meant to represent cowardice. Explain how this is true.

Suggested Answer: The hyena displays many negative qualities, such as greed, stupidity and viciousness, but these qualities can be seen to come from its cowardice. At the beginning of their time in the boat, the hyena whines almost constantly, and is so afraid that it runs in circles until it makes itself sick. Unlike Pi, who even in his desperate fear finds ways to survive, the hyena just kills and eats as much as it can in a panicked state until Richard Parker kills it.

In what ways does Pi parallel religious belief in God to the zoo?

Suggested Answer: The main parallel that Pi draws between these two things is the true freedom that both provide, even in seeming to restrict it. He says that detractors argue that zoos restrict animals’ freedom and so make them unhappy, and the rituals and rules of religion can similarly be said to restrict human freedom. Pi argues, however, that zoos, by providing an animal with its survival needs, in fact give that animal as much freedom, for it is content, safe, and wouldn’t want to leave. Similarly, the rules and ritual of religion in fact give people what Pi sees as their spiritual essentials, and thus a more significant kind of freedom.

Yann Martel has called chapters 21 and 22 essential to the book. Why would this be so?

Suggested Anwer: These chapters deal explicitly with the promise of Pi’s story’s power given by Mr. Adirubasamy—that it will make the author, and by extension, the reader, believe in God. In chapter 21, that the author has begun to believe is very clear, and chapter 22 underscores Pi’s belief in every atheist’s potential to become a believer. The chapters together also underscore the act of storytelling, which Pi himself relates to a belief in God, by showing the author writing down the words which he then presents to us as Pi’s own—and which are echoed at the end of the story, when Pi convinces Mr. Okamoto to believe in his story, and thus God.

Both worship of God and survival are hugely important to Pi—which does he give primacy to?

Suggested Answer: Although Pi claims to have never lost faith in God, this faith clearly becomes less important to him while he is in his desperate fight to survive. Most obviously, he talks about God and his belief much less than in the chapters that deal with his life before and after his ordeal. He becomes to weak to perform his religious rituals with any regularity, but even more, he allows his need to survive to overpower his moral system. That is, he eats meat, kills living animals, and even goes so far as to eat human flesh.

What are the significance of the stories behind how Pi and Richard Parker got their names?

Suggested Answer: Both Pi and Richard Parker’s naming stories are related to water—Pi is named for a swimming pool, and Richard Parker’s name was supposed to be Thirsty, because he drank so emphatically. Pi’s water-related name is significant because he is the only member of his family who Mr. Adirubasamy can teach to swim, and although it does not explicitly save him, this ability gives Pi options while he is at sea. That Richard Parker ends up named after a man, rather than Thirsty as he is meant to be, is also significant because although Pi knows the danger of it, he eventually anthropomorphizes Richard Parker and so feels betrayed by him.

Belief is a major theme in this novel. How are belief in God and belief in a story paralleled in Life of Pi ?

Suggested Answer: Pi parallels the belief in God with the belief in a story by saying that everything in life is a story, because it is seen through a certain perspective, and thus altered by that perspective. If this is the case, he claims that something that doesn’t change factual existence and cannot be determined finally either way can be chosen. Given this, one can, and should, choose the better story, which Pi believes is the story—the life—that includes a belief in God.

Why is it significant that Pi is blind when he meets the Frenchman?

Suggested Answer: Pi’s blindness is symbolic in many ways in the episode with the Frenchman. At the end of Life of Pi , Pi tells the Japanese officials that they would believe in the man-eating island if they had seen it, and thus ties belief to sight. Without sight, belief is much more difficult—so much so that Pi assumes he is hallucinating for much of his conversation with the Frenchman. But in the end he is able to believe without sight, an imperative for belief in God. His blindness is also significant because it parallels the literal darkness to the figurative darkness of the scene, which is perhaps the most disturbing of all of Pi’s ordeal.

Why does Pi give Richard Parker credit for his survival?

Suggested Answer: Richard Parker provides Pi with two things that are essential to his survival—companionship, and a surmountable obstacle. Although Richard Parker’s presence at first seems like a death sentence, the challenges presented by it are in fact surmountable, as opposed to the loss of his family and the despair that it causes, which Pi can do nothing to alleviate. And although Richard Parker is dangerous, once Pi has tamed him, he does, in the wide open sea, provide a certain kind of companionship, which is deeply important to the utterly alone Pi.

If each character in Pi’s two stories are paralleled, Orange Juice to Pi’s mother, the hyena to the cook, the sailor to the zebra, and Pi to Richard Parker, what does the Pi in the first story represent?

Suggested Answer: While Richard Parker in the first story is paralleled to Pi, it can be said that he is paralleled to Pi’s survival instinct, while the Pi in the first story represents Pi’s spirituality and morality. In this way, Pi’s spirituality is able, with much hard work, to exert some control over his survival instinct—at least enough to remain in existence, even when not in control—while the survival instinct remains powerful and dangerous. Pi says that he would not have survived without Richard Parker, and this too is true in the parallel, for Pi’s spirituality and morality needed Pi’s survival instinct to keep his body alive, so that his spirituality could exist as well.

Life of Pi Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Life of Pi is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What is flight distance? Why is this important for zookeepers to know?

Flight distance is the amount of space that one animal will allow another animal before fleeing. Zookeepers need to be aware of this distance in order to keep from frightening the animals.

how pi describe the hyena

"I am not one to hold a prejudice against any animal, but it is a plain fact that the spotted hyena is not well served by its appearance. It is ugly beyond redemption. Its thick neck and high shoulders that slope to the hindquarters look as...

Please state your question.

Study Guide for Life of Pi

Life of Pi is a novel by Yann Martel. Life of Pi study guide contains a biography of author Yann Martel, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Life of Pi
• Life of Pi Summary
• Life of Pi Video
• Character List

Essays for Life of Pi

Life of Pi essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Life of Pi written by Yann Martel.

• Living a Lie: Yann Martel’s Pi and his Dissociation from Reality
• A Matter of Perspective: The Invention of a Story in Martel’s Life of Pi
• Religion as a Coping Mechanism in Life of Pi
• Hope and Understanding: Comparing Life of Pi and Bless Me, Ultima
• Religious Allegories in Life of Pi

Lesson Plan for Life of Pi

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Life of Pi
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Life of Pi Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Life of Pi

• Introduction
• Inspiration

Life of Pi: Key Characters, Plot, and Themes Essay

Introduction, key characters, plot summary, themes and personal opinion.

Life of Pi is a popular fantasy novel by Yann Martel, an author from Canada. It tells the story of Piscine, a boy who travels on a life raft with a tiger after surviving a shipwreck. After a series of hardships, the main character returns to civilization and manages to succeed in life. Martel raises several problems, ranging from the costs of survival to the details of religious self-expression.

The discussed novel is not short, but there are very few active characters that participate in the majority of critical events. Pi is a middle-aged Canadian of Indian descent, but he tells the story that happened when he was only sixteen (Palmer 2016). As a teenager, Pi believes in God, practices vegetarianism, and admires wildlife (Martel 2001). The author does not provide many details about Pi’s family. His father, Santosh, owns the Pondicherry Zoo and is skeptical about religion (Martel 2001). Gita, the main character’s mother, is a Hindu woman who implants the love of knowledge in Pi and supports him. Richard Parker also acts as a separate character – he is a three-year-old tiger named after a hunter by mistake. In this book, Richard serves as the symbol of physical power, beauty, and threat (Palmer 2016). Other characters, including Pi’s wife, brother, teacher, and children, are described in brief.

The book in question consists of three sections, each of which is devoted to the specific phase of the story. In the first part, the protagonist, known as Pi, reflects on his early life in Southern India and his relationships with parents and other family members (Martel 2001). In the first few chapters, some exciting details about Pi are revealed, including the origin of his full name, the experience of being bullied at school, and his father’s zoo and hotel businesses. Apart from these facts, Pi remembers the start of his spiritual journey when he wanted to practice three religions at the same time (Martel 2001). During the so-called Emergency period in India, Pi’s family decides to move to Canada to live in safety.

The next section is focused on Pi’s dangerous adventures during the trip to Canada. After a few days of overwater travel, “the Japanese cargo ship Tsimtsum” carrying the family and their animals runs into a gale and sinks (Martel 2001, 45). Serendipitously, Pi manages to survive and sails away with four animals on a life raft. The animals start killing each other, and Pi eventually finds himself left one on one with a “three-year-old adult Bengal tiger” named Richard Parker (Martel 2001, 47). He starts training the tiger with the help of food and tricks and becomes able to share the boat with Richard without obvious threats to life.

Different mental effects of lonely drifting with no hope of deliverance manifest themselves and make Pi approach the delirious state of mind. The tiger saves him from death a few times, and Pi wrongly assumes that they can communicate verbally. Pi and the tiger discover an island inhabited by suricates and other animals but return to the ocean due to dangerous plants. A few days after, they arrive at a Mexican beach, and the tiger runs away. In the final portion of the book, the narrator describes his communication with the Japanese authorities that investigate the case of Tsimtsum. He meets them in one of the hospitals in Mexico and tells his story, but the officials do not believe him. To avoid problems, he has to invent the second, a more realistic version of the tale by replacing animals with people.

The popularity of the novel is probably related to the number of essential ideas and issues that it raises. First of all, Life of Pi is about the need to change and the survival instinct and its manifestations in life-threatening conditions. In the first chapters, Pi is presented as a vegetarian and a person who never hurts animals. Still, as the story develops, he gradually becomes capable of hunting and eating anything to survive (Palmer 2016). Being alone with wild animals on the boat, Pi becomes an eyewitness of violence in nature when the hyena “plunges head and shoulders into the zebra’s guts” (Martel 2001, 58). This “ghastly, but natural, animal ferocity” urges Pi to challenge his ideals (Palmer 2016, 100). He has to choose between being guided by primal fear and death.

Another major theme is religion or, more specifically, Pi’s self-determination, understanding of God, and connections between religious movements. The reader is told that Pi has been raised as a Hindu but manages to understand the core ideas of the most practiced religions due to his clear-sightedness and love for God (Kuriakose 2018). Pi recognizes things that the adherents of Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity have in common, thus demonstrating his “religious imagination” (Wagner 2016, 1). He believes the concept of God to be universal and describes Hindus as “hairless Christians,” Muslims as “bearded Hindus,” and Christians as “hat-wearing Muslims” (Martel 2001, 26).

In my opinion, the novel is unique since it makes totally different worlds coexist peacefully, and it does not refer only to religion. The author uses various writing techniques and proceeds from obviously fantastic scenes to naturalistic descriptions of what Pi observes during his long journey. To me, Life of Pi is among the books that can be understood in plenty of ways. It means that all people can learn more about themselves when going through a series of unexpected adversities with Pi and trying to imagine what they would do if they were him. From my perspective, Life of Pi encourages individuals to value life just like other shipwreck narratives do. It also teaches the readers that finding their inner strength in critical situations may require revising their views of life.

Personally, I am sure that the book also has a deep meaning when it comes to culture and religion. The author’s multicultural background enables him to make references to different traditions without raising conflicts (Kuriakose 2018). To some extent, the plot demonstrates that a person’s religious affiliation does not matter when his or her life hangs in the balance. From Pi’s inner dialogues, it becomes clear that religious rivalry stems from several artificial barriers between people. Conceivably, the book can make those believing in the superiority of their religion challenge their views, thus improving mutual understanding.

To sum it up, Martel’s novel raises many philosophical themes, including religious self-determination, God’s universality, and behavioral changes that people experience in the face of death. Being quite dynamic, the plot can be interpreted in a variety of ways and lead people to different conclusions. In my opinion, the book teaches the audience to build inner strength, value life, and avoid dividing people by religion.

Kuriakose, John. 2018. “Religious Pluralism in Yan Martel’s Life of Pi: A Case of Intertextual Correspondence with Swami Vivekananda’s Religious Philosophy.” Advances in Language and Literary Studies 9 (2): 138–145. Web.

Martel, Yann. 2001. Life of Pi . Toronto, Canada: Knopf Canada.

Palmer, Christopher. 2016. Castaway Tales: From Robinson Crusoe to Life of Pi. Middletown, NJ: Wesleyan University Press.

Wagner, Rachel. 2016. “Screening Belief: The Life of Pi, Computer Generated Imagery, and Religious Imagination.” Religions 7 (8): 1–22. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2023, October 31). Life of Pi: Key Characters, Plot, and Themes. https://ivypanda.com/essays/life-of-pi-key-characters-plot-and-themes/

"Life of Pi: Key Characters, Plot, and Themes." IvyPanda , 31 Oct. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/life-of-pi-key-characters-plot-and-themes/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Life of Pi: Key Characters, Plot, and Themes'. 31 October.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Life of Pi: Key Characters, Plot, and Themes." October 31, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/life-of-pi-key-characters-plot-and-themes/.

1. IvyPanda . "Life of Pi: Key Characters, Plot, and Themes." October 31, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/life-of-pi-key-characters-plot-and-themes/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Life of Pi: Key Characters, Plot, and Themes." October 31, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/life-of-pi-key-characters-plot-and-themes/.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Life of Pi — Reflection On The Novel Life Of Pi

Reflection on The Novel Life of Pi

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Francis Adirubasamy first presents Pi ’s tale to the fictional author as “a story to make you believe in God,” immediately introducing religion as a crucial theme. Pi is raised in a secular, culturally Hindu family, but as a boy he becomes more devoutly Hindu and then also converts to Christianity and Islam. He practices all of these religions at once despite the protests of his three religious leaders, who each assert that their religion contains the whole and exclusive truth. Instead of dwelling on divisive dogma, Pi focuses on the stories of his different faiths and their different pathways to God, and he reads a story of universal love in all three religions. In fact, it seems that faith and belief is more important to Pi than religious truth, as he also admires atheists for taking a stand in believing that the universe is a certain way. It is only agnostics that Pi dislikes, as they choose doubt as a way of life and never choose a “better story.”

When he is stranded at sea, Pi’s faith is tested by his extreme struggles, but he also experiences the sublime in the grandiosity of his surroundings. All external obstacles are stripped away, leaving only an endless circle of sea and sky, and one day he rejoices over a powerful lightning storm as a “miracle.” After his rescue Pi returns to the concept of faith again. He tells his interviewers two versions of his survival story (one with animals and one without) and then asks which one they prefer. The officials disbelieve the animal story, but they agree that it is the more compelling and memorable of the two. Pi responds with “so it goes with God,” basically saying that he chooses to have religious faith because he finds a religious worldview more beautiful. The “facts” are unknowable concerning God’s existence, so Pi chooses the story he likes better, which is the one involving God.

Religion and Faith ThemeTracker

Religion and Faith Quotes in Life of Pi

He took in my line of work with a widening of the eyes and a nodding of the head. It was time to go. I had my hand up, trying to catch my waiter’s eye to get the bill. Then the elderly man said, “I have a story that will make you believe in God.”

Sometimes I got my majors mixed up. A number of my fellow religious-studies students – muddled agnostics who didn’t know which way was up, who were in the thrall of reason, that fool’s gold for the bright – reminded me of the three-toed sloth; and the three-toed sloth, such a beautiful example of the miracle of life, reminded me of God.

In the literature can be found legions of examples of animals that could escape but did not, or did and returned… But I don’t insist. I don’t mean to defend zoos. Close them all down if you want (and let us hope that what wildlife remains can survive in what is left of the natural world). I know zoos are no longer in people’s good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both. The Pondicherry Zoo doesn’t exist any more. Its pits are filled in, the cages torn down. I explore it now in the only place left for it, my memory.

It was my first clue that atheists are my brothers and sisters of a different faith, and every word they speak speaks faith. Like me, they go as far as the legs of reason will carry them – and then they leap. I’ll be honest about. It is not atheists who get stuck in my craw, but agnostics. Doubt is useful for a while. We must all pass through the garden of Gethsemane… But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.

I can well imagine an atheist’s last words… and the deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry, yeastless factuality, might try to explain the warm light bathing him by saying, “Possibly a f-f-failing oxygenation of the b-b-brain,” and, to the very end, lack imagination and miss the better story.

The pandit spoke first. “Mr. Patel, Piscine’s piety is admirable. In these troubled times it’s good to see a boy so keen on God. We all agree on that.” The imam and the priest nodded. “But he can’t be a Hindu, a Christian and a Muslim. It’s impossible. He must choose…” “Hmmm, Piscine?” Mother nudged me. “How do you feel about the question?” “Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God,” I blurted out, and looked down, red in the face.

I didn’t have pity to spare for long for the zebra. When your own life is threatened, your sense of empathy is blunted by a terrible, selfish hunger for survival. It was sad that it was suffering so much… but there was nothing I could do about it. I felt pity and then I moved on. This is not something I am proud of. I am sorry I was so callous about the matter. I have not forgotten that poor zebra and what it went through. Not a prayer goes by that I don’t think of it.

I was giving up. I would have given up – if a voice hadn’t made itself heard in my heart. The voice said, “I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen every day. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen.”

Despair was a heavy blackness that let no light in or out. It was a hell beyond expression. I thank God it always passed. A school of fish appeared around the net or a knot cried out to be reknotted. Or I thought of my family, of how they were spared this terrible agony. The blackness would stir and eventually go away, and God would remain, a shining point of light in my heart. I would go on loving.

Life on a lifeboat isn’t much of a life. It is like an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The elements couldn’t be more simple, nor the stakes higher. Physically it is extraordinarily arduous, and morally it is killing… You get your happiness where you can. You reach a point where you’re at the bottom of hell, yet you have your arms crossed and a smile on your face, and you feel you’re the luckiest person on earth. Why? Because at your feet you have a tiny dead fish.

I was dazed, thunderstruck – nearly in the true sense of the word. But not afraid. “Praise be to Allah, Lord of All Worlds, the Compassionate, the Merciful, Ruler of Judgment Day!” I muttered. To Richard Parker I shouted, “Stop your trembling! This is miracle. This is an outbreak of divinity. This is… this is…” I could not find what it was, this thing so vast and fantastic… I remember that close encounter with electrocution and third-degree burns as one of the few times during my ordeal when I felt genuine happiness.

By the time morning came, my grim decision was taken. I preferred to set off and perish in search of my own kind than to live a lonely half-life of physical comfort and spiritual death on this murderous island.

High calls low and low calls high. I tell you, if you were in such dire straits as I was, you too would elevate your thoughts. The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar. It was natural that, bereft and desperate as I was, in the throes of unremitting suffering, I should turn to God.

“If you stumble at mere believability, what are you living for? Isn’t love hard to believe?... Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?” “We’re just being reasonable.” “So am I! I applied my reason at every moment… Nothing beats reason for keeping tigers away. But be excessively reasonable and you risk throwing out the universe with the bathwater.”

“So tell me, since it makes no factual difference to you and you can’t prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with animals or the story without animals?” Mr. Okamoto: “That’s an interesting question…” Mr. Chiba: “The story with animals.” Mr. Okamoto: “Yes. The story with animals is the better story.” Pi Patel: “Thank you. And so it goes with God.”