Life of Pi is a thought -provoking book full of symbolism. It chronicles the journey of a young man lost at sea whose religious beliefs are put to the test. Will he abandon his beliefs in order to survive? Pi is faced with a traumatic event that tests his religious beliefs and changes him as a person. Pi was forced to abandon some of his strong beliefs and resort to his primal animal instincts in order to survive. The tiger is symbolic of Pi’s conflict.
The Bengal tiger, Richard Parker, is the most important piece of symbolism used in the book. Sometimes when people experience traumatic events, they develop another personality to cope with the extreme stress. The tiger acts as Pi’s alter-ego and represents Pi’s survival side. Pi is forced to abandon his religious beliefs and become more animalistic in his efforts to survive. This is shown when faced with starvation, the vegetarian Pi reluctantly kills and eats fish. Initially, this act is repulsive to Pi, but as the days at sea pass, he begins to enjoy the act of killing and eating the fish. Like a tiger, Pi is forced to hunt and kill for food.
More proof that Richard Parker is a symbol of Pi’s animalistic side occurs when Pi and Richard Parker encounters the blind Frenchman. Although the blind man appears to attempt to kill Pi, it is Richard Parker who kills the blind man. This version of the events allows Pi to remove himself directly from the act and place the murder upon the tiger.
It is interesting that Pi also loses his vision during this time. Pi’s blindness symbolizes his denial of committing the act of murder as well as the abandonment of his religious beliefs in order to survive.
As you can see, Pi did have to abandon some of his beliefs in order to survive. His survival instincts, which was symbolized by Richard Parker, was able to beat out Pi’s original beliefs.
When Pi and Richard Parker finally reach land the crisis is over. Pi’s animalist survival skills are no longer needed and Richard takes off. The alter-ego is no longer necessary. Pi is interviewed by his rescuers. His initial version of what happened at sea is thought to be so unbelievable that he tells a second story. In the second version, he replaces the animals on the boat with human counterparts. In this version, Pi says he killed his mother’s killer. In the animal version it was Richard Parker, the tiger, that eats the hyena who represented his mother. This supports Pi seeing Richard Parker as part of himself.
The tiger’s arrival coincides with Pi’s emerging survival instincts. The tiger also helps Pi cope with the abandonment of his religious principles. The abandonment of his beliefs was the only way he could survive. Yann Martel’s message is crystal clear and also comes with a question: Would you abandon your beliefs in times of crisis?
