In the novel Life of Pi, Pi’s love for god, belief in his religion, and all around faith is the main theme of this story.
Earlier in the novel, in his home of Pondicherry, Pi’s atheistic biology teacher challenges Pi’s Hindu faith in god. This makes him realize the incredible power of belief, the need stray away from the otherwise bleakness of the universe. Because of his love for God this motivates Pi to learn more. He then begins to learn about other religions such as Christianity and islam which allows him to realize that all these religions share the same foundation, which is a belief of a greater or higher power.
“Scientists are a friendly, atheistic, hard-working lot whose minds are preoccupied with sex, chess and baseball when they are not preoccupied with science.” What this quote should show you is that this is Pi’s perception of how scientists think that in their mind they truly do not think about God because science is their main belief. Pi obviously believes otherwise.
“To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.” This quote I chose because it reflects Pi’s beliefs unto the scientist, the scientist doubts that God could exist, so his doubt is akin to choosing to remain still instead of choosing to walk and roam freely. This quote is an example of Pi’s strong belief in his religion and God. In fact it is so strong that he cannot except the scientists view on creation because they are so against God that they could not possibly be true no matter how much of it makes sense. So early on in the book the author has already started to press how big a role religion and faith will play in his novel.
As you read the novel it truly becomes clear to you that Pi is in love with God. He is so in love with God that he chooses to study christianity and islam plus he is already hindu this is according to the religons he has learned of unacceptable as shown in the following quote.
‘After the “Hellos” and the “Good days”, there was an awkward silence. The priest broke it when he said, with pride in his voice, “Piscine is a good Christian boy. I hope to see him join our choir soon.”
My parents, the pandit and the imam looked surprised.
“You must be mistaken. He’s a good Muslim boy. He comes without fail to Friday prayer, and his knowledge of the Holy Qur’an is coming along nicely.” So said the imam.
My parents, the priest and the pandit looked incredulous.
The pandit spoke. “You’re both wrong. He’s a good Hindu boy. I see him all the time at the temple coming for darshan and performing puja.”
My parents, the imam and priest looked astounded.
“There is no mistake,” said the priest. “I know this boy. He is Piscine Molitor Patel and he’s a Christian.”
“I know him too, and I tell you he’s a Muslim,” asserted the imam.
“Nonsense!” cried the pandit. “Piscene was born a Hindu, lives a Hindu and will die a Hindu!”
The three wise men stared at each other, breathless and disbelieving.
Lord, avert their eyes from me, I whispered in my soul.
All eyes fell upon me.’
This quote shows you nto only that the many different religions for whatever reason cannot be one they must be separate with their beliefs and also shown in this quote it seems strange to Pi after all that he has learned from each religion that they do not see that each religion shares the same common belief with only a few beliefs that bare even a slight difference from the others.
‘”Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God,” I blurted out, and looked down, red in the face.’ This quote shows how angry and upset Pi gets with the men and how they are agruing because Pi must belong to one religion not many, that he must share one belief not many.
These people fail to realize that it is on the inside that God must be defended, not on the outside. They should direct their anger at themselves. For evil in the open is evil from within that has been let out. The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena but the small clearing of each heart.” This quote is just to help better understand Pi’s feelings on the subject of different religions not being allowed to cross together.
His need for spiritual connection deepens while at sea. In his first couple of days while on the lifeboat he beings to lose faith and he feels the need to give up and it is at this one and only point where he questions God. But while thinking about the tragedy that has befallen him he realizes that he is still alive so God must be with him. He believes he has been given a miracle it’s this very thought that gives him the strength needed to stay alive. After this incident he regularly prays which provides him with a connection to something greater, something holy.
“All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive.” This quote shows Pi explaining how he came to the realization of God keeping him alive and the fact that his situation could have been much worse for he could have died, he could not of had the chance to survive and figure a way to be rescued.
“Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love- but sometimes it was so hard to love.” This quote shows how his faith had been dwindling during his fight for survival, but kept his faith strong.
So through my essay I have hopefully presented a strong enough case of how Pi’s religious beliefs and his strong willed faith kept him alive during his adventure. Belief in God can be hard when times are difficult but through strong faith as Pi showed you can persevere and rise up.
