Life of Pi

Pain
Author's Note: This is my final essay on Life of Pi. I thought this prompt was very true. I found it fairly easy to write about and it came naturally.

A place where emotion doesn't exist. Happiness isn't possible and nobody has any motivation to do anything. This  would what life would be like without pain. We can't define life without pain. Pain is what defines the world as we know it. With joy comes pain, and with pain comes joy. Pi, in Life of Pi, realizes we need pain to keep us alive and without it life wouldn't be worth living.

Pi hangs on to life for some unknown reason. Being stuck in the middle of the ocean with a tiger, what is there to live for? Pi sees that with all this pain some joy must be coming his way. It's just the way the world works. That joy must come eventually and it does when he finally makes it to land. His wild side is no longer needed and he can finally be at peace in Canada. Pain is what keeps us alive. Without pain how would we know we are dying or if we can even die? He seems to realize this and starts to embrace pain like it's his friend. At least pain is feeling something.

Without pain Pi would've been driven insane by the nothingness that his world became. Pain helped Pi through his time alone in the ocean. The complete opposite of Xeno the Stoic. Xeno was an ancient Greek philosopher who believed that feeling nothing was the best way to live life. Most sane people would disagree with that statement but Xeno had many followers. It would have been easy for Pi to succumb to this but as odd  as it sounds pain helps him stay human and sane.

Pain is what helps creatures survive. Some people think it's unnecessary but it's what keeps us grounded like Pi. Pain is what saved Pi from the island. He was content to stay in a place devoid of feeling, and pain is what keeps him from being eaten by the island and digested like the last person that was there. Even though pain doesn't seem important, it's much more valuable than most people realize.

 Insanity
Author's Note: This was in response to the prompt we were given in class. I felt slightly like a psychologist doing this and it was quite a different experience.
 

Floating in the middle of the ocean. Nobody to talk to. Most people would go insane in these conditions after any length of time. Starting to talk to tigers and other people that aren't really there and about things that don't even matter. Telling stories of bananas that can bring people happiness. These strange behaviors are a testament to Pi's insanity.

 What use is it to discuss idle things to a complete stranger in the Pacific Ocean?  I don't believe the other man was real. People can only take so much and I think this was the breaking point. Also the story of the banana was also showing how Pi's insanity was slipping away. He wants to feel better and so he creates this story of an inanimate object that can do this for him. It's madness! Pi's sanity is slipping from him and he knows it. He's trying to create things that will help him stay sane.

The man was the last straw though, Pi needed to communicate with somebody so his mind created something for him. He also didn't want to see Richard Parker die so the man helped sustain him. Pi has totally lost it and I think that the rest of the book is going to be figments of his imagination and fits of delusion.

 Author's Note: This was from the prompt Mr. J gave us. I didn't really like the prompt because Mr. Kummar didn't really stand out to me.

I know Mr. Kummar will become an important character later in the novel but for now I don't think he really has a large roll to play. I did find it interesting the way Pi reacted to finding out that Mr. Kummar was an atheist. With Pi being so religious, one would think that he would react badly to someone who doesn't believe in any god or gods. Instead he sees atheism as it's own religion and it's own leap of faith. Kummar totally dismisses religion to Pi's face and Pi doesn't even really react. In fact he gains more respect for him knowing he's an atheist and is almost making a bigger leap of faith. Atheism has less followers than most major religions so Kummar is taking a bigger chance than Pi.

Pi respects Kummar for his huge leap of faith but describes him as "two triangles balancing on two parallel lines". To me I see his form as a temple. I think Pi sees this too. Kummar may be an atheist now but I think he is a truly spiritual man with a body shaped like a temple. I think part of Pi's quest will turn Kummar into a true believer in God. As it will to the reporter telling the story.