“Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long at sea as Mr. Patel, and none in the company of an adult Bengal tiger”, states the last line of the novel, Life of Pi, an outstanding novel by Yann Martel. The novel chronicles the journey of Pi Patel, a young Indian boy whose family decides to move to Canada with their zoo animals. After the tragic sinking of the ship, Pi finds himself on a lifeboat with the ship’s cook, his mother, and an injured sailor. However, the story Pi tells involves him being trapped on the lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra, and a tiger known as Richard Parker.
In Life of Pi, Yann Martel explores the human ability for psychological adaptations in order to survive life-threating situations to make sense of what’s happening to one’s self. This theme is expressed through Pi’s reliance on make-believe characters to maintain his will to live. Three examples in the novel of how Pi’s mental perception adapts in order to survive include living with Richard Parker; how Pi changes his perception to survive 227 days on the lifeboat; and how Pi mentally adapts to his current situation by imagining people as an orangutan, a zebra, a hyena, and a tiger.To begin, Martel illustrates his theme of human adaptability through Pi’s perception of living with the tiger, Richard Parker. First, Pi denies the fact that Richard Parker is on the lifeboat, and then proceeds to try to out-muscle him. When this fails, he tries to make friends with him, but when Pi yet again does not succeed, he tries ignoring Richard Parker, which is also unsuccessful (Martel 174, 178).
Pi finally decides he needs to train Richard Parker, and so he does (Martel 183).The five steps Pi takes to survive life with Richard Parker parallel the five stages of grief, which are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance (Kessler). First, Pi denies the fact Richard Parker is on the lifeboat. Until Richard Parker emerges from under the tarpaulin, Pi convinces himself that Richard Parker has fallen in the water, and is no longer in the lifeboat (Lee). This scene of Pi’s denial is very similar to the first stage of grief, denial, as Pi refuses to believe that Richard Parker is hiding under the tarpaulin (Kessler).When the tiger emerges, Pi tries to out-muscle him by attacking him with an oar (Martel 175).
Eventually, Pi retreats to the makeshift raft that trails behind the lifeboat as he realizes he could never overpower the tiger. Pi’s actions in trying to out-muscle Richard Parker are similar to the second stage of grief, anger, as Pi’s frustration gets the better of him and he lashes out at Richard Parker (Kessler). Next, Pi tries to make friends with Richard Parker by giving him the majority of the fish he catches. He offers the tiger this food as a bribe into befriending him.Pi’s second attempt at finding a way to survive with Richard Parker fails, and Pi ends up back on his raft.
This tactic is similar to bargaining, the third stage of grief, as he tries to buy Richard Parker’s friendship with food (Kessler). Then, Pi tries to ignore Richard Parker by staying on his raft in hopes of starving Richard Parker. Consequently, when Richard Parker gets hungry, he jumps in the water and swims straight towards Pi. Pi’s attempt to adapt to his situation with Richard Parker fails. This event is similar to depression, the fourth stage of grief, as Pi gives up and secludes himself on the raft (Kessler).Pi’s final plan completes the last stage of grief, which is acceptance, as he decides to train Richard Parker (Kessler).
After the first three attempts to change in order to survive with Richard Parker fail, Pi is ready to accept death when he decides in a last minute effort to stay alive to train Richard Parker. Pi finally succeeds, as he “trained him to jump through a hoop” (Martel 304). Pi has finally found the answer to living with a tiger- he can not defeat Richard Parker, and so he has to learn to live with him. Pi’s acceptance of the tiger is a pivotal moment in the book in order for Pi to survive.Accepting Richard Parker and training him results in Pi surviving the voyage with Richard Parker.
In conclusion, Pi adapts to his situation by working through the stages of grief; first denying the fact that Richard Parker is in the lifeboat, then trying to out-muscle him, attempting to make friends with him, and when all of this fails, he discovers he will need to train Richard Parker. Martel demonstrates the ability for humans to adapt to life-threatening situations through Pi and Richard Parker. Secondly, Martel shows the ability of humans to change their perception through the adaptations of Pi.To survive, Pi must change how he views food and the lives of animals. First, Pi changes how he views food.
Pi starts the story as a strict vegetarian saying, “I always shuddered when I snapped open a banana because it sounded to me like the breaking of an animal's neck”, but once he is in the lifeboat, Pi kills all the animals he can in order to survive (Martel 218). From being a strict vegetarian Pi must adapt and eat meat in order to survive, “you can get used to anything” he said, even the killing of innocent animals (Martel 247). Furthermore, Pi changes how he views the lives of animals in order to survive.As his time on the lifeboat lengthens, it becomes easier for him to kill animals for food. Killing becomes natural, because killing means food, and food means survival. Through a total change of Pi’s beliefs of animals, Martel demonstrates how humans adapt in order to survive life-threatening situations.
Finally, Martel demonstrates the amazing flexibility of the human psyche through his creation of make-believe characters: an orangutan, a zebra, a hyena and a tiger. These make believe characters represent Pi’s mother, an injured sailor, the ship’s cook, and Pi, as well as personifying traits within Pi (Bandit).First, the orangutan represents Pi’s mother. Pi imagines his mother as an animal because it is easier for him to deal with the pain of seeing an orangutan killed rather than his own mother (Martel 344). The orangutan also personifies motherly love, affection, and the need to rise above anabolistic traits (Bandit).
These characteristics are evident in the following quotation, “I cried, “Oh blessed Great Mother, Pondicherry fertility goddess, provider of milk and love, wondrous arm spread of comfort, terror of ticks, picker-up of crying ones…”(Martel 123).Once Pi is living in the lifeboat, these nurturing traits within him die. In order to survive, he must rid himself of these traits and rely on his animal instinct (Lee). Next, a zebra with a broken leg represents the injured sailor. Pi views the sailor as a zebra because he cannot bear to watch a human suffer in the manner the zebra did (Martel 338). The zebra personifies the fear and desperation within Pi (Bandit).
In watching the sailor suffer, Pi fears this may be his own state and will do anything to survive.Like the motherly traits, Pi must put aside his fears as neither nurturing nor fear will help him during this time of crisis. The next animal, the hyena, represents the ship’s cook (Martel 346). Pi imagines the cook as a hyena because he could not live with himself knowing he killed another human being (Martel 345).
The hyena personifies selfishness, cruelty, and the violence within Pi (Bandit). Hyenas are scavengers who eat dead flesh and possess traits not typically associated with humans. Finally the tiger represents Pi. Tigers feel no remorse in taking down their prey in order to survive.Pi thinks of himself as the tiger because he conquered evil; he does not suffer at the hands of it.
The tiger personifies the evil within the heart of Pi; this evil that exists within Pi allows him to survive (Bandit). Pi explains this when he says, “Richard Parker, companion of my torment, awful, fierce thing that kept me alive” (Martel 316). Pi allows himself to become an animal capable of cruel inhuman acts in order to survive; Martel demonstrates the minds flexibility, and how Pi transforms into a fierce beast in order to survive.Through the award-winning novel Life of Pi, Martel explores the human ability to adapt to survive. This exploration involves Pi’s acceptance of his co-existence of the tiger, Richard Parker, by paralleling the stages of grief; through the change of his perception of animals and their role in his survival; and his imaginative representation of the people he is with by animals. Martel demonstrates the mind is a powerful thing, capable of making dramatic changes in order to survive.
