The Necessity of Fear for Faith in Life of Pi. intact, seen through Pi s fear of God, Richard Parker, and the truth.

Transcription

1 Cariño i Joy Cariño Mrs. E. Richardson University English II 16 November 2015 The Necessity of Fear for Faith in Life of Pi Thesis: Pi s attempts to come to terms with his various fears help keep Pi s devout faith intact, seen through Pi s fear of God, Richard Parker, and the truth. I. God A. Pi s yearning to know God to combat doubt 1. His father s and biology teacher s atheism 2. Pi s devotion to the three religions at once B. Pi s preferences for the different aspects of God II. Richard Parker A. Pi s father s demonstration of the tiger s ferocity causing Pi s lifelong fear B. Pi s allowing Richard Parker on the boat C. Richard Parker s necessity to Pi s survival III. The truth A. Pi s creation of the first story with the animals B. The possibility of Pi s cannibalism in the second story C. The first story as an attempt to come to terms with Pi s trauma

2 Cariño 1 Joy Cariño Mrs. E. Richardson University English II 16 November 2015 The Necessity of Fear for Faith in Life of Pi Yann Martel s novel Life of Pi breaches the boundaries of genres as a fantasy novel, a castaway adventure, and a spiritual journey. The novel is told through a Canadian author who travels to India and meets an old man claiming he has a story that will make the author believe in God: the life of Pi Patel. Pi s story begins from his wondrous childhood in India by describing his loving and tight-knit family, life among the zoo animals, and his curiosity with the vastness of God. His family owns Pondicherry Zoo, but fearing India s unstable government, Pi s father decides to sell their animals and sail for Canada; however, the Patel family never makes it across, and only Pi survives to tell the tale of taming a Bengal tiger and surviving on a lifeboat for 227 days across the Pacific. The resolution of Pi s story portrays Pi s questioning his entire account as told in the novel by creating his own alternate story, symbolizing the horrors he faced while on the lifeboat. Throughout the novel, fear is a necessity, influencing Pi s physical, even metaphysical survival. Most importantly, fear influences Pi s necessity to remain faithful to the God Pi loves. Pi s attempts to come to terms with his various fears keep Pi s devout faith intact, seen through his fear of God, Richard Parker, and the truth. Pi views the world through the context that it is governed by God, an all-powerful being who takes an active role in the world each day; however, Pi has taken this need to know God to an extreme level, indicating Pi s fear of God since childhood. Pi took seriously Gandhi s injunction that all religions are true (Stephens 44), and combines his three religions without

3 Cariño 2 sacrificing their individual characteristics (qtd. in Thorn 3). In Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam, there are aspects of God that appeal to Pi and show him a unique approach to the God he could not find in each religion alone. This approach is both holistic and fragmented, as Pi gathers the different entities and representations of God to create, or even reveal, the God he searches to love. For example, Pi describes his coming to religion first through Hinduism when his aunt takes him to a Hindu temple with its colorful shrines and sweet incense. Pi proclaims, The universe makes sense to me through Hindu eyes (Martel 48). At age fourteen, Pi falls in love with the humble Christ who gets tired is sad is heckled and harassed (55) and is so different from the Hindu gods with shine and power and might (55). At age fifteen, Pi devotes himself to Islam, a beautiful religion of brotherhood and devotion (61). Furthermore, Pi relates Hindu s concept of that which sustains the universe beyond thought and language which is at the core of us (48-49) to the Christian concept of the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Pi continues to find God among the three religions, calling Hindus hairless Christians, just as Muslims are bearded Hindus, and Christians are hat-wearing Muslims (50). The statement summarizes Pi s conclusion that they are all related due to the supernatural beliefs that tie them together in loving devotion to God. Pi s devotion to God and his determination to all three religions are examples of a deep fear of God. Pi is aware of God s power, and in response, he wishes to know all forms of God to protect him in the current life and the afterlife. These show evidence to Pi s deep fear of God, and Pi s ability to stay devout to Him in the trials he will face. Pi s fear of God is extreme, and his desire to simply love God is so strong that he endures ridicule from his family, his community, and his religious leaders; however, this foundation of extreme dedication is not fulfilled until Pi reaches the lifeboat and must face extreme conditions

4 Cariño 3 from nature. Michael Thorn reasons that Pi s faith does not disappear under the weight of his intense suffering Pi wakes to great existential angst but soothes himself with faith (9). Pi claims to have been in the presence of God shortly after he added Islam to his set of beliefs. This occurs when he bikes to the top of a hill and gazes over the sea. At this point, Pi feels a paradoxical mix of pulsing energy and profound peace where the road, the sea, the trees, the air, the sun spoke a language of unity (62). The second time is in Canada when he sees fine snow falling through the air and immediately envisions the Virgin Mary (62), though he s not entirely sure why. Evident in these two accounts, Gregory Stephens suggests that Pi s understanding of nature is shaped by his practice of three religions (51). Similarly, Pi grows closer to God on the lifeboat, at the brink of death by nature. An example arises when Pi faces a storm on the lifeboat, each wave threatening to capsize his boat. Pi calls out to God: Praise be to Allah, Lord of All Worlds, the Compassionate, the Merciful, Ruler of Judgment Day! (233) until he was dazed, thunderstruck But not afraid (233). Stephens suggests, Pi experiences his own void, of withdrawal from God, which he (partially) finesses by clinging to a radically deconstructed religious practice (50). Pi even continues practicing the religious rituals that I adapted to the circumstances solitary Masses without priests darshans without murtis (198). These rituals served to bring him comfort, but it was hard, oh, it was hard (198). Pi confesses that he felt as if God s ear didn t seem to be listening (209) because his ordeal is so traumatic as to challenge and to cast into doubt the legitimacy of his religious training (Stephens 51). However, Pi contemplates his depression by saying, 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 (209). Pi attempts to resolve his fear by finding solace in God, even in the face of constant danger.

5 Cariño 4 Since his childhood, Pi expresses a deep love, or fear, for God in His different forms but finds a flaw in blind religion at an early age as well. This speculation arises when Pi meets his biology teacher, Mr. Kumar, at Pondicherry Zoo. Kumar is characterized as a man of hard science and reason who approved of every animal he saw as a triumph of logic and mechanics (26). However, Pi is astonished at Mr. Kumar s statement, Religion is darkness (27), since Pi had never heard such words (27). Kumar then goes on to describe his childhood in an orphanage, sick with polio, crying out to a God who never saved him. Kumar concludes that it wasn t God who saved me it was medicine. Reason is my prophet (28). Stephens remarks that these were words with power, and the young Pi instinctively fears their power (43). Though this fear is not a fear of God, it is the fear that in a few words thrown out [Mr. Kumar] might destroy something that I loved (28). Pi still fears doubt s virulence (Cole 31). This shows that Pi sees faith in God primarily as an armour against doubt, a viewpoint facilitated by his dual role as both religious believer and teller of fantastical tales (Cole 32). However, Pi reflects upon the strength of Mr. Kumar s words to come to a conclusion between atheism and devout religion, therefore confirming his reasons for believing in God. While Pi finds truth in all three religions, he even includes atheism under that umbrella of acceptableness because atheism acts as a response to doubt, something Pi fears as evident in his reaction to Mr. Kumar. Pi considers Mr. Kumar his favorite teacher, and since Mr. Kumar was the first avowed atheist Pi had ever met, Pi takes this experience as his first clue that atheists are my brothers and sisters of a different faith (28). Pi realizes that reliance on tangible reason can be a form of faith: they go as far as the legs of reason will carry them and then they leap (28). According to Pi, as long as a belief allows someone to take a leap of faith to come to a conclusion about his origins, he is not choosing immobility as a form of transportation (28).

6 Cariño 5 Inspired by Mr. Kumar s words, Pi resolves this fear of doubt by channeling it into his passion for a science and study of the world: zoology, which constitutes half of his worldview (Stephens 44). Religion makes up the remaining half of his worldview, obvious through his amusing religious doings (64). As stated early on in the novel, Pi studies both zoology and religion at the University of Toronto, and sometimes got my majors mixed up (5). Pi s statement, I have heard nearly as much nonsense about zoos as I have about God and religion (17), indicates that Pi s training in both theology and religion. In this way, Pi attempts to come to terms with his fear of a failing God by coupling religion with tangible science and reason. Pi s father, also a secular, non-religious man, influences Pi s life by showing Pi and his brother Ravi the obvious cruelty in both humans and animals, thus beginning Pi s intense fear and caution towards animals. Mr. Patel s method of teaching Pi and Ravi the true nature of humans and animals, and their often unnatural relationship (Stephens 44) is not surprising. Pi s father first instills this fear of animals in Pi by a single demonstration when Pi was very young, thus beginning Pi s nonreligious preparation to revision human-animal relations (Stephens 44). Pi s father brings Pi and Ravi into a room where a hungry Bengal tiger sits in a cage. Mr. Patel then places an injured goat in the cage, leaving the goat at the mercy of the tiger; Pi is horrified at the sight gory enough to scare the living vegetarian daylights out of me (36). Regardless, Pi realizes that his father did this because he loves his children. Mr. Patel then continues to point out the rest of the animals dangers, enforcing the idea that Life will defend itself no matter how small it is (68). Pi s training as the son of a zookeeper and Mr. Patel s harsh (yet wise) demonstrations at the zoo reinforce the danger of comparing humans and animals in ways that suggest equality (Bartosch 195) and potentially leading to harm on both humans and animals. There is fear for the other from both sides, and Pi is able to understand this after being stuck on

7 Cariño 6 the lifeboat with Richard Parker. Pi s fear of animals continues for the rest of his life, ultimately playing an important role to his survival, sanity, and faith to God on the lifeboat when Pi is stuck with a zebra, an orangutan, and finally, a Bengal tiger. The second part of the novel consists of Pi s terrifying journey at sea, an ordeal in which Pi gains insight into the fear dynamic between humans and animals. A surprising addition to Pi s story is Richard Parker, a misnamed Bengal tiger who is being shipped to Canada as well. As a storm sinks the Tsimtsum, a man throws Pi overboard into a lifeboat. However, Pi sees Richard Parker in the distance, paddling for his life, the very creature Pi would rather fall into the ocean to get away from rather than face (107). Yet Pi still calls out, Richard Parker, is that you?...yes, it is you! (97), inviting a Bengal tiger on the small lifeboat with him. This act is contrary to everything he s been taught about animals, especially tigers. However, there is something in Pi that makes him want a companion, no matter how life-threatening. In fact, Pi recalls, He looked small and helpless His nose and mouth kept dipping underwater. Only his eyes were steadily on me (97-98). Though Pi fears tigers, Pi s allowing Richard Parker onto the boat gives Pi an opportunity to ensure his survival and eventually test his faith. Later on when Pi decides to train the tiger, Pi describes Richard Parker in a wondrous tone of awe: Richard Parker [was] a display of mighty art Every hair on me was standing up, shrieking with fear ( ). Pi s choice of language, using human attributes to describe Richard Parker, invokes a passionate sense of empathy with a fellow creature struggling for survival (Bartosch 198). Once Pi realizes what he has done by allowing Richard Parker onto the boat, he panics: Truly I was to be the next goat (99). However, Pi has already established a sense of community with the anthropomorphized animal that can no longer be dismissed (Bartosch 198). Anthropomorphizing refers to the act of comparing an animal on equal terms to

8 Cariño 7 humans, the very thought and action Pi s father warns him against. However, Pi s initial emotional response (198) towards Richard Parker creates a bond between the two that Pi must deal with, and, in effect, draw from the strength he has developed from his faith. Cole suggests that Pi never entirely loses his youthful tendency to anthropomorphize (28), which Pi must combat with fear of the animal itself. Pi s fear toward Richard Parker adds to the fear for his own life. Reason and fear play a part in Pi s survival on the lifeboat, giving Pi the need to rely on faith. At the end of the novel when Pi tells his story to the two Japanese men investigating the fate of the lifeboat, the Japanese insist that Pi s story is untrue and that they are being reasonable (298). In response, Pi asserts, I applied my reason at every moment. Reason is excellent for getting food, clothing, and shelter Nothing beats reason for keeping tigers away (298). Ironically, the only time he defies reason is when he first contemplates his situation, hanging on the edge of a lifebuoy because Richard Parker was on the lifeboat: Had I considered my prospects in the light of reason, I surely would have given up and let go of the oar I don t recall that I had a single thought during those first minutes of relative safety I held on to the oar God only knows why (107). Either God or fear had been protecting Pi when Pi had abandoned reason, giving evidence to Pi s fear influencing his decisions, and, in this case, Pi s decision to stay alive. Throughout the Pacific journey, Pi finds himself fighting between reason and fear when dealing with Richard Parker, forcing Pi to rely on his own will and faith. For example, Pi says, Could he burst through the tarpaulin, I wondered. Fear and reason fought over the answer. Fear said Yes Reason said No (108). Later on, when Pi gathers himself enough to function and utilize reason, Pi discovered at that moment that I have a fierce will to live (148). That

9 Cariño 8 fierce will is another reason why Pi reflects, Only death consistently excites your emotions, whether contemplating it when life is safe and stale, or fleeing it when life is threatened and precious (217). To ease the constant death and boredom, Pi calls upon God as well, giving credit to miracle by saying I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen (148). This idea returns to Pi s conversation with the Japanese men: But be excessively reasonable and you risk throwing out the universe with the bathwater (298). While the Japanese men ponder on the significance of bathwater, Pi remains in control of the interview because of his reliance on just the right amount of reason. Again, this displays Pi s coming to terms with his fears by gathering strength from reason and faith, a process which is becoming more and more necessary to his survival and sanity. Though Richard Parker is a threat to Pi s life, the presence of that threat instills enough fear and sanity in Pi to remain living. Pi begins training Richard Parker by asserting his dominance, acting as a circus animal trainer. Especially with Pi s extravagant escapades to control Richard Parker, Stephens asserts that Pi s transition into a concept of companionship with, and indeed love for, this tiger, requires a rethinking of the relativity of madness and sanity (46). Richard Parker indeed keeps Pi sane by giving him times to utilize reason. Pi even gives a confession: I will tell you a secret: a part of me was glad about Richard Parker If I still had the will to live, it was thanks to Richard Parker I wouldn t be alive today to tell you my story (164). Richard Parker becomes as essential to Pi as Pi s dependency and faith to the three religions, giving evidence to the idea that Pi s coming to terms with his fears strengthens his faith.

10 Cariño 9 The bulk of the novel consists of Pi s journey at sea, and this is the first story Pi tells the Japanese men investigating what happened to the Tsimtsum; the Japanese men s responses and Pi s vague and sarcastic comments give the reader some entertainment while also establishing the possibility that Pi has gained a strange kind of wisdom and reason from his fearful ordeal at sea. The reader is able to believe the first story because of its detailed documentation fusing mundane ordinary details with an incredible story of the heroic struggle of a religiously devout man to overcome the impediments of material reality (Stratton 10). Though the reader may be convinced, the Japanese men are immediately skeptical, remarking, Very interesting and What a story (291). They finally confront Pi saying, Mr. Patel, we don t believe your story because the story doesn t hold up (292). Pi then continues to confound the Japanese men with assertions that a tiger on a lifeboat and floating bananas are completely reasonable (293, 297). Pi also asks them for a cookie every now and then until the Japanese men run out of cookies. Pi makes the distinction between liking and believing a story (Cole 33) clear to the Japanese men. These actions suggest Pi s newfound wisdom and sheer exasperation from being a lonely castaway for so long, losing his family, then having to deal with men who only want a flat story. An immobile story dry, yeastless factuality (302) for their shipping company s purposes. Pi s long tirade of insisting that tigers, cannibalistic islands, and all components of the first story are indeed reasonable gives the reader the idea that Pi may be circling the question in order to avoid the horrific truth. At the Japanese men s insistence, Pi tells an alternate story that defies what the reader has just read; though it is uncomfortable to accept, it is somehow more believable, giving the reader insight into the horrors Pi may have actually witnessed while on the boat and the truth that Pi ultimately fears. Pi twists the truth in favor of a less gory story when the Japanese men ask for

11 Cariño 10 the details of how the Tsimtsum sank. Perhaps the first story is the better story because it is, as Florence Stratton suggests a very conventional story of male courage, endurance, and survival (17). On the other hand, Pi s second story lacks the bulk of the first story, [and] it has its own depth and complexity (Stratton 12). Its value is almost opposite from the first story: it is written in a prose of concentrated direction and it is anti-romantic and anti-idealist in its thrust (12). While the Japanese men respond that the story without the animals is a horrible story (311), Michael Thorn claims that both stories and the gap that arises between them all represent the better story (9). Furthermore, Thorn argues that Pi s better story is little more than a profound psychological coping mechanism or a complex form of unconscious denial (3). However, the second story, though it may have arisen from Pi s need to cope with his trauma, seems to have the potential to expand our knowledge of human nature one that tells us that the most religious and idealistic of men can be led into savagery and brutality by the allure of power (Stratton 17), thus making Pi no better than any man, religious or not. Pi has experienced horrors that even he participated in: selfishness, murder, and cannibalism (306, ). In order to cope from the fear of having to admit to this, Pi must turn to God. In light of this new information, Pi s second story must be the truth with the first story being something Pi created in order to deal with what happened. Thorn analyzes that the first story is an allegory of projection and displacement: the zebra is the sailor, the hyena the cook, the orangutan Pi s mother, and Pi Richard Parker (5). While the reader is able to grasp the first story is truth, it causes the entire novel to be of a dry, yeastless, factuality. However, the reader can take this in terms of Pi s need to remain faithful to God. Pi must cope with the moral dilemma because of a biological imperative: he must kill to survive (Stephens 53). As a lifelong vegetarian, Pi cringes and wept heartily when he has to kill a fish in order to eat (183).

12 Cariño 11 Pi reflects, It was the first sentient being I had ever killed I was now as guilty as Cain I had blood on my hands (183). In addition to being such a peaceful person, Pi also realizes that each living creature, like him, possesses the fierce will to live (148). Pi, a naturally peaceful, deeply religious man, is forced to take action in order to survive. Pi also most likely had this sentiment in the second story when he kills the cook after the cook killed his mother, but he most likely did not weep heartily or feel remorse at the time. This, in addition to eating the cook, is the trauma that Pi must deal with. Like all animals, Pi fears for his life, and this fear drives Pi to take drastic measures. Pi s need to cope with what he has done is evident in Pi s conclusion to the second story: Solitude began. I turned to God. I survived (311). In order for Pi to be able to forgive himself for committing such deeds and to cope with the truth of his actions, Pi must find solace in the God he had been seeking since childhood. Throughout Yann Martel s castaway narrative, fear drives protagonist Pi s actions, thoughts, and conclusions about his life and dilemmas. Pi copes with his fear of God by following three religions at once, trying to find out all he can about the God that shapes his worldview and giving Him credit for the miracle of his survival. Pi endures ridicule from his family and turns to his assertion that he loves God; this in turn strengthens Pi s faith and prepares him for darker trials on the lifeboat. Pi also fears animals, a fear developed from Pi s life as a zookeeper s son. Most importantly, Pi must handle his fear of the Bengal tiger he must deal with while he is lost at sea, having lost his family and ship to Canada. However, the constant presence of this fear enables Pi s survival and brings Pi to draw strength from his faiths. Finally, having killed and committed other desperate acts for survival, Pi must deal with his fear of the truth when he tells his story. Pi attempts to cope with this fear by fabricating a story that is more aesthetically pleasing, the story that is first presented in the novel. However, after Pi admits to

13 Cariño 12 the second story, giving the reader a second option of truth, Pi also admits having turned to God after deciding to survive in solitude for 227 days. In conclusion, Pi s attempts to cope with fear enable him to keep his faith intact despite facing an omnipresent God, a carnivorous tiger, and a horrible truth.

14 Cariño 13 Works Cited Bartosch, Roman. Negotiating the Human-Animal Boundary: Intertextuality and Metafiction in Life of Pi and Beatrice and Virgil. Nature, Culture, and Literature 9 (2013): EBSCOhost. Web. 12 October Cole, Stewart. Believing in Tigers: Anthropomorphism and Incredulity in Yann Martel s Life of Pi. Studies in Canadian Literature 29.2 (2004): Google Scholar. Web. 14 September Martel, Yann. Life of Pi: A Novel. New York: Harcourt, Print. Stephens, Gregory. Feeding Tiger, Finding God: Science, Religion, and the Better Story in Life of Pi. Intertexts 14.1 (Spring 2010): EBSCOhost. Web. 14 September Stratton, Florence. Hollow at the Core: Deconstructing Yann Martel s Life of Pi. Studies in Canadian Literature 29.2 (2004): Google Scholar. Web. 14 September Thorn, Michael. Cannibalism, Communion, and Multifaith Sacrifice in the novel and Film Life of Pi. Journal of Religion and Popular Culture (Spring 2015): EBSCOhost. Web. 12 October 2015.