In this passage from Life of Pi page 217, Pi compares his experience living on a lifeboat to an end game of chess. “The elements couldn’t be more simple, the stakes higher” (Martel 217). Pi has only one main goal while he is on the lifeboat: to survive. He has to adapt all of his beliefs to help him achieve this ultimate goal of survival. Survival is defined as “The state or fact of continuing to live or exist”. For Pi, however, survival means so much more. It’s a reason to give up his peaceful vegetarian ways and learn how to hunt, kill, and eat animals. It’s the only glimmer of hope Pi has in his faith, which is going blind just like him. Pi’s only sense of satisfaction on the lifeboat is when he survives, day by day. Pi learns to gain happiness from simple blessings, which help him survive, and also begins understanding that no matter how bad the situation on the lifeboat is, if he is clinging to life, he is satisfied. As Pi puts it, “You reach a point where you're at the bottom of hell, yet you have your arms crossed and a smile on your face, and you feel you're the luckiest person on earth. Why? Because at your feet you have a tiny dead fish” (Martel 217).
23 August 2011
4B European Literature
In this passage from Life of Pi page 217, Pi compares his experience living on a lifeboat to an end game of chess. “The elements couldn’t be more simple, the stakes higher” (Martel 217). Pi has only one main goal while he is on the lifeboat: to survive. He has to adapt all of his beliefs to help him achieve this ultimate goal of survival. Survival is defined as “The state or fact of continuing to live or exist”. For Pi, however, survival means so much more. It’s a reason to give up his peaceful vegetarian ways and learn how to hunt, kill, and eat animals. It’s the only glimmer of hope Pi has in his faith, which is going blind just like him. Pi’s only sense of satisfaction on the lifeboat is when he survives, day by day. Pi learns to gain happiness from simple blessings, which help him survive, and also begins understanding that no matter how bad the situation on the lifeboat is, if he is clinging to life, he is satisfied. As Pi puts it, “You reach a point where you're at the bottom of hell, yet you have your arms crossed and a smile on your face, and you feel you're the luckiest person on earth. Why? Because at your feet you have a tiny dead fish” (Martel 217).