At the
beginning of the novel we know that Pi has gone through something devastating
however extraordinary, we just don’t know what it is. He just tells us that the
story will make us believe in God.
The book
approaches the story from the very beginning of Pi’s Life. This technique
builds up suspense and allows us to get to know Pi in much more personal level
and at the same time connect much more with his character.
The zoo
occupies a very important place in Pi life. Growing up in a zoo shaped his
belief system, taught him about animal nature, and freedom. Zoos are places of habit: there are chores that the
keepers must perform every day, such as feeding and cleaning the animals and
their cages, as well as animal rituals. Animals prefer the consistency of zoo
life just as humans accustom themselves to the rituals and abundance of modern
society.
Explanations
of Pi’s name is very important in my opinion because given the amount of energy
that Pi dedicates to the ideas of rituals and routine in the lives of zoo
animals, it is telling that he uses repetition to train his schoolmates and
teachers into calling him Pi, for example: one day at school, he jumps up
during roll call and writes his full name on the blackboard; then he underlines
his nickname, Pi, and even makes a joke about it writing the mathematical
symbol for Pi, he carries out this act in each classroom, during every roll
call, to the point where his friends start to call him by his nickname and not
bully him like on his last school. For humans as well as animals, repetition
proves to be a very effective.
From
the zoo the novel travels to religion. We start to see objects that bring
comfort to faithful people on a daily basis like: paintings of religious
figures, like Christ on the cross, and sticks of incense and a copper spoon. A message
of the book is becoming appearing: religion is a method humans developed to
make their lives more enjoyable, more meaningful, and more understandable.
Both
Martel and Pi are captivated by the connection of zoology and religion. Pi
studies both subjects at college, Pi makes multiple references to the ways in
which zoos are like religion, as well as how zoos are like a government, he even defends religion the same way he defends
zoos earlier in the book, by examining the very definition of freedom and
imagining what life would be like without religion. Any religion.
Oddly
between these chapters on Hindu, Christianity, and Islam and the chapter on the atheist Mr. Kumar their
is the section on the rage of tigers and how territorial animals are. Pi’s
father allows a tiger to attack a goat in front of his two sons to teach them
to never get too close to the tiger cage. Wild animals, even if they’ve been
domesticated and trained, are still wild animals at heart.
The
novel then goes back to religion. Pi knows that believing in a story requires a
leap of faith. This is precisely why he is so troubled by agnostic people.
Agnostics, as Pi explains it, are rational to a fault. They do not trust
anything that they cannot see, taste, or experience.
Pi
practices multiple religions simultaneously. Normal born and raised Hindus do
not adopt two additional faiths. However, something in Pi forces him to need
more stories, more versions of reality, more options. Each faith brings with it
its own unique myths and stories, its own variety of rituals and customs, and
its own take on God. Pi explains that the spirit of every religion is love, and
by practicing multiple religions at once he is able to surround himself in
layers of affection, acceptance, and understanding.
(The link above is an exploration that shows how religion started and how are their similar between each other)
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