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Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

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Yann Martel's Life Of Pi
Kassidey Smale
December 16th, 2013
ELA A30

It is necessary that we as humans must face a variety of decisions throughout the course of our lives. Some minor and some major. Books can help us discover ourselves as well by placing us in a sea of ‘what- if’s. Such as, what if you were stranded in the middle of the ocean and you had to put aside your morals in order to survive? In The
 Life Of Pi, by Yann Martel, Pi endures this situation as result of conflicting factors that he and his family are forced to face. Many pieces of literature like Life of Pi involve a character that is stuck between cultures or conflicting factors. Pi is a young man who …show more content…
Whether it is finding him food or water, or simply defending himself against a brutal murder, Pi was constantly working hard. But if it wasn 't for the tiger Pi would of died. "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. He kept me from thinking too much about my family and my tragic circumstances. He pushed me to go on living. I hated him for it, yet at the same time I was grateful. I am grateful. It 's the plain truth: without Richard Parker, I wouldn 't be alive today to tell you my story."(Pi, 266) Richard Parker is not only created in the mind of Pi Patel to save him from the trauma of the killings, Richard Parker is created to save him from his own insanity. Richard Parker cannot only be an animal representation of Pi 's cruelty, but also Pi 's conscience, hope, & sanity. “ Richard Parker had stayed with me. I’ve never forgotten him. Dare I say I miss him? I do. I miss him. I still see him in my dreams. They are nightmares mostly, but nightmares tinged with love”. (Pi, 8) Pi went on to explain, “I could not understand how he could abandon me so unceremoniously, without any sort of good-bye, without even looking back once”. (Martel, 266) Pi describes the pain much like an axe that chopped at his heart. Pi’s uneasy attachment to Richard Parker is something that stays with him for the rest of his life. The knowledge that Richard Parker would have eaten Pi in an instant if he had no food left does not deter Pi from loving him in this unusual way. It is a bond formed between two beings that have suffered together for many days. Pi feels as though Richard Parker was cold and unfeeling to leave him behind. Of course, Richard Parker is also a tiger who heard the call of the jungle, something he greatly preferred to a lifeboat floating in the ocean. Pi himself symbolizes
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