Life of Pi

Jekyll and Hyde


Author's Note: This is my Life of Pi final essay.  I focused on how the world is always balancing itself out, as well as adding in some other ideas.  Out of all of the essays I have done for language arts, this was the hardest one.  There were a lot of broad topics, which gives us a lot to talk about, but at the same time it is hard to know where to start.  With this piece, I decided to choose the balance of everything, because I have found that to be true in every situation based on my own experiences.  Please leave comments and criticism that you have.    


Ever since our creation, humans have taken us to new and ever-changing heights.  We have shaped our world, for better or worse.  We have fought and we have killed, but we have also loved and lived, managing to create the world we live in today, the world where the impossible becomes possible. We have stretched our limits because we have the choice to act upon the side of us that will bring us the closest to where we need to go.  The world exists in contrast, and that is what makes us who we are.  There is both light and dark instilled in us, and that opposition is what shapes the fabric of the world.

Without a balance, there is nothing.  Without a balance, there would be no reason to live.  In Buddhist religion, there is a symbol to represent balance known as Yin-Yang.  This symbol is shown as a circle, divided by a curved line, and in both bends of this line lies two more circles.  On one side, it is black, and the other, white.  Yin is the symbol of darkness, on the black, and there is also Yang, which represents light, on the white side.  Two views, two colors that exist within the same circle, somehow managing to fit perfectly together.  When Light cannot supply a way of survival, Dark takes over; when Dark grasps too strongly, Light releases its hands.  One cannot carry everything, and this saves us.    

In the novel Life of Pi, Pi has been thrust into a way of life that he never wanted to be a part of.  Over the course of his life,  Pi has sought Light, and now as Darkness threatens to take control of him, he shifts from Pi to Richard Parker and back again, letting out an animal-like instinct that is completely new to him.  Light cannot exist without Dark, and Dark would not be known without Light.  It is in Light that we find the will to survive, even when all possible things that can go wrong do.  As Pi fell into the lifeboat, as he fell into a new life, he is reborn.  Out of the screams and agony of the ocean comes an innocent child, without any knowledge of what might lie ahead -- a new beginning where Dark and Light is not known.  As an Innocent boy, Pi experiences both sides of this spectrum.  Everything from the Mr. Hyde persona of Richard Parker to his own Dr. Jekyll.  The former provides Life, an aggressive impulse that brings forth survival to the world.  The latter provides sanity and rationality, to keep us from delving too far into the other side.  When a newborn comes into any sort of situation, that is the only thing to rely on.  If we have lived based off of this instinct ever since that point, then two sides, two paths, are formed in each and every situation, and only one person can decide which to take.

Although the outcome of both sides can creates two very different people, there are times when one side just might save the other.  Pi asks for survival, and is presented an island to find refuge, and it appears that the island has it all: food, shelter, and water.  Why would anyone want to leave?  There are many moments like this for all of us, when it seems like nothing could ever be better.  The thing about this is that Life is standing still; there is no point anymore.  To get up and live the same life every day, there is no sense of urgency that keeps us going.  There are those in life that do nothing, the worst people of all, and it is these people that stand in one place, choosing to let Life lose meaning even when they know that they climb out of the trap, just simply choosing to lose themselves in one side,  never moving, never daring.  Had Light not been shown on to this dark-lit place, Pi would have rotted away, slowly losing himself into Dark.  Sometimes a blessing is a curse, and only we can discern the difference between the two.                

As it was on the island, there is more to anything and everything than what meets the eye.  Too many of us are determined to believe in what has been laid out for us, that there is one side.   Things like facts and numbers, for instance.  Just because it is not "the straight facts" doesn't make it wrong.  There are times when simple words spoken or simple blurbs written cannot describe what one has been through.  Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chiba refuse to see the situation from a different angle because it is not what they believe in. These men are concerned about the fact that the ship sank rather than the fact that someone had enough willpower and strength to survive it.  Mere words cannot just be believed; facts must be there to back it up.  Faith to them is no faith at all.   To them this is Truth, but isn't believing in facts and numbers a faith in itself?  They put their faith into something, even if it is not in God or in some story about animals and a boy who survived the sinking of one of their cargo ships.  What Pi went through is the impossible, yet he stood before them living and able to tell his story based on the way he chose to see the situation.  It is a faith to put faith in science,  and it is a science to put science against faith.  It is a path, and we choose to go down it for Truth, whichever side we want.

The Truth is, contrast is what makes Life.  Believe in hate or believe in love, believe in God or believe in science, but know that there is no answer.  Not every moment will be love or happiness, but each moment needs to be something.   The world does not seek to balance itself out; it needs to, for we cannot exist in just one way of Life.  There is a fine line between these views, and we have to dance back and forth across it to define ourselves and our life, as Pi has managed to do.  When that happens, we will be able to accept and conquer the odds, even if it means crossing an ocean along the way.

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Keep Holding On

Wherever we go, wherever we are, there will be something  to keep us going.  A hope, a feeling, a warning, something that keeps us from slipping under.  When placed in a position like that of Pi Patel, it seems nearly impossible to survive.  No matter what though, he believes that God will present him with something.  Whether it presents itself clearly or not, we have to keep faith that God will find a way, because that is what will keep us from falling.

There will always be something to keep our hearts beating.  It isn't always the best of pushes, but it will get us to where we need to go if we believe in it.  In Life of Pi, Pi is left there in a lifeboat, with only a Bengal tiger for a companion.  What could Pi have possibly done to the world to deserve such a companion?  Surely if the Creator were present he would not have granted such a thing!  Although this may seem like a heinous act, Pi comes to find that perhaps it is just the opposite.  During chapter 86, Pi is elated by the presence of a ship.  He immediately dreams of hope, a dream that was soon crushed as the boat nearly crushes them to death.  Soon hope is replaced by devastation, as Pi sinks deeper into the water that is his life.  Yet, in this near-death experience, Pi begins to realize that he continues on because of the second creature in that boat, and that is why his behavior toward the tiger drastically changes.

The push will not fail if it is recognized, and at this moment, Pi identifies the push as Richard Parker.  It was revealed earlier in the book that Richard Parker is the reason why he lived, but it becomes more pronounced here.  At the end of the chapter, Pi looks at the tiger and shouts "I love you!"  He goes on to gush about why he has not lost hope, why he is still living there, in that lifeboat.  Any other human might not have expressed such a feeling to a tiger, but Pi behaves in such a way because  God is finally known, a distinction of the way is finally understood.  The fact that there is a push on the boat, that Richard Parker cannot move on if Pi does not either.  He is responsible for those two lives, and one does not work without the other.  Pi has affection for this animal because that is what the Creator had given him, knowing that perhaps there is hope.

Even if it doesn't seem like it, we are truly never alone.  There will be times when Life appears lost, but if there is something to keep us from admitting defeat, nothing is really ever lost.  When Pi first fell into the lifeboat, he spots Richard Parker in the water, and knows that he has to get him to safety.  Had Pi not felt that impulse then, he would have never survived.  What Martel is trying to focus on is to never give up, never falter.  God will find a way, and we can never forget that.  There is always something that stands in our way, but if there is something to push us through, it is never over.   We will survive.

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Mr. Kumar

Author's Note:  In this piece, I focused on Mr. Kumar and Pi's differing beliefs.  They are polar opposites when it comes to faith, but I think that that may be why Pi respects him so much. 

In Life, there are people that will stand out in our minds above others.  They teach you things you have never known before, and touch you in ways that open up the world around you. In Life of Pi, Mr. Kumar is one of them in Pi's life.  This man isn't just another man you could find on the street; he is, to put it simply, different.

Pi is truly an intellectual, but even he cannot quite figure out Mr. Kumar.   Even his very appearance puzzles Pi.  As he puts it, "His construction was geometric: he looked like two triangles, a small one and a larger one, balanced on two parallel lines."  Pi also goes on to say that he cannot understand how Kumar's stick-like legs can carry such a massive body, and his knees seem to bend abnormally.  The fact that he is portrayed as triangular is ironic considering he is an atheist when the triangle symbolizes the Holy Trinity.  Pi respects and admires him and his beliefs very much.  He believes differently than Pi, which may be why he is so interested with this teacher.

It becomes known early on that Pi is a very religious boy, with a strong faith in God.  Mr. Kumar, on the other hand, is an atheist with no belief in God whatsoever.  Kumar takes Pi's beliefs and counters them with science, sticking to "the facts."  This almost scares Pi, and in that spilt second, he doubts his faith in the Creator, in his leap, in himself. 

Mr. Kumar becomes Pi's favorite teacher. It is in their different beliefs that draws Pi to him, and he finds a brotherhood with atheists and himself.   This is where Pi's respect for Kumar lies.  It is the idea that even though they do not believe the same beliefs, a common faith is found; the faith that there is faith.  Pi respects Mr. Kumar because of their differences.  No matter what beliefs they have, there is some risk that is to be had, some leap that they must take to truly belief in Life itself.