Life of Pi: Reflective Essay
Shilo Thomas – Coll
Who or what is God? Is he / she something we have created to feel not
so alone? Something, we as humans made up, to teach us humility in the face
of being the top predators on this planet? Is it a primal need to worship a deity
to feel connected to our ancestor’s way of life? And if so, does our full
composition as humans include a soul to be connected to such deity? We rely
so deeply in these elements in our day to day thought process, that sometimes
just the very denial of such sentiments starts a ripple effect of chaos in our
core and in the fabric of our society. And then we have the most enigmatic of
feeling that echoes in this line of questioning: faith. Faith is defined as a firm
belief in something for which there is no proof. 1 For some fascinating
reason, we as humans find faith and belief as essential emotions to
which, in some cases mental stability is required. Especially, belief and
trust in and loyalty to God and belief in the traditional doctrines of a
religion. 2
The movie Life of Pi (and I imagine the novel for which it was based)
starts with a young Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, a young Indian boy, who lives
with his family in India. Pi is raised as a vegetarian Hindu, but comes across a
Christian church; he is intrigued by its teachings and decides to add the
dogmas of such religion in his core of beliefs. Later on, he comes to know the
teachings of Islam and decides to incorporate them as well, for to him it is the
love and connection to God which motivates him, and he finds that each
religion has something exceptional to contribute to the foundation of the
growth of his soul. His mother approves of the young boys quest for spiritual
enlightenment but his father is more apprehensive, since he is a rationalist. He
1
2
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/faith
Id.
tries to convert him to his way by understanding rather than blindly
following.3. Or at the very least, choosing one path.
Piscine’s family owns a zoo, giving him a great fascination for animals
and knowledge into animal phycology. This fascination, mixed with the boy’s
own religious beliefs, brings him naturally to the examination of the existence
of a soul, and the protoscience that not only humans possess one, but that
basically all sentient beings, such as animals, have one as well. In a rude
awakening, Pi tries to befriend the zoo’s new Bengal tiger, Richard Parker,
with a bite of meat almost losing his arm in the interim. This shock of this,
questioning his ideals in a soul and maybe even God, brought a sense of
emptiness to Pi. With the years, came a change in the winds for the family. It
brought forth the need to sell their zoo and move to Canada. It is in this
exodus, that Pi’s regard to the original quest to know the ways of God is taken
out of stasis.
The ship in which the family travels is hit by a particular storm, sinking
it and therefore leaving Pi as the sole survivor in a life boat with a hyena, an
orangutan, a maimed zebra and none other than Richard Parker himself. A
survival struggle begins leaving Pi and Richard Parker as the sole survivors in
the life boat. A new challenge begins for Pi, let’s face it a Bengal tiger is a
challenging survivor partner. Even so, Pi is grateful for it, for such a
companion kept him on his toes in a situation which he would otherwise have
given up. With over a hundred days at sea, Pi felt a bond to Richard Parker had
been formed, yet alas, there was none. The very instant that land was reach,
the valued relationship Pi had imagined to have had with the beast was
broken unceremoniously with Richard Parker walking into the Mexican Jungle
with not so much as an acknowledging glance back. As human, this makes Pi
break, for his expectation of that bond was everything to him during the
voyage and had let him to believe that there was indeed a possibility of truth
to his earlier childhood theory.
Recounting his tale for banal insurance purposes, his is a story
considered fantastical to the receptors of such. This makes Pi change his story
3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_Pi_(film)
to one, maybe more realistic and gruesome. In each recounting there is no
explanation for the sinking of the ship and the chain of events that led up to it
and in both the conclusion is that there was one survivor, and there lies the
reflection on the importance of such recounting. Does the story matter? Or do
our beliefs, values, soul; play a part in the voyage of our destiny? “And so it is
with God”… I personally am not a religious person. I have gone through the
trials and tribulations of the “search” of spiritual awakening, a Buddhist
Nirvana. To be frank, that search is one I guess will continue until my last
breath, yet so far I have come to the conclusion that even though I follow no
Dogma “acceptable” to the majority, I do feel that the connection to
God/Goddess, The Universe, Nature, The Soul, makes my life better. That faith
gives me hope, and although it makes me feel small in the scope of the cosmos,
like Pi, it gives me and inner peace and the particularity of exceptional
connection to every being in this planet making me feel not alone. That hope is
such a small change to my story, yet makes a great difference regardless of the
outcome… “And so it is with God”.