Strangely, when their boat finally reaches land, Richard Parker abandons Pi almost immediately. Pi accepts him as an equal life form, as something to keep around for his own sake, even if it means more fear and danger for himself. His fear of Richard Parker keeps him sharp and gives him an occupation while he awaits salvation. Richard Parker, too, is orange, and Pi mentions his reliance on the animal for survival repeatedly.

Now, he looks into the animal’s eyes and once more sees a living soul-he sees himself, and he cannot bring himself to harm Richard Parker. His father denied it then, but Pi knew better in his heart. Here we are reminded of an earlier exchange between Pi and his father about seeing the soul of an animal in its eyes. Spiritual, vegetarian Pi nearly kills the tiger with a hatchet but hesitates when he looks into the tiger’s eyes. One of the story’s climaxes happens when Richard Parker leaps into the ocean and finds himself unable to climb back into the boat. During his odyssey, Pi fights the ocean, starvation, and of course, Richard Parker, to survive. At this point, the plot ends and the story begins. A storm hits their ship, however, and Pi ends up on a lifeboat with a hungry and frightened Richard Parker. When Pi grows a bit older, his family attempts to relocate to America. He shows Pi the fearsome nature of their tiger, Richard Parker, during one of his feeding sessions, ripping Pi’s ignorance from him like entrails from the captive goat. A zookeeper, Pi’s father tells him that man is a thinking creature, different from the other animals and too smart for faith. As a result, his father, rooted in traditional realism, (Adil Hussain) warns him against the dangers of practicing multiple faiths. He collects the traditions of Hinduism, Catholicism, and Islam, worshipping gods the way most kids worship superheroes or athletes. Young Pi (Suraj Sharma) has a hunger for religion.

With glassy waters and orange skies, Life of Pi presents the visually stunning, psychologically unbearable, and spiritually enlightening coming to age narrative that makes me wish I read the book first.

But, like religion, this story may point to something greater than its literal worth. Outwardly, it tells the story of a boy lost at sea in the company of a tiger. Who do we fight when left stranded-the literal threat or the parts of ourselves that we hid from the light?ĭirector Ang Lee’s Life of Pi (2012), based on Yann Martel’s novel by the same name, illustrates a tale about faith-faith in oneself, in others, and in God.

Life of pi response journal yann martel