Life of Pi Foreshadowing

In the book Life of Pi the author Yann Martel wrote about a young boy named Pi Patel surviving on a lifeboat by himself. Throughout the entire book Pi was very close to religion and in the end his religions were the main reason he had survived. At the start of the book Yann Martel introduces three religions, Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism. There are three main points that aided in Pi’s survival.

One being that Pi was open to religions and started to follow the Islamic faith. The second reason is that Islam believed that one should pray five times a day, and Pi did exactly this.The last reason is that the religion believes that suicide is completely forbidden and Pi was thinking of committing suicide on the boat. Pi believing and following the Islamic faith most defiantly helped him survive on the life boat.

Pi was a very open minded person when it came to religion and he practiced three, one being Islam. In the book Pi says “Islam followed right behind, hardly a year later. I was fifteen years old and I was exploring my hometown. ” (64). This quote shows that Pi was becoming part of the Islamic faith and later he directly says that he is part of theIslamic faith by saying “Yes it was all forcefully brought to the attention of my parents. You see, they didn’t know I was a practicing Hindu, Christian, and Muslim.

” (71). Little does Pi know that his new religion will ultimately end up saving his life out in the middle of the pacific ocean. Pi had to deal with thoughts of suicide while on the boat. One of his faiths, Islam says in the Five Pillars of Islam that if one has time, they should be praying a minimum of five times a day.

While on the lifeboat Pi did exactly that. He would pray five times a day according to how the faith believed it should be.A quote that supports this is when Pi is explaining to the reader his daily schedule while on the raft. “Sunrise to mid-mornings: Prayers. Mid-mornings to late afternoons: Prayers. Late afternoons to early evenings: Prayers.

Sunset: prayers. Night: Prayers. ” (211). While on the raft Pi praying as often as he did helped him keep faith in his survival and his life.

If he was not constantly thinking of God and keeping God close to him, Richard Parker would have replaced God and Pi most likely would have ended up committing suicide.In him having faith in God and his survival, it gave him an extra push and more determination to survive for 227 days alone in the pacific on a life boat. One of the beliefs that closely relates to Life of Pi is the Islamic view on suicide. Islam believes that suicide is strictly forbidden and the Qur’an (religious text of Islam) clearly states “Do not kill yourselves as god has been to you very merciful. ” While on the lifeboat Pi is faced with very harsh thoughts for such a young boy, suicide. On the pacificPi says “During the long, cold dark hours, as the pattering of the invisible rain got to be deafening, and the sea hissed and tossed me about, I held onto one thought : Richard Parker.

I hatched several plans to get rid of him so that the lifeboat might be mine. ” (174). This quote shows that Pi had come up with seven ways to kill Richard Parker or depending on how one interprets the story, himself. Although he thought up of seven ways here are two ways that Pi thought of “Plan number two: kill him with the six morphine syringes.

But I had no idea what effect they would have on him. Would they be enough to kill him? (174) and another way was “Plan number four: choke him. I had rope. If I stayed at the bow, and got the rope around the stern and a noose to go around his neck, I could pull on the rope while he pulled to get at me. ” (175). although Pi had to deal with these thought very often and he had the tools to kill himself, he never ended up doing so.

The religions whole concept on suicide might have been what kept Pi from killing himself and Pi studying the religion before he left for Canada clearly paid off for him. In conclusion the struggle that Pi had to go through was a very difficult situation for a fifteen year old boy.After seeing his mother die and having to kill a human and eat him, his mind must have been going crazy. Pi following the Islamic faith and praying five times a day like the five pillars for sure helped him keep faith in life.

Also because Pi had studied the faith he knew that it had stated that suicide was strictly forbidden which was one of the reasons he did not commit suicide. Through Pi’s learning of the Islamic faith he found refuge in God. Along with determination, his faith certainly led to his survival. If it were not for the Islamic religion in Pi’s life he most likely would have been dead.