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  • Essay / Physical and emotional survival in The Life of Pi

    Throughout the novel The Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the protagonist, Pi Patel struggles to survive while managing to maintain a balanced view of his situation. He does not lose his belief in God, whatever form He takes, even if physically he begins to lose hope. He is able to remain rational while believing in the irrational. He maintains his humanity throughout the novel and, as a result, is able to survive both physically and emotionally and ultimately be reintegrated into society and normal life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay As a person's physical body collapses, their mind automatically turns to survival and only survival. This shift in thinking has led people throughout history to make choices in times of distress that they would never otherwise have considered. The body and mind turn to the most basic needs: food, water and shelter. Basically, anything short of these three essentials for survival loses its precedent in terms of overall priorities in a person's existence. There have been many historical cases where a boat sank and people became stranded and turned to cannibalism to survive. One such case was that of Richard Parker, a cabin boy who was eaten by two other crew members after they became stranded together in a lifeboat. This case became famous after the crew members were tried and convicted of murder, and the cabin boy is the partial namesake of the tiger Richard Parker in Life of Pi. Pi uses many "tactics" during his stay at sea in order to maintain one's mental health, morality and humanity. He constantly occupies his brain with a wide range of thoughts, from God to new fishing methods. He begins to believe in the irrational, but instead of allowing him to construct his perception of reality, he uses it as a portal to escape from his current existence and as a way to occupy his brain with other thoughts. than the barbaric thoughts of survival that inhabit him. he tries to avoid. According to Pi himself, “only fear can conquer life,” and so he uses these irrational thoughts and ideas, along with his love and belief in God, to avoid fear and fill his days (Martel 161). It is possible that his entire trip was a case of him believing the irrational, as he presents a new story without a tiger after arriving in Mexico. Because he is an introvert and has the ability to occupy himself solely with his thoughts, he is able to survive and maintain a stable state of mind throughout the ordeal. There were times, as with any human being, when Pi's faith waned and he struggled to uphold his morals. The difference between him and people on other doomed voyages who reverted to things like cannibalism was that he was able to recognize and immediately put a stop to these moments of barbaric behavior. At one point he acknowledges that his eating habits are becoming animalistic and says: "It was an unequivocal indication to me of the state into which I had fallen the day I noticed, with a pang in my heart, that I ate like an animal. it was exactly the way Richard Parker ate” (Martel 225). It is said that the first and most important step to solving a problem is to recognize it, and Pi is able to recognize this problem of becoming animal and take steps to solve it. One of his methods for solving this problem is to make sure that whenever he is forced..