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Thursday, January 9, 2020
Lens—due March 5
Apply a lens to Life of Pi with 150+ words.
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I can look through a Marxist lens for multiple ideas in the book "Life of Pi". The one that stands out the most to me is Pi's religious influences due to ideological state apparatuses. Pi's upbringing heavily influences his decisions and his person, both through his father's teachings, and the culture that he grows up in. Pi's father, being staunchly atheist, puts a lot of stock in logic and reasoning. Growing up in a non-religious household, I can confirm that such households often place an emphasis on curiosity and self-information. I was always told, as I am sure Pi was as well, that the only way to know something is to look yourself. Nothing exists outside of the information in your head, and the only way to ease your curiosity is to lean into it. Pi is curious by nature, but his upbringing empowers him to search for his own answers. He is curious about what Christians believe, as he has only heard what his father has told him, so he investigates and gains new information from a different source. The same thing happens with the rest of his religions. He is curious, investigates, and learns enough to understand and make his own choices religiously. His culture influenced him as well, as he was surrounded by various religions, and was given the impression that one has to believe in SOMETHING. The combination of this cultural attitude and the influences from his father lead Pi to be curious and inform himself. Then he picks out what he loves of each religion and practices each religion to the best of his abilities. This attitude toward religion is something that I have found to be more prevalent in those that have taught themselves their religion. It is the attitude that religion is an individual experience, not to be judged or slandered by others. This is a hard attitude to come by in those who have been raised religious, being told what to believe while surrounded by their peers. Pi learned his religions on his own because he was raised non-religious. His society is the reason he learned his religions at all.
This year, I have had the opportunity to study Yann Martel’s influential novel entitled “Life of Pi”. This expansive work could be analyzed through a variety of different literary lenses. However, I feel examining the Freudian conceptions of the human psyche provides the most insightful analysis of this one-of-a-kind story. To start, Richard Parker best represents the conception of id due to his impulsive, wild nature. Because he is a predator, he is willing to do anything in order to survive, regardless of its morality. For Pi, such an influence is necessary, with Richard Parker being the living representation of Pi’s inner survival instinct (id). In contrast, Orange Juice would represent the superego because of his gentle, intelligent nature. Unlike Richard Parker, this monkey thinks through its actions, always following a path of kindness and nonaggression when he was at the zoo. For Pi, this influence represents his humanity and civility; the part of him that keeps him from becoming a beast himself. Finally, Pi represents the ego, using both his survival instincts and humanity to ensure a safe though moral journey. However, with the death of Orange Juice, the influence of the superego disappears, pushing Pi closer and closer to the impulsive id.
While reading Yann Martell's stunning novel entitled Life of Pi, many different lenses seemed to be filled with meaning. However, I think this book is best analyzed through a Freudian psychoanalytical lens. Clearly, Pi is extremely confused and in shock after the sinking of the ship. Thus, the images of the animals on the ship likely represent the different agents of Pi's psychic apparatus. The hyena and the tiger represent Pi's id. These animals rely solely on their survival instinct and are willing to do whatever it takes to survive, even if it means attacking and killing other beings. Orange Juice and the zebra represent Pi's superego. These animals seem to peacefully accept the fate of being stranded and, especially the zebra, exist in almost a peaceful dreamlike state. Finally, Pi's human form represents the ego. He is conflicted between his desire for survival. and his peaceful nature and love of God, making him characterize his id and superego to separate his mortality from the atrocities he is forced to commit.
After reading, studying, and analyzing Yann Martell's intricate novel titled Life of Pi, there are many lenses in which I could choose to peer through; however, the lense that I find the most obvious and clear is the Freudian Lense. First off, I believe that the hyena represents Pi's id because of his ability to act in a way that shoves morality to the side for the cause of survival. it represents in Pi that he must do whatever he can in order to survive—just as the hyena ate the zebra and Orange Juice in order for its survival. In contrast, Orange Juice represents the superego throughout this novel. The Orangutang represents this because he is quite relaxed and sophisticated. Orange juice adapts to it surroundings and is much more controlling of his impulses. Lastly, Richard Parker represents the Ego in the novel. He satisfies the id by killing the hyena, a threat to himself, and uses it as food to eat. However, he does not kill Pi because he realizes that Pi becomes a source of food for himself; therefore, killing him would be unfavorable for him. Overall, the Ego will make the most rational decisions in order to have the best result. One example of these three used together would be when Pi is creating a plan to survive. Plan number seven is a balance between the impulses of the id to kill the tiger and the rationale of the superego to keep him alive. Plan number seven is the training of the tiger in order to survive; again making the most rational decisions in order to produce the best result.
Through reading Life of Pi, I am able to notice an outline of Freudian and Marxist lenses fighting against one another. We see that there is the ID and the Superego early on. Pi, obviously being the main character of the story, is the Superego. Then we had the ID, the tiger, Richard Parker. Richard Parker is the "dumb animal" that wishes to kill anything that comes near while Pi, the "brilliant human mind", is seen as more intellectual because humans have more complex brains. However, this is when the Marxist lens starts to battle back at the Freudian lens. ISA and RSA start to combat one another in this survival text. Richard Parker would be the RSA, or the dictator, who only wants to use Pi as a food source. On the other hand, Pi is the ISA, as he tries to create his own system so that he and Richard Parker can benefit from it together.
The LIfe Of Pi can be seen through many lenses, one that sticks out the most is the Freudian lens. You can use the Freudian lens to understand the relationships between all the animals and Pi on the boat, but as well you can use the lens to focus on Pi. Pi is very intriguing especially since he follows three different religions and practices all of them. One may question if something is missing in his life that he has to fulfill it with all these religions. However, I think the true reason is simply that he is not afraid to explore. Many people are born into a religion and just stick with it not even considering the other opportunities and possibilities of different religions. Pi decides to check out the other religions and see for himself if he believes them or not. Even more to it, he finds a way to incorporate the three together. It is said in the book how Pi believes that one of the Hindu gods brought him to the church to find Christ and that they all come together and all have one purpose: to love God. So using a Freudian lens, I believe that Pi is very intelligent and tests the waters instead of doing what people tell him to do, even if it goes against his parents.
When reading Yann Martell’s Life of Pi, an assortment of literary lenses are beneficial and worth utilizing. Martell has implemented countless meaningful ideas and themes that are capable of analyzing from nearly any literary lens the reader can think of. One of the most evident lenses that presents itself early in the novel is the religious lens. Pi has a unique perspective on religion and Martell uses much of part one to share it with the reader. When analyzing Pi’s mindset and attitude about religion, Pi’s true self is revealed as a man who exercises all possibilities to no end. From a young age, Pi developed a very mature and complex point of view on not only religion but also life as a whole. I theorize Martell has made his name Pi as an analogy comparing his ideology to the infinitely ongoing mathematical constant pi. Pi’s independent thoughts and curious nature is something many readers can take away from the novel. Pi also abides by 3 different religions, to which many would disagree with and Pi takes harsh criticism for. Nonetheless, Pi is not too bothered due to his independent nature. His principles provide an abundance of food for thought and will have religious lens wearers reconsidering and pondering about religion for hours on end.
While reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel, there is a multitude of lenses that one many use to analyze the book. One of these many lenses to choose from is the Freudian lens. With the Freudian lens, one may use the psychoanalytic theory that uses the id, superego, and ego to analyze the exhibit. In Life of Pi, Richard Parker is the id. His compulsive nature and will to survive causes him to do whatever he wants without thinking. Contrarily, Orange Juice would be considered the superego. The orangutan seemed to be overall peaceful throughout its time on the boat. Orange Juice seemed to think everything through before it would make any decisions. Meeting in the middle of all of this is Pi. Pi is the ego throughout the book. He uses both his will to live, the id, and his rationality, the superego, in order to survive throughout the book.
While reading the Life of Pi, part 1 fills us in on a majority of Pi’s life. How he grew up, his family, school life, and so on. After reading all of part 1, we could really apply any lens needed to see a different perspective of Pi’s eventful life. A religious len, for example, shows us how being a part of three different religious groups is possible. Most people (in America especially) are born to believe that you can only believe and practice one religion. Pi is able to prove the readers and everyone in the story wrong. I think that it opens a beautiful door of discussion between different religions. Although the three practices are very different, he seems to explain the meaning behind each of them. I think that if we can look past the religious aspect and look closer on the acceptance that Pi is proving to the readers shows us that it should not matter what we believe in, acceptance is something everyone should practice.
There are many lenses that can be applied to the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel. To me, the most obvious lens to be applied is the religious lens. There is a multitude of religious symbols and events that take place throughout the Pi's story. I find it funny that Pi practices three religions as a child yet his father does not "have a religious bone in his body" (65). My favorite religious symbol that I have seen so far is his story about his symbolic first outing. Pi explained how for many people, as they grow older, their faith in God grows smaller but for him, it was the exact opposite. He explained that during his outing, "A germ of religious exaltation, no bigger than a mustard seed, was sown in me and left to germinate" (47). A mustard seed is a Christian reference and typically brings good luck. For Pi, this seed of religion was planted in him at such a young age and continued to grow within him causing his religious views to expand.
While reading the novel “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel, I have noticed a couple of lenses. One of them is the Freudian lense and the other is the Religious lens. After the sinking of the boat, Pi, Richard Parker, the zebra, hyena, and the orangutan (Orange Juice) are the only ones left. I believe each one of these animals plays a role in the Freudian lens. For example, the hyena represents Pi’s Id because the hyena is doing everything it can for survival, which includes eating the zebra and the orangutan. Richard Parker represents the Ego because he is conflicting with what to do. Trying to choose to stay peaceful or let out his survival skills. The zebra and the orangutan both represent the Superego because they have no intention of hurting anything or anyone. They both are in good nature. The second lens I want to use is the Religious lens because Pi Patel has committed to 3 religions. Even though his father did not have faith in a religion, Pi still managed to believe in something. With his family dead he still has God in his life and has not given up yet. On this journey, he will definitely be challenged with how to keep his faith and to not give up hope.
When reading the book Life Of Pi, written by Yann Martel, I found many different lenses. The lens that I am focusing on is the Marxist lens. Martel has many different examples of Marxism in his novel. The first example of Marxist theory in Life of Pie is the ranking of animals on the boat. The tiger is well above the rest of the animals in the high class, while the zebra is at the bottom in the low class. Martel explains the tigers rank on the boat by saying "in the face of such a superior predator, all of us were prey" (136). Another example of Marxist theory in the novel is Pi having all the power over the supplies. This gives him a lot of economical power over the animals. The last example of Marxist theory in the novel is Pi trying to get the power to become equal between Richard Parker and himself. Martel explains why Pi did this by saying "Either I tamed him, made him see who was Number One and who was Number Two—or I die..." (206). All of these examples explain the Marxist theory in Life of Pi and prove that Martel is trying to show this.
So far in my reading of Yann Martel's Life of Pi, I have found a variety of lenses to use. For this blog task, I am going to be applying the Religious lens. Throughout part one of Life of Pi, Pi discovers that he wants to follow three different religions: Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. He first learns about Hinduism but he wants to open up more of his religious beliefs. He then becomes fascinated with Islam and Christianity. Two people, Father Martin and Mr. Kumar, become very influential in his life. The three religious men meet up and want Pi to pick a religion, but he does not. Eventually, his parents get involved and Pi goes to his father for advice. His father and mother both laugh it off because, at that age, I do not believe that he could possibly find his religion. This is a very brief example of applying a Religious lens.
While reading the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel, I have noticed many lenses that could be applied to the novel. The main one that I noticed was a Religious lens. When young, Pi Patel grew up knowing Hinduism. He then discovered Christianity and Islam. These three religions make Pi who he truly is because he finds good in all three of them. The men who taught him each religion also become very important and influential in Pi's life. All he wants to believe is in a God that shows love. While on the boat with Richard Parker, a few religious remarks were made and when something good happened, he always thanked God. Also while trapped out in the sea, he made a daily schedule and he continued to pray even when times were awful for him. Pi is a boy who takes three completely different religions and combines them to make one beautiful story and belief system of his own.
Throughout the book Life of Pi, there are many lenses used, the lens that I often see the most and the one that is more obvious, it the religious lens. There is many times in the book where big religion sense are told. The two points in the book that stick out most to me, is when Pi Patel openly admits to belonging to three different religions, he is christian, muslim, and Hindu; And when he is confronted by his parents and the three different heads of churches he belongs too. Pi was put to the test when his christian paster, muslim imam, and Hindu Purohit all came together and continuously yelled at him for having three religions, telling him he had to pick between them all because one person can not belong to more than one religious community. But, despite the harassment, Pi did not listen to all the outside influence running through his ears, he believed for himself and that was enough. Religion to Pi, is the soul of the average person.
In Yann Martel's novel, one of the most obvious lenses that readers can and should view through is one that centers around religion. For Pi, religion was not something he was born with an appreciation for--it was something he had to discover and develop on his own. Pi's fervor for religion stems from valuing different aspects of the several practices he chooses to pursue. Though each faith has their own God(s) and nuances, each religion's ultimate purpose remains uniform: to enlighten and to give hope to its people. One of the biggest takeaways readers can leave from "Life of Pi" is that no matter what you believe in, you must believe in something. Even if that belief is the certainty that there is no God, at least it is a belief. Pi criticizes agnostics on several occasions because he cannot understand how someone can hold such uncertainty in their lives. A world without belief, even the belief of disbelief, is questionable in Pi's eyes.
From reading the "Life of Pi" and previous discussions of literary lenses, the job of having to point different symbols and other literary devices has become simpler. Yann Martel uses a great deal of imagery in this book along with different metaphors and allegories. These metaphors and allegories can be seen through different lenses. One main lens, Freudian, is seen throughout the story. The components in the Freudian lens is the superego, id, and the ego. From what we know right now, the id is Richard Parker. The superego is the three religions he lives by. Piscine is then the ego trying to stay in the balance. Richard Parker exhibits the basic survival skills Pi wants to do. For example, when Pi was listing each possible plan he had to get rid of Richard Parker. This displays how Pi's id thoughts relate to Richard Parker's actions. The combination of Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity is the superego. They are the guidelines for Pi to live his best. They control how he feels, thinks, and acts. Which makes Pi stuck in the middle between his survival instincts and his love for God.
After being given the opportunity to read the book: "Life of Pi" I have been able to study it and view it in many lenses. The most interesting lens for me would be a religious lens. Religion is introduced early in the book and becomes a constant pushing factor for pi. Pi was not born into religion, his family gave no push or pull. Because of this, it was something that he had to discover and pursue. He decides to study and practice several different religions, each has their own faith and niches; however, each one has the goal to enlighten, give hope, and find love for god. Pi was put to the test of all these religions when his Christian, Muslim, and Hindu religious leaders converged on him and began to yell at him. In doing so he was able to win and show them that the love of God is the most important thing. Pi did not care about outside influence on his spirituality, he made it his own. Religion became Pi's driving factor and continued to benefit and drive him through the rest of the story. Giving him a strong inclination of self-worth, spirituality, and love for god.
There are several different lenses that can be placed in Life of Pi to help you uncover more about the novel. The lens that I will be focusing on is the Marxist lens. This lens helps you look at the different social classes and/or ranks of power for each of the characters in the book. When considering this, I think about part two of the book where Pi is stranded on a boat with other animals. When ranking the animals, the zebra would be at the bottom of this pyramid since he was hurt before and was the first to get killed. I would then put Orange Juice because he also was killed by the hyena. He tried fighting back but then was overpowered. The Hyena would come next on this ranking because he kills two of the animals but stays away from Pi and Richard Parker. Pi would come next because he is smart with his decisions around the hyena and he has power to the supplies on the boat. Richard Parker has the most power on the boat because, with one swipe of his huge paw, he could take anyone/anything out. You could use this lens to look at several other things in the novel but this ranking stood out to me the most.
In Yann Martel’s book Life of Pi, many ways of analyzing this book appear and the reader can view this book through many different lenses. In part one, I would have looked at that reading through the Freudian lens, but since part two has just started the power struggle on the life raft made the Marxist lens stick out to me more than any other lens. A power stem has been created and the lower class is going to consist of the zebra, orangutan, and the Hyena. I would classify those as being the lower class animals because first the zebra was already injured before even getting on the life raft. Next the female orangutan is at a disadvantage because she doesn’t have a great ability to defend herself against the hyena. Then the hyena is going to be still part of the lower class in how it is viewed lowly upon by humans and other animals. Next up in the power structure is going to be Pi Patel in how he has a lot of smarts and he can outsmart some of the other animals. Then the upper class is going to be left to Richard Parker and he is rich in his power and fierce fighting ability and how he can take down any competition with one stroke of his razor-sharp paws. That is how the Marxist lens appeared to me at the beginning of part two of the book.
When applying a lens to Life of Pi, the most prominent theme and the idea that comes across is the spiritual lens on behalf of Pi's beliefs and morals. Being a curious young boy, that lives amongst animals in a zoo, one would think he would constantly be roaming around searching for his next animal playmates: however, that is not entirely the case. Yes, he does share wholesome moments of small animal and child growth together, but most of his growth is found in religious and spiritual practices. This trait of his is odd since his father is known to be an apatheist, someone who does not accept or reject Christ and his mother actively tries to avoid the subject of IF there is a higher power. Pi resorts to coming to know Christ in three very different languages. He repeatedly states that the best way to learn or know is to find it yourself and occasionally rely on the help of others to guide you along. Three mentors provide Pi with this help, but later question his morals of why he openly excepts three different religions: Hinduism, Christianity, and Islamic. Pi strongly believes that religion is an inclusive practice among oneself but also others of the same ideology. Simply put, he just wants to love God and thank him for the gifts he has bestowed upon his family and the world. Religion holds high importance throughout the rest of the novel when Pi will need to call upon the higher power to help him survive the most dangerous and soul searching experience of his life.
While reading Life of Pi, the Religious lens was the easiest for me to interpret. While he is on the boat, he creates many obvious allusions related to religion. In the beginning, he was focused on being involved in several different religions. Following Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam, might have been challenging to most, but Pi did not let anything slow him down from learning more about his faith. His own family even doubted him and said that it was not possible, but he did not listen. After the ship sinks and his family has drowned, he is left in the middle of the ocean on a raft with Richard Parker. He prays to God multiple times throughout part two and mentions how he is still worshiping God even with the little hope he has of surviving. The main theme in the book is a story that will make you believe in God, so the Religious lens seemed quite fitting.
When analyzing Life of Pi with an archetypal lens, you notice an abundance of archetypal characters, images, and quests used in the novel. It first can be established that Pi Patel is the hero of the novel. Even more so, Pi can be seen as the outcast. Pi is not only a dedicated Hindu, but also a Christian and a Muslim. Following multiple religions sets Pi apart from the average person in society, including all of his family. For this reason, Pi is judged. Even the religious leaders that he follows are dumbfounded by Pi's behavior. They insist to Pi that, "It's impossible [to follow multiple, very different religion]. One must choose,". These criticisms don't bother Pi, for he continues to embrace his outcast qualities and all three religions. He is both baptized and given a prayer rug. The hero and outcast characters often go hand in hand, as they do in Pi's case.
In "The Life of Pi" the lens that I can clearly distinguish is the religious lens. The whole idea of religion being like a zoo is very interesting when you really think about it. We always assume animals want to be out in the wild, having no restrictions. But, if the animal has grown up in a zoo or is physically incapable to live in the wid, they would much rather stay in the zoo. It makes you ask the question of if zoo animals had the chance to escape, would they? And that is kind of like religion. No rule in life says that you have to have a religion but most people choose to be a part of a religion because it gives them hope in the future and it makes them feel safe in life. People like to think that there is something after death and not that it is like a light switch being turned off after you pass away.
The Life of Pi provides several different opportunities for the reader to apply a literary lens. The literary lens that I find it easiest to apply is the Freudian lens. With the Freudian lens, I can analyze the motives of Pi through his actions and thoughts throughout the novel. For starters, Richard Parker could be a symbol for Pi’s spirit and willingness to survive. The battle between Richard Parker and the Mako shark on page 219 could be a symbol for Pi and his battle against the ocean because Richard Parker is also a land animal from India and the shark would symbolize the Pacific ocean itself. Richard Parker, in the end, won his struggle against the Shark but he was injured from it and was covered in the blood and gore of the vicious battle. This shows that the battle for survival against the ocean will not be easy, it will be painful and messy but it is not impossible to survive.
Since reading Life of Pi, I have decided to review it through a Marxist Lens. The most prime opportunity to do so would be when Pi is on the life raft with the other animals. There is an obvious power struggle here because it deals with life's extremes: living and dying. Animals always have to watch out because death is something that is common among them; however, as humans, we do not experience death on a daily basis like this. Martel is mixing the worlds of humans and animals and putting them in a very small scale setting: a life raft. Therefore, survival of the fittest has just become the only way to live and the only thing on their minds. Staying alive is power on this life raft. With that in mind, the least powerful is the poor zebra, who is already injured pre-life raft and is killed by the hyena. Next would be the orangutan because she is not very good at defending herself and is thus killed by the hyena as well. Ranking the hyena is hard because, he has made two kills, but those kills are on animals weaker than he is. Is he really powerful that way? Therefore, he is somewhere in the middle. Lastly, there is Pi and Richard Parker. I would say that this could go either way because they are both staying alive, but Pi is smarter and Richard Parker is stronger. It is the classic battle of brains versus brawns and what aids survival better is what determines the leader in power.
Life of Pi displays Marxism in many scenes and settings. I have decided to review Marxism as seen on the lifeboat, as that is where I am in the novel right now. I see Marxism as a pyramid of sorts—a social pyramid. At the very top of this "pyramid" is the hyena, as he is in charge of the lifeboat, in a sense, and every other character/animal is his prey. He even defeated Richard Parker, the tiger, who I believe is the next level in the pyramid. Richard Parker, without the hyena, was life-threatening to Piscine and had the means and ability to kill him. However, I wonder how that would have actually worked out because Pi was on the lifeboat first, so Richard Parker would have seen it as Pi's territory and Pi as his leader, integrating what we learned earlier in the book. Next is Piscine and Orange Juice; they are on the same level as each other and both above the zebra, which is at the bottom. Orange Juice is above the zebra because she not only tries to put up a fight against the hyena—she initiates it. Pi is on this same level because as a human (maybe I'm biased), he has critical thinking and strategizing skills that the zebra does not have that I know of.
One could look at Yann Martel's Life of Pi with many lenses. I decided to look at it through a Marxist lens. I observed the clear definition of the power structure set on the lifeboat and the exchange of "currency". Pi talks about how in a zoo or circus setting there has to be an alpha and omega. When first on the book Pi doesn't know that the tiger is on board so he treats the hyena as the alpha but the hyena knows that he is the omega. Pi is after the hyena, and the following pi is the orangutan and the bottom is the zebra. As time progresses the animals are killed and the struggle for power dominance is more prevalent. After the hyena is killed by the tiger it is down to pi and the aforementioned tiger. PI realizes the fact that he is the omega in the situation and knows he has to assert himself as alpha. The second aspect I observed was the use of a weird form of currency. In the book, pi uses food and water in exchange for life. The tiger knows that he is unable to survive so Pi is the provider of food and water and in exchange, the tiger doesn't eat him.
Life of Pi has already topped both Lord of the Flies and Cuckoo's Nest as my favorite book we have read this year. While reading it I found myself looking through a Marxist lens. The setting throughout most of the story is very simpler: a lifeboat in the middle of the sea. This simple setting still harbors a wide variety of symbols and themes. The characters on the lifeboat are all ranked in order. At the top, the highest in power is Richard Parker. A 450 pound Royal Bengal Tiger lives on and dominates, the liferaft. Next in the food chain is the Hyena. I think the Hyena is above Pi because Pi is so deathly afraid of the Hyena. Then Pi comes into the power pyramid. As he is human, he has the ability, and the intellect, to survive the many months at sea. In the lower class is the two animals that can barely defend themselves. The second to the bottom is the orangutan as he can put up a little bit of a fit before dying to the Hyena. The bottom is the zebra, who is left defenseless after it breaks its leg falling into the boat.
Life of Pi displays Marxism in many scenes and settings. I have decided to review Marxism as seen on the lifeboat, as that is where I am in the novel right now. I see Marxism as a pyramid of sorts—a social pyramid. At the very top of this "pyramid" is the hyena, as he is in charge of the lifeboat, in a sense, and every other character/animal is his prey. He even defeated Richard Parker, the tiger, who I believe is the next level in the pyramid. Richard Parker, without the hyena, was life-threatening to Piscine and had the means and ability to kill him. However, I wonder how that would have actually worked out because Pi was on the lifeboat first, so Richard Parker would have seen it as Pi's territory and Pi as his leader, integrating what we learned earlier in the book. Next is Piscine and Orange Juice; they are on the same level as each other and both above the zebra, which is at the bottom. Orange Juice is above the zebra because she not only tries to put up a fight against the hyena—she initiates it. Pi is on this same level because as a human (maybe I'm biased), he has critical thinking and strategizing skills that the zebra does not have that I know of.
While reading the novel Life of Pi, you can apply several lenses to analyze the text. The lens that stands out to me the most though, is the Marxist lens. While he is on the lifeboat, there is an obvious struggle between the power of the characters involved. Clearly, the orangutan and the zebra are on the bottom of the chain, because they are the weakest and are killed by the hyena right away. Since the hyena did this, it is controversial whether this makes him more powerful or less powerful, because he is killing those who are below him but would never touch the tiger, who is stronger, or the human, who is smarter. This leaves the tiger and the human at the top of the chain. I would argue that the tiger is on the top of the chain because if there came a circumstance where the tiger was to try and kill the human, the tiger would win in no time. But in controversy to that, the human is much smarter than the tiger and can outsmart him anytime. There are several lenses you can apply, this is just one.
In the outstanding novel by Yann Martel Life of Pi, there are a lot of lenses that can be applied to nearly every chapter. The lens that I find the most interesting while reading the novel is the religious lens. The book includes a lot about religion, Piscine takes on multiple at once: Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Most people would find that task impossible, but Pi in this novel makes a lot of the impossible seem possible. He really dove into his faith when he needed help or when he needed answers to life. All throughout his time on the boat with Richard Parker he keeps religion close to him and always reflects on it, which shows the significance of religion in a person's life. Religion is a very important factor in this book and it is really emphasized as an important thing. Pi is trying to help people believe there is a God or some higher power and it is very apparent.
A lens that is used quite often while reading Life of Pi is the Freudian lens. The Marxist lens is quite apparent throughout the animals that are on the boat. It is a constant battle to live, and all the different animals on the boat make this quite difficult. Although at the zoo there is a sign that says the most dangerous animal is humans, I think that the tiger is the most dangerous in this boat. This is probably because at the zoo they are in a cage by humans, but in the boat, it is a free for all. The tiger is huge and has razor sharp teeth that could easily kill anyone on the boat. Right under the tiger on the pyramid would be Pi. Pi has the brains to outsmart the zebra, hyena, and orangutan, but he would not be strong enough to beat the tiger. The class under Pi would be the hyena. The hyena is always hungry and is a vicious animal. He is able to eat the zebra and orangutan because of this. This would make the zebra and orangutan the bottom of the pyramid. They are pretty defenseless and easy targets. This makes them very easy to be defeated.
After wearing and interpreting many different lenses while reading Life of Pi, I found the religious lens most intriguing. Religion is Pi’s world and it’s what keeps him alive during the many days spent on the boat. Pi is different though. He is interested in three different religious practices all being so different, yet so similar. Pi is interested in Hinduism (his original faith and what he was raised to be), Catholicism (Christianity), and Islam. When first telling his family, they were disappointed and perplexed how one could follow all three religions. Pi didn’t care that he was different, all he knew was that there was one God and that he had made an impact on his life. Throughout the book, Pi references praying a lot and how faith can keep a person going. The book references a seed being germinated which is referring to the bible. There are so many parts talking about religion and God which makes the religious lens easy to spot in the Life of Pi.
While reading Life of Pi, I have been applying a Freudian or psychoanalytical lens to the characters and their roles. While on the lifeboat, we see sanity slowly starting to slip away and Pi's mental state starts to be showcased in his actions. In chapter 54, we see a battle between Pi's id and superego as he is trying to decide what to do with Richard Parker. His id sticks to the natural instinct to eliminate any threat and kill him. The superego is telling Pi to keep Parker alive because his presence brings an ironic peace to Pi. Symbols in the novel also can represent the 3 parts of Pi's mind: the id, superego, and ego. Personally, I saw the id as being Richard Parker due to his presence in Pi's life is what gives Pi the desire and drive to naturally survive. Due to his presence, Pi must face his natural desires of killing, dominating, and surviving. The superego would be Pi's prior religious practices. These help to shape and add morality to how he goes about things on the lifeboat. His faith helps to keep his drive to survive but doesn't allow Pi to do things that he deems as morally wrong. Finally, the ego is Pi himself. Overall, Pi knows what has to be done to survive. He acknowledges thoughts of his that show his natural desires and needs but uses the values from his superego to try to find moral solutions. The superego still allows him to have emotions and thoughts over becoming completely savage and controlled by his id.
When reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel, you understand that the book is about having a religion and believing in something. When looking at this with a religious lens you realize that since it is a real-life story, not something made up in someone's mind that can have symbolism. In our previous books, they had symbols such as Simon representing Jesus or electroshock therapy representing crucifixion. The 3 religious men in the book that Pi called the wise men all to represent different religions and they each have their own beliefs that they let lead their lives. Pi follows 3 very different religions and he finds a way for them to not clash beliefs and just simply love God. The first part of the book is all about religion and it becomes less apparent in the second part, but it is still there. When the accident happens and he is left orphaned and alone in the water beside the animals he continues to still have faith that someone will come and save him soon.
There are many lenses you can apply when reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel. One that I found that I believed to stand out the most is the Marxist lens. You can see this through the classes of animals left on the boat. Obviously, the carnivores are at the top of the chain and have won the genetic lottery in this case. The herbivores like the zebra and the orangutan lost the genetic lottery and are eaten early in the book by the hyena. Due to the fact that Pi was on the lifeboat before Richard Parker, he is seen as the leader and the boat is his territory. That is why Richard Parker does not eat Pi when he easily could. The battle between these two is definitely brain versus brawn. Water and food in this novel can be seen as the currency and how Pi is going to stay alive in society.
Life of Pi is a book I found to be particularly difficult when reading to find symbols and themes. Applying different lenses allows me to more easily discover a deeper meaning. I was able to make the most connections in this novel to the Freudian lens. In this novel, Pi is on an excruciating journey on this lifeboat with him and the animals. He has to make difficult decisions in order to keep himself alive. I believe that Richard Parker represents his id because it represents the zoo side of his life. The zoo made a huge impact on him while he studied the animals and their way of life. Richard Parker kills the Hyena after an extended amount of time, showing you must do whatever you can in order to survive. While on the other hand, Pi’s religious beliefs represent his superego. Not only has the zoo made an impact on Pi’s life but his religions do as well, they both heavily weigh on the decisions he makes. His religion reminds him to stay hopeful and gives him the guilt he feels when he commits his first kill of the fish. His decisions made on his journey are affected by the morals of his superego and the survival instincts of his id.
Yann Martel's Life of Pi is a novel that can be viewed through a number of different lenses. A literary lens that has abundant relevance in the novel is the religious lens. Pi Patel is a character that is a believer in three religions: Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. All three religions have different requirements for a follower, and Pi keeps up with all of them. Not only is religion Pi's hobby, but it is also one of the things that keep him going and motivated while he is stranded. When the shipping ship is sinking and Pi is thrown into the lifeboat, he falls out but is able to hold onto an oar. He mentions that he does not know why he hangs on to oar; drowning would be better than being stranded at sea. Subconsciously, Pi knows that all of his gods will protect him and that there is a reason to live, or he will at least get a good afterlife (or reincarnation) for trying to survive. Later on, a rat appears on the boat that Pi feeds to Richard Parker. One could argue that this rat was sent by Ganesha to save Pi and tame Richard Parker.
In the past few weeks, I have been reading the novel "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. Martel really did a great job with this book because it feels like there is an unlimited amount of lens' to read this book through. The one that sticks out the most to me is the religious lens. In the first part of the book/Pi's early life, it is what seems to be the most talked about part of the book. I think that it is quite interesting how he truly can believe in three different religions at once. In the book when all of the religious leaders and both of his parents find out the truth, it was interesting to me that they started fighting. While they start to argue, Pi is just sort of sitting there, and this is when I was glad to be seeing through a religious lens, I sat back and thought to myself, is Yann Martel trying to show how these religions are fighting, and they little quiet little boy in the corner is what the bottom line of religion is all about? You have the religious leaders arguing, when in reality, what does it matter what he believes in?
Life of Pi is an amazing book. I have loved reading this book more than any other book we have read this year. While reading this story, I have noticed many things through a Marxist lens. The environment and setting that is described throughout the story has a basic pyramid of class rankings to it. I think the obvious choice for the top spot would be Richard Parker. He is a 450 pound Royal Bengal Tiger. He is the top predator on the lifeboat. The hyena would be next in the food chain. The tiger easily can kill the hyena but I also think that the hyena deserves to be above Pi. Pi is scared of the hyena therefor making him lower on the pyramid than the hyena. I believe that Pi comes next on the list of our food chain. He is a human, making him smart, and able to conquer problems that approach him. He is a little bit defenseless as most of the other animals are stronger than him. The orangutan comes next after Pi. He is able to sort of fight when put up against the hyena but inevitably dies. At the bottom of the chain, we have the zebra. The zebra stood no chance with any of the other animals due to its' broken leg. It has no way of defending itself or fighting back.
Yann Martel's distinguished novel, Life, of Pi is an amazing source to read through a religious lens. Pi grew up a very religious young boy. Taking on three religions at ones, Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. Pi was raised as a Hindu in his little Indian town, Pondicherry. Pi's second religion was Christianity. He then added to his religion after he met an Islam baker. Islam was Pi's final religion. After the sinking of the ship, Pi finds himself aboard a lifeboat along with a crippled zebra, hyena, and Richard Parker, the tiger. Being stranded on a lifeboat for 277 days could make a person really question their faith. Not for Pi. Pi sticks to every faith and religion he grew up and continues to pray every day. My thought is that Pi uses a part of each religion to fill the gaps and questions he has for the other 2 religions.
In Life of Pi by Yann Martel, religion is a huge part of it, so I decided to use a religious lens. One of this books main focus is religion, and some characters have even made the remark that Pi’s story will make you believe in God. When the boat crashes Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with a motley of different animals. This could be seen as an allusion to Noah's arc. Pi is a very religious person, the entire first part of the books was centered around him discovering different religions. So him being an allusion to Noah makes perfect sense. Also, he was on the ship going to a new life, just as Noah built his ark to sail to a new life, both included animals. Although the animals in Noah’s ark did not attack or eat each other. Also the water, water is usually a symbol of cleansing. I think that waters cleaning away his old life. His life was not bad before, but after this journey, he will never be the same person, so I view the water as cleaning away his old life, and is ultimately God's test to Pi.
Throughout Life of Pi, I think the most resonating lens I viewed was the lens of religion. The different motifs, allusions, and references throughout Yann Martel's writing interest me the most. The stigma that Pi receives for being a devout follower of three different religions baffles me. I have heard and seen discrimination based on people's faith or lack thereof for that matter, but never for having "too much" religious beliefs. It is also intriguing to me that Pi believes in one of the largest faiths that encompasses the globe, while also following a religious "path less traveled." While entertaining the fact that we live in an area that has a more predominantly Christian belief system, I think that it is hard for readers like us to understand other religions and their practices simply because we rarely witness it. However, this novel does a great job of providing vivid imagery and thorough explanations that give each religion an even viewpoint, such as they viewed for Pi. In summary, I think reading this book with a perspective of faith and with a religious lens will be able to give the readers a truly moving story that can warm the heart and touch the mind of any readers
While reading the novel Life of Pi, you can analyze the book through multiple lenses. The lens that sticks out most to me is the Marxist lens. While Pi is trying to survive on the lifeboat, he is faced with struggles between the other characters, himself, and the environment. The zebra and orangutan are obviously below Pi because they are just zoo animals and don't have the thinking capabilities of a human. The hyena is above the zebra and orangutan because it's stronger and can kill more easily. Next, I think Pi would be next in the chain because he is smarter than the zoo animals but not as physically strong as Richard Parker the tiger. I do think Richard Parker is on top because he is the strongest of them all and has very sharp claws and teeth. He can kill anyone in a second and Pi obviously can't.
A lens that can be applied to the book, "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel, is the religious lens. Pie, the main character, talks about his journey into the religious world. He partakes in three religions: Catholicism, Hinduism, and Islam. On page 69, Pi is confronted by his three religious leaders. They are all arguing that he can not be following all three religions, and Pi says this, "Bapu Gandhi said, 'All religions are true.' I just want to love God" (69). The boat that pi is on can also be seen, through the religious lens, as a symbol for Noah's Ark in the Christian Bible. Pi carries an animal through the ocean until he hits land, just like how Noah carried animals through the flood after God sent rains to create a "new world". Another coincidence from a religious lens is when the two different characters found land. The bible states that Noah found land on the seventeenth day of the second month or February 17th. Pi finally reached land in February. So both of these figures were able to step onto land after months of life on the sea in February, which seems more than just a coincidence.
The lens that I find makes the most sense to me in any book I read is a Freudian Lens. In Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the id and superego are present for Pi and he often fights himself on the two. Pi senses that as time passes while on the lifeboat, he is tempted more and more by his id. The urge to drink his pee such as the hyena did, the urge to eat savagely like Richard Parker does, and the urge to do anything in order to survive are all pushing him further from his civilized upbringing. Pi grew up as a vegetarian but because he has to eat something other than biscuits, Pi ravages fish and turtles, a thought that made him shudder before. He is progressively getting closer to the way animals instinctively deal with issues. Pi does try to stop himself from a few of these temptations but all is in the name of survival. Pi also notices many similarities between humans and the animals on board. Orange Juice looks for her young boys much like Pi searched for his family in the water. The battle between civilization and savagery is present in Pi's consciousness and what he notices around him.
I feel as if a Freudian theory best fits this amazing book. Once you reach the end and it is brought up that it is possible that the animals were all figments of Pi's vivid imagination things really click into place. Pi is the tiger in this book and he feels as if he is his own best friend and he has to make sure that he keeps himself alive. This provides a really deep insight into Pi. At first glance, he might seem like a week-ish small person, but his personality and perseverance heavily makes up for it. This whole book, in my opinion, was a metaphor for how trauma can really change the mind and that subconsciously you need to fabricate stories and ideas to help you get through it. Pi witnessed a terrible tragedy when his ship sank and most of the people he cared about died. To deal with this terrible shock he unknowingly assigned every person on the lifeboat to an animal to help him deal with the terror. Coming from a background in zookeeping and his love for animals this really allows him to stay strong and fight for survival. I feel like he might not have survived if his body didn't take the shock and convert it into something less terrible. This just goes to show that subconsciously, your mind knows what it is doing and it knows what needs to happen for you to survive. You just need to listen to it.
While reading the Life of Pi one of the most applicable lenses for me was the freudian lens. Throughout the novel Pi faces several mental challenges as to himself and the circumstances set before him. Stranded on a lifeboat for 227 days, Pi clings onto his superego by regularly practicing his 3 different religions, fishing, writing in his journal, and taming Richard Parker. The immediate psychological challenge was gathering the courage to eat sea life because Pi had been a vegetarian his whole life previous to the ship sinking. After months spent at sea, Pi becomes completely malnourished and feels like he is on the verge of death. He loses his sight and ironically begins to hallucinate and hear things. At this point he has completely lost his mind and talks to Richard Parker about food. But then he hears another voice, a french man who was also lost at sea begins to talk with Pi about trading and food. The man attempts to kill Pi for food but is in turn killed by Richard Parker. The tiger protects Pi because obviously he is hungry, but also because he knows Pi is his master and the one that brings him food. Richard Parker is psychologically hard wired to be obedient and protective of his alpha male.
Through reading Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi I noticed that there are many different lenses in which this book can be analyzed. At the beginning of Pi’s journey on the raft, I was able to see through a Freudian lens the different animals on the lifeboat with Pi represented his apparatuses states. Hyena being the id and the Orange Juice being his superego. But this was short-lived as the animals later killed each other. I then began to think about through a Marxist lens on how the animals also represented the different social classes. Through a Marxist lens the zebra represents the lower class, The Hyena and Orange Juice as a middle class and Richard Parker and Pi as the upper class. This was very clear to see as the higher classes took advantage of and abused their lower classes. With the Hyena attacking and eating the zebra, then with Richard Parker attacking and eating the Hyena.
When we read through literary lenses any book in literature comes alive. This concept is especially true when it comes to Yann Martel's book Life of Pi. Any reader can use various lenses to read this book such as religious, Freudian, and Marxist. I am going to talk about the archetypal lens associated with Pi himself. When we first read the book, we can tell that Pi is an outcast. He is made fun of for his name and needs to take matters into his own hands. Pi lives in a zoo where there are more animals than humans. He is ridiculed for wanting to follow three different religions. His parents don't understand his want for multiple religions and even his religious figures are left in a confused state. Following three religions makes him an outcast within each of those religions. Pi is also an outcast from society when he is stranded on a life-boat for 227 days with a tiger.
While reading the novel Life of Pi, there are many ways to uncover the deeper meanings in the story. We are able to analyze Pi's story using several different literary lenses. I think that many lenses can be used, such as the Freudian literary lens, Religious literary lens, and the Marxist literary lens. So far in my reading, I think it is best to analyze through a Marxist literary lens. While on the rowboat initially, a zebra, orangutan, hyena, tiger, and Pi Patel are all present. They have their own little society where they must understand their roles. Through the Marxist literary lens, we can understand that the zebra and orangutan are the lower class of society. They do not have very much power, and will most likely be seen as only prey. Next would be the hyena because it cannot beat the tiger nor outsmart Pi. Pi would be the upper-middle-class because his smarts are more valuable than the other animals despite the tiger. The tiger, Richard Parker, is in the upper class. He controls what happens on the ship and with all of the other classes.
In the past couple of weeks, while reading Yann Martel's story, I have realized that it can be viewed with many different lenses. The main two that I see are the Marxist lens and the Religious lens. The main thing that I noticed when it comes to the Marxist lens is that I see how the animals are ranked in an ecosystem similar to how they are on the boat in the story. The Tiger should be on the top of the food chain on the boat. However, Richard Parker is smart and he knows that he cannot eat him because he is his only source of food and is the only one providing him with anything. These two would be considered the upper class of their economy and ecosystem that they have. After these two it goes the hyena and the orangutang that would represent the middle class. Then finally the zebra would be the lower class in the ecosystem that they have because it has nothing to eat on the boat and therefore is the bottom of the food chain. When it comes to the Religious lens in the story I see many allusions and references to religion commonly occurring in the story. He believes in three different religions and he makes references to each of them throughout the novel. As I continue reading I will be sure to keep on using my lenses!
I look into Yann Martel's book Life of Pi with various different lenses. Although most are present, I decided to focus on the Freudian lens. To help you understand the relationship with Pi and the animals, and Pi's life, you can use the Freudian lens. From the start of the book, we know Pi is different. He is the only one who lets his uncle swim in the pool, but also practices three religions at the same time. I believe that he uses religion to fill a void. His parents are focused on Revi and all the sports he plays, but they don't really focus on Pi, but I also that it has to do with how much Pi likes to explore and push limits. In the book, it says that Pi believes that the gods brought him to find Christ and to find other religions all for the purpose of loving God. I believe that Pi is an intelligent character that tests boundaries and does things that no one else would believe. He goes against everyone, and it shows character because he goes against his parents too.
A common theme in the novel is that of religion. Pi’s intense love for religion and how it can help a person’s soul, is consistently brought up throughout the novel. A way Pi is able to survive the brutal conditions thrown at him is through his belief. The way Pi interacts with life in the novel is a result of his religious nature. He disdains from harming a living thing of any kind but when push comes to shove he is forced into slaughtering countless marine life in order to feed himself and Richard Parker. Even when his habits become increasingly savage as the novel progresses, his love for religion persists. These themes of spirituality give positive examples of how religion can affect a person. Often religion can be viewed as negative such as the reason for terrorism and other atrocities. Pi Patel’s story highlights how a person can feel loved when part of religion and how that love can inspire them to live.
After reading part 1 of "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel I decided to look through a Marxist lens. This lens helps the reader get a much better understanding of higher classes compared to lower classes but in this case with the animals in the zoo. Obviously, the Tigers remain at the top of the chain since they are big, strong, intimidating, and dangerous. The middle class I would consider to be the giraffes and hippos. They aren't viewed as scary and seem more friendly compared to the tigers. The lower class would be the guinea pigs like in the book even though they aren't in zoos that often or if they are ever. When Pi's dad walked Ravi and Pi through the zoo telling them to be careful about each animal because they are all dangerous, Pi's dad says that they can play with the guinea pigs because they are completely harmless. They are small and not feared by most.
Yann Martel’s “Life of Pi” can be analyzed through many literary lenses. Personally, I feel the most useful lens is the Freudian lens of psychoanalysis. Throughout the novel, it can be blatantly seen that Richard Parker, a tiger, is symbolic of the id. He is a wild animal with savage instincts. He kills without any thought towards morality only for the reason of invasion of territory and food. The superego in this case I think is Pi’s religions. All three of his religions, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism are peaceful and focus on loving God. Pi himself is the ego. He is constantly battling between the savagery of the id and the peacefulness of the superego. On the boat, Pi starts off more civilized and put together. Over time though, he starts to give into the id and acts more animal than human. His once vegetarian lifestyle has turned into eating anything and everything he can get his hands on. He used to be against killing fish, but will now kill with ease. Pi’s fight for survival has changed him to become more and more animal-like.
Currently, I am reading Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi. Numerous lenses can be applied to this novel in order to study it on a deeper level. Some of the lenses that can be used are the Marxist Lens, the Freudian lens, and the Religious lens. The lens that sticks out the most to me is the Religious lens. The main character, named Pi Patel, is a young boy who is raised Hindu by his mother, but his dad is not religous. As he grew older, Pi discovered Christianity and Islam. All three of these religions play a large role in his life. As a child and as an adult Pi worships the gods of the three religions. There are numerous mentionings of the different gods and ways of prayer. While stranded in the middle of the ocean, Pi is still strong in his faith. He prays routinely and is grateful for all the things God has blessed him with during this life trial. Overall, Pi's character is strongly based around religion which makes the Religious Lens a perfect tool to use to analyze the novel.
Yann Martel's novel, Life of Pi, contains dozens of allegories that can be broken down by a reader. The lens that I think is most helpful is the religious lens since this book is fraught with religious symbols and references. The book starts out telling us about how Pi follows the three religions: Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. Young Pi is persecuted for many things. He is frowned upon for his religious beliefs and is made fun of for his name. He can be related to many religious figures, but the most prominent, I think, is Adam (as in Adam and Eve). Adam was surrounded by animals was in charge of naming them. Adam was known for knowing everything about the animals, much like Pi. Pi also can be related to Noah, as they are forced to flee from their home on board the Tsimtsum because of political changes. Later on in the book, Pi encounters an island. The island seems perfect, but Pi finds out something sinister. He finds a human tooth in some fruit. The island has certain acidic properties and is slowly eating away at him. This island symbolizes Satan tempting Adam to eat the fruit in the Garden of Eden.
If I had to choose a lens to look at Life of Pi with, it would probably make the most sense to use a Marxist Lens. There are many instances throughout the book, especially while in the ocean, where power is expressed within the lifeboat. It is a little weird doing this because we are looking at both humans and animals, but that is pretty much the whole book so we have to do with what we are dealt. I think that Richard Parker resembles the highest of powers, as nobody on the boat wants to mess with him. I think Pi is the middle class because he is a little scared of the tiger, but he isn't really worried about the hyena as time goes on and kind of ignores it like it is worthless. The hyena is definitely the lower class, just as they are in the lion king. They are just ugly creatures and can always be assumed as the lower class, just as tigers are usually assumed in the higher class (in the animal world anyways), and Pi, the human, is in the middle class just like most humans seem to be when you meet them. The three living things on the lifeboat can actually fit a Marxist lens fairly well.
Through reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel many different lenses have emerged throughout the story. The lenses that have become most apparent in my view are the Marxist Lens, Freudian Lens, and the Religious Lens. The Marxist lens can be applied best because Richard Parker is most obviously the upper class in the situation on the boat. He controls all of the decisions that will be made on the ship, in part because of the fear of Pi. The Bengal Tiger instills fear into Pi and could end the life of Pi at any second. Pi might be a human and have the ability to talk and solve his own problems, Richard Parker still lies above him. Looking through a Religious Lens, you can see in Part One that Pi is very religious with his three different views on Religion. With Pi having three different faiths, people question his faith and his faith gets questioned throughout the book itself.
In Yann Martels Life of Pi, there are many lenses a reader could view the story from after all the entire first part of the book is merely about how Pi Patel worshiped in 3 different religions, a religious lens would be that far off. However, a Freudian lens for analyzing Pi Patels' mental state as he is in the lifeboat, as we read in class today—page 240 to page 255—we find a cannibal cook who wants to eat Pi, supposedly was on another lifeboat, and self admits to killing two people, a man and a women. As earlier in the book the hyena is told to commit acts of cannibalism against other hyenas in a feeding frenzy—so perhaps this meat connoisseur that Pi meets is not a stranger rather the "hyena" that has been with him the whole time—thus giving meaning to the zebra with the broken leg and Orange Juice also being people that the French cannibal killed and ate and Pi is repressing the trauma from witnessing such brutality and thus hiding the truth of the worlds cruelest animal, the human, behind the fog a being a deranged frenzy driven animal.
After reading through the first 90 chapters in Yann Martel’s novel, “The Life of Pi,” I have noticed multiple views that can be analyzed through the lenses. I believe the most prominent one I have seen so far would be Marxist. The book starts with Pi as a young boy who grows up in a zoo. His mother and father obviously hold power over him at this age, but also many of the animals in the zoo; his father gives us and Pi a clear lesson he holds no power over animals. As Pi grows older, we see a shift and he starts to gain power over the course of his years. First over his parents as he persisted that he truly follows all three of the religions he claims too. Eventually they have no choice but to give in and accept that he will follow all three religions. With time after the shipwreck, Pi also gains power of Richard Parker. Now, we have to admit that some of this is because of Richard Parker’s intelligence, however the knowledge that Pi obtained from his father and through reading about the circus has allowed him to survive as long as he did one the life boat. Pi had to know how to make Richard Parker respect him which shows that he has some control over the tiger, which in turn makes him more powerful from a Marxist view.
In Life of Pi, many lenses can be viewed through and sought out. For myself, I have chosen to view this book in a different lens compared to most. With the Feminist lens, you can see many ideas and concepts through Pi's survival after the shipwreck. The only known female character on the lifeboat is Orange Juice, the orang-utan, who is a mother-figure to Pi. Pi describes how she had two babies since entering the Pondicherry Zoo and had always been one of his favorites. During the attack of the hyena, Orange Juice defended herself and Pi, while ending up giving up her own life for her child and becoming beheaded. Through a different perspective, Pi can be viewed as having more feminine qualities compared to his brother, Ravi. His parents talked about Pi and wishing he was more like Ravi—who was involved in sports in school—and Pi was only interested in two things: his 3 religions and the zoo animals. Although he may be more feminine, this helps him take care of himself and Richard Parker—by fishing to feed both of them and whistle training Richard Parker to keep himself (Pi) safe.
As I am reading the Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel, you a very diverse group of the literary lens. One really obvious one that stuck out to me was the Religious lens. Pi is a very unique man who is a follower of Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity. Pi melds all of these religions into a "super religion". He makes room for every religion in his daily life. He uses each religion as a guide for everything he does. For example, he doesn't eat any meat. You can use the Marxist lens as well when you look at the situation on the life raft. Richard Parker is the obvious leader of the raft because if anyone challenged him, they would surely be killed by the massive Bengal tiger. You could say Pi is the lower class because he can't do anything to unseat Richard Parker from his "throne" on the life raft.
As I made my way down to leave my comment, I noticed that there was a lack of use when it came to the Feminist Lens. Therefore, I'll slip on my lenses and analyze Life of Pi through a Feminist lens. This is typically not the lens of my choosing, but it's good to change things up. From the beginning, it was obvious that the setting was in a male dominating society. In India, women know their place and will often keep their opinions to themselves. When Pi's father decided to show his sons what danger a tiger can be, Pi's mother began to protest. Quickly rejecting her, Pi's father proceeded as he had planned without a second thought. She was seen as vulnerable like the children and looked over. Ignorant even. She needed to be taught the lesson as well. Later in the novel, Pi talks about the difference between male and female orang-utans. Males are much larger and stronger and Pi says that if Orange Juice were a male, then she would have had a chance at surviving the fight with the hyena. These are facts and I am not trying to find fault in them. However, I find it interesting that the only real times that a female came along, they were shown as weak and helpless.
I believe a Freudian lens can be applied to Life of Pi quite effectively. As we go through the novel, Yann Martel does a great job describing to us what the lifeboat, animals, and living conditions are like. I, like many readers, can picture vividly what day-to-day life was like on the raft, and I almost feel as if I myself am in the lifeboat. Because of the clear description of even the smallest details, we get a very good insight into what Pi is feeling and thinking. I think if any one of us were in the situation Pi was in, we would be so lost and anxious that we would not be able to operate with the efficiency and thoughtfulness that Pi does. Pi has a pretty level head most of the time, and takes his time to assess the situations he is forced into. Challenge after challenge, failure after failure, Pi continues to return to his low-key state of mind and is able to make rational decisions each and every day. During the highs, like when he discovered the food and water rations, he gets excited, but uses these resources carefully, as he knows he needs to make them last as long as possible. During the lows, like when the ship initially sank, he was devastated, but never lost hope, and continued to use his survivalist mindset to stay alive the best he could.
When analyzing novels with brilliant authors such as Yann Martel, it is no challenge to “put on” our literary lenses. Religion is a huge aspect of the novel––making it simple to apply this lens to Life of Pi. Pi grew up in a Hindu family; however, religion was never something Pi was forced into. Despite his father being raised as a Hindu, he appears to no longer practice his faith––one of the many reasons why Pi’s father is so perplexed with Pi’s adoption of three religions: Hinduism, Islam, and Christanity. Pi truly just wants to love, and be loved by a God––or simply a higher power. His faith is a tremendous factor of surviving on a lifeboat with a tiger. Throughout his adventure, Pi continues to pray after realizing that he is alive solely because of his God, demonstrating how God has not failed to leave his side (possibly why he survives the ship accident and not his family).
While reading the Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the lense that is the most obvious to me is the Freudian lens. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of the ego, superego, and the id can be used to understand the relationship between Pi and the animals on the boat. Orange Juice, the orangutan, can be interpreted as the superego. Orangutans are overall relaxed and sophisticated animals. They control their impulsed and adapt their decisions to their surroundings. Richard Parker, the tiger, can be seen as the ego. He rationally thinks about his decisions before acting upon them. He satisfies his urges of the id by killing the hyena, who was a threat, and using it as food. Parker does not kill Pi because Pi is his source of getting food. The id would be the hyena because it acts on its impulses without thinking. For example, the hyena attacks the Zebra when it sees that it is dying.
This year I got the opportunity to read Life of Pi during Literature 201, and while reading one thing stood out to me, the amount of religion is heavily present during the book and would not be any fun to analyze. The one lens thought that one must look for harder then most is the feminist lens. The biggest thing with this lens is Santosh Patel and the way he judges Mrs. Ghandi, not only does Santosh Patel want to leave the country after Mrs. Ghandi is changing the way India works and his way of life, he sells his zoo animals, the greatest impact on Pi Patel's life and survivability throughout the novel all come from the zoo. Another big aspect that would stand out to anyone wearing a feminist lens while reading Life of Pi is the lack of females throughout the novel and positive female influence. The only positive female that comes to mind is Pi Patel's mother, Gita Patel.
Religion is very evident in Life of Pi by Yann Martel. It can also be linked critically to the book as well. Pi's father's attitude toward, or more accurately against religion leads Pi to conclude that everybody has to believe in something. even if that something is choosing to be an atheist they are still consciously choosing to believe in something. Pi chooses to fill his life with God, in his many different forms through Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. Being a curious young man Pi came to see the wonders of God's work and also found his path of faith. Pi believes that one of the Hindu gods helped him to find the church and by association, Christ. To him, the different religions all chare one big commonality: loving God. They all love God, but they just express it in different ways with differing beliefs behind the reasoning and faith. Pi shows us that God accepts us for who we are even if our faith differs from what the majority believe is the correct and straight path. God's paths can lead in different directions, and in Pi's case, it leads him to 3 different religions to help Pi find his place with God. While not common, it is possible for kids to find their path completely on their own with God's help. Many kids find help along the way and frequently are introduced to their religion through their parents. Pi matures into himself as he finds his religion. He cements his beliefs and finds himself when he finds God. Some will say that God found him, but religiously speaking that is not the case. God has always been there watching him, it was just up to Pi to realize that God was there with him the entire time.
When reading a book such as the Life of Pi by Yann Martel, a brilliant author, it is easy to come across a variety of examples of different literary lenses. One of the most protruding ideas in the novel is the idea of religion and how Pi merges them all together. Because of this theme in the book, I will analyze the Life of Pi from a religious lens. There are many ways Martel includes Pi's beliefs into the book. He writes about his childhood, his mentors Mr. and Mr. Kumar, the three wise men, his parents, books that he reads, and also the way he acts on the boat. Growing up Pi would go to three different types of what we would call church. Being mentored and taught in each faith provides problems for others, but he believes that it is loving god to the fullest. His parents and the three wise men aren't very supportive in Pi's unordinary thoughts, but eventually, they come around to see that it is doing no harm and it is good that he has faith. His parents, with convincing, allow him to be baptized and also buy him a prayer rug (a prized possession of Pi's). Later in the story when Pi is stranded on the boat he asks the three of his gods for different things to help him through his struggle.
I have had the great opportunity to be able to study Yann Martel this year. In the book Life of PI, there are many lenses you can apply to the wonderful book. One I find can improve a readers compression is religion. Yann Martel’s book comes alive more when you look at it through a religious lens. He does not just talk about one religion he actually talks about believing in three which catches some people off guard. He says in part of the book that for most people when they grow older they grow farther away from God, but it's the exact opposite for him. He gains more knowledge as he grows older and looks deeper into it. The mustard seed quote came up. For Christians that is all they believe you need to move a mountain and grows your faith spiritually. Same for PI he is growing in his faith throughout the entirety of the book.
When reading Yann Martel's "Life of Pi" it is easy to focus on the many expertly-crafted details of Pi's journey through the Pacific and through religion. However, throughout Pi's journey, there are various elements easily spotted by one wearing a Marxist lens. As a Zoo Owner, Pi's father struggles financially in the poor French colony of Pondicherry. Therefore, Pi's status economically lies on the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder. When immigrating to Canada, Pi's father is attempting to raise their status economically so his family has more opportunities. Most obviously in the novel, however, is the ideal of Pi's "economic" gains while he is in the Pacific. Beginning his journey, Pi makes a list of all his material assets. With a Marxist lens, it is apparent this as a comparison to the levels of wealth often debated within Marxist discussions. Finally, Pi asserts his place as the alpha of the lifeboat, with his subordinate being Richard Parker. His material possessions allow him to provide for Richard Parker, and therefore his wealth directly relates to his ability to survive.
Throughout reading Life of Pi, one can't help but notice the prominence of religion in the novel. Life of Pi begins with a claim: this is a story that will make you believe in God. The entire first part of the book is dedicated to how Pi came across all three of the religions he follows and what his life is like practicing these religions. Pi losing his family, being thrown out to sea with a tiger on board, and struggling to survive is the ultimate test of faith. Despite all of the struggles that he is forced to endure, he doesn't lose touch with his spiritual side. When looking through the religious lens, Pi’s survival could be considered a testimony that perhaps there is a Higher Being looking after Pi while he is at sea, or how else could he conceivably survive such unthinkable odds and evade imminent death? In the end, Pi was able to pass the great test of faith while remaining true to what his beliefs are, even given the dire circumstances.
In terms of studying Life of Pi, I find it incredibly hard to apply a lens to this novel. I only say this because the story stems from a true story. One thing that I do find interesting in this novel has the presence of miracles, that is why I think a religious lens is easy to apply. The book already has heavy religious overtones in Pi's life but what strikes me as crazy is how life makes a transition into a god form in the novel. What I mean by this is if you take a moment and consider that Pi is Jesus. Then life would be a god as it helps him perform miracles and stay alive. For instance, when the rat shows up, when the flying fish jump out of the water, and Pi's overall survival. Another way of looking at it would be through a Freudian lens. I think that Pi could be the smart and rational superego using what he has learned to help him survive and the tiger could be the primitive id that acts instinctively and has to be tamed. Also, I think there are Marxist ideas to look at as well, I think that the boat and specifically the locker is the base and things like the raft, canopy, and objects in the locker are the superstructure.
Throughout reading Yann Martel's "Life of Pi", I have been able to experience his wide depth of knowledge and multiple perspectives on life. "Life of Pi" can easily be analyzed through multiple literary lenses to help further our understanding. The easiest lense for me to depict when reading "Life of Pi" is a Marxist lens. With various examples of social classes, there are multiple approaches. One of the greatest examples of Marxism is Pi's family situation. Pi's father owns a zoo and had struggled to provide for his family. From a standpoint with social classes in mind alongside a Marxist lens, Pi's family would be in a lower social class due to his loss of environment with the genetic lottery. A religious lens is highly prevalent as well being most of Pi's life story revolves around him practicing three religions. Pi practices Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam all at the same time. Each different religion has various allusions. These allusions help to bring readers along and fill in the blanks of what they might not know already. At the end of the day, Pi just wants something to believe. He feels comforted by the idea of a higher power.
While reading Life of Pi I have been applying a Marxist lens. First of all, Pi is a small boy and he is given a name that sounds like "pissing". This causes kids in school to pick on him and make him feel inferior. You could say that Pi has not won the genetic lottery. Pi is not a kid who is interested in sports like his brother is. I would say his brother has won the genetic lottery considering he is athletic. Pi believes in three different religions while his father is mainly focused on business. His father represents society's need for power and dominance over all other things. In the story, Pi's father wants to teach his sons a lesson by showing them a goat get eaten by a predator. I think this is showing power and dominance within the zoo and between the animals. An animal who is a predator has definitely won the genetic lottery whereas an animal who is prey has not.
Many lenses can be applied to Yann Martel's outstanding novel, "Life of Pi". Although there are many, the one that sticks out the most to me is the religious lens. One thing you will notice early in Yann Martel's Life of Pi is the main character, Pi Patel's peculiar attitude about religion. Pi is very peculiar as he identifies as Hindu, Christian, and Islam. Pi acknowledges that every religion has its own absurdities but he also respects the viewpoints of all of them. He realizes that the basis for most of the religions and that is that they all have a higher power that is worshipped. How they worship them is a different story. He also says that for most people, when they grow older, they grow farther away from God, but for Pi, it is the exact opposite. He gains more knowledge as he grows older and looks deeper into it. I am interested to see how else Mr. Martel uses religion in the rest of the novel.
When reading Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, I was able to use many different lenses. In this blog task, I will be using my personal favorite, the Marxist lens. The first clear sign of Marxism in the book is when Pi is stranded on the boat with the animals. There is an obvious ranking system that appears among the outcasts. Richard Parker is seen as upper class because he is the strongest. He could kill everyone if he wanted too. “In the face of such a superior predator, all of us were prey.” (151). I’d say Pi is lower to middle class because he is able to befriend the tiger and tame him all while staying alive. The other animals are lower class because they are slaughtered by Richard Parker. If there was an even lower class it would be the zebra. The zebra stands no chance against the tiger due to its broken leg.
Yann Martel's Life of Pi is so well done that you can apply literally any literary lens you can think of in some way. Today I am choosing to look through an orientalist lens. Orientalism is the relationship between the “orient” and the “occident”. I think this applies to Life of Pi because Pi Patel would be the orient while Yann martel is the occident. Normally the occident is telling the story, like how Martel is writing this one, and usually it portrays the orient in a negative light. I think Martel does a really great job at not doing this. I think he shows how beautiful Poniberry and India are. He doesn’t degrade the various religions Patel practices, he writes about them with respect. One cultural difference between the orient and the occident is food. I thought it was funny when Martel told Pi he loved spicy food, then would cry when eating the meals. He said he put dollop after dollop of yogurt to try and calm the spices of the indian food.
Yann Martel's novel, Life of Pi, can be analyzed through a wide variety of various literary lenses. I think the Marxist lens provides many insights into this novel. First off, right from the beginning of the story, you can see that Pi has won in terms of the environmental lottery. He is given a loving family who will always be there for him even when they do not agree with his actions of following 3 different religions at once. His family also owns the Pondicherry Zoo. As a child, this is truly a dream come true. Another instance where a Marxist lens can provide insight is during Pi's 200+ days at sea with a tiger. Marxism is very dependent on its social classes and this example of a tiger and boy is no exception. Although rather strange, Richard Parker can clearly be seen as the Bourgeoise, and Pi, the Proletariat. According to Karl Marx, author of the Communist Manifesto which serves as the basis for a Marxist literary lens, the Bourgeoise is dependent on the Proletariats' efforts for survival. In the story, the only reason that Richard Parker is alive is that Pi is making it so by working to provide food and water for him, startingly similar to Marxist Theory.
While reading Yann Martel's Life of Pi, there are so many literary lenses that can be used to view the book in a more detailed way. The way I choose to view this book is with a Religion Lens. The entire story is trying to get you to believe in God, that is what the beginning says. The story is about how Pi came across three different religions but used them all together to believe in more things. When Pi was young, he was made fun of for believing in three different religions, and for his name, sounded like pissing. Pi acts in a religious nature, the way he acts with the animals on the boat. Even though Pi's father didn't have faith In a religion, Pi was still able to believe in something with his parents not being as supportive as they could have been. With the boat sinking, his family dying and being left on a boat with the animals, Pi prays to God many times, that is why the religious lens seemed like a good way to view this book.
Life of Pi, a fantastic piece of literature created by the wickedly talented author Yann Martel, can be looked through as many lenses as you can think. The book is that good. But for my lens, as prominent as religious themes are throughout Life of Pi, I believe Freudian would be the most useful and efficient. Pi is very clearly the superego as he is the patriarch of the boat while he and the animals are stuck at sea. He has to instill confidence in the members and provide for them the best he can. Richard Parker would be the ego as he acts on his urges only when he needs to. He is not an impulse thinker. The hyena, on the other hand, is the Id. He completely disregards any form of logical thinking and complete acts on urges. He paid the price for this by getting killed by Richard Parker.
As I continue to read the Life of Pi by Yann Martel It is hard to pick from the varying literary lenses Yann Martel placed throughout the book. While the religious lens is abundant I would have to choose the Marxist lens. During the lengthy part 2, I chose to study the most defining part of the book of Pi and Richard Parker in the lifeboat together. Pi trying to obtain the alpha role in the lifeboat as he is joined with Richard Parker the fierce lion. Pi attempts to treason with the animal by giving him a side of the boat and Richard Parker asserts himself standing his ground. I would say Richard Parker has the most power in the lifeboat as Pi still has a sense of fear of the tiger. Pi then stays to his side of the lifeboat as he knows the tiger can kill him at any moment but he realizes after time his bond growing with Richard Parker.
The lens I would like to apply to Life of Pi is the religious lens. I think this lens is probably the most prominent when we read the book and directly relates to some of the themes in it. During half of the book, it mostly talks about the early life of Pi and what he believes in. We understand that Pi is Hindu, Christian, and Muslim all at once. With the religious lens, we can understand Pi's reasoning and psychology in depth. Pi believes that all religions can be true if one believes in it. He believes that religion provides insight and color to life. He believes that religion makes life better and that is why he adopts all three religions. Later on in the book, we can see this theme amplified when he mentions that the color green reminds him of Islam. Overall I think we can infer that the religious lens is definitely the most prominent lens and perhaps the most in depth
There are many different lenses that would have gone with this book, but the one that I chose to use was the Religious lens. I chose this lens because throughout the whole beginning of the book I find myself reading over and over again about the different religions Pi comes across and discovers while a little boy. Even though his father does not believe or go by any sort of religion, Pi puts this aside and goes after THREE. I think this is really important because is shoes just how determined Pi really is and shows how broad of a spectrum Pi looks at things. To be able to believe in three different religions must be a challenge, but it shows you just how much Pi is willing to understand. This also shows that he is not a narrow-minded person, but a very dynamic person perhaps. Pi continues to amaze me throughout this book and I can't wait to keep applying the many different lenses that I can.
While reading Life of Pi, I have been reading with a Freudian lens. Throughout part 2, we begin to see the relationship between Richard Parker and Pi, and how they interact with each other and how they subconsciously depend on each other. What is interesting to think about is if Richard Parker is really there? Is Richard Parker a figment of Pi's imagination and in some way or another symbolizes himself. I can see Richard Parker resembling Pi and this is a way of Pi to overcome his problems within and fight his demons. This is also a way for Pi to stay connected with himself, and help him survive the dangers of open water. The other animals can represent other things too, like the zebra with his family, the orangutang with hope, and the hyena with determination. When these animals die, the part that represents them dies in him. I can not wait to apply more lenses while reading this book, like religious and Marxist.
Life of Pi by Yann Martel has been my favorite book so far this semester. After learning how to read books with literary lenses each book I read can be studied in depth. There are many lenses that bring out the major themes in the Life of Pi. The theme and lense that sticks out the most to me is the Religion lens. Pi Patel chooses to study every major religion including, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. Each of these religions is helping Pi become a better person in many ways. Pi uses these religions to grow himself. Another lens that sticks out to me is the Freudian lens. While Pi Patel and Richard Parker are stuck in the middle of the ocean, it is interesting to dig deep in their minds and see what is going on, especially since there is no one to talk to.
When applying a Freudian Lens to the book, Life of Pi, you can begin to see why Pi acts the way he does. He was raised in a zoo culture. This way he knows how animals act and behave. His father was an atheist and did not believe in much for religion. This might be why Pi wanted to explore religion, to somewhat go against his father and learn about something he has not been around before. When on the boat, Pi faces the challenge of staying on the boat with the tiger. He cannot decide whether to risk his own life and try to attack and kill the tiger, or to try to live with it and make peace with the tiger. He chooses to keep Richard Parker around. This is a questionable decision because this tiger takes up so much for resources. But this proves to be beneficial for Pi too. They both benefit from each other. I think Pi subconsciously enjoys taking care of the tiger. It gives him something to do and something to work for. It also gives him a companion, which is huge for keeping his sanity while being alone in the middle of the Pacific.
The lens that I decided to use to look at Life of Pi is the Marxist lens with the most prominent example of this when you observe the boat with all the creatures that inhabit the boat. With the top, or often referred to in The Life of Pi as the Super Alpha, would be the bangled tiger Richard Parker, who is never challenged by anyone other than Pi, not the Orangutan, Orange Juice, or the Hyena dared to challenge his rule over this small ecosystem. The only other example is the severely injured Zebra who is the first to be killed by the Hyena and is eaten alive at that, then the next to go is the Orangutan who is killed by the Hyena by decapitation. The last to be killed in this ecosystem is the Hyena, who is killed by Richard Parker, leaving just RP and Pi on the boat. Showing that the two Alphas are the only ones who will survive and will take everything, even the lives of those below them to keep living.
When reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel I find it interesting to apply a Marxist lens to the book. A lens can provide a deeper understanding of the book. While there is no money on the ship there is still a power structure that has formed upon the lifeboat. At the very bottom of the chain is the zebra. The zebra not only is prey in the wild it is also prey in the boat and the hyena regularly takes bites of the poor defenseless zebra. The next highest on the chain is the Orangutan because he is not necessarily as strong and aggressive as the tiger and hyena but he is definitely above the zebra with a broken leg who is being eaten alive. Next is obviously the hyena because he has taken charge of the zebra yet still respects the tiger and seems to wait to see what the tiger does before eating the zebra. Pi Patel and the lion are both at the top but it is hard to determine who holds the highest position. It makes most sense that Pi is at the top because Pi could kill the tiger if he really wanted to by not feeding him but the tiger would have trouble killing Pi because he could jump into the water if the tiger attacked.
While reading Life of Pi, I have used many different lenses. But one that I think is crucial to the story of Pi, is Orientalism. Pi has to establish to Richard Parker some ground rules if they are to live near one another. Pi establishes right away that Richard Parker is not allowed onto Pi’s raft. This is extremely important for later in the book, as Richard Parker is about to pounce onto Pi’s raft to kill the fish and take it for himself. Pi must stare into his eyes and with the rules that have been established, Richard Parker knows that Pi will feed him and he does not need to get the food himself. This would have been a turning point in the story where Pi may have be killed, but due to Pi’s orientalism they are able to live in harmony with the rules that have been set.
Life of Pi can be viewed through many different lenses. The lens that seemed most apparent to me when I was reading was the marxist lens. A tiered system of power is immediately formed on the lifeboat between the animals and Pi. The zebra, being injured and unable to protect itself, was at the bottom of the chain, next above it was the Orange Juice, the orangutan who had a good deal of knowledge, but was still unable to protect herself from the next up on the system, the hyena. The hyena is powerful enough to kill Orange Juice, but he is no match for Richard Parker. In the beginning of his time at sea, Pi sits clearly below Richard Parker. He hides from him and fears him. But as time goes on, Richard Parker becomes reliant on Pi for food and water, and Pi begins to "train" Richard Parker. Once this happens, Pi and Richard Parker become equals at the top of the power system.
I don't know what type of lens this is or if this is a type of lens. I want to compare the zoo animals to people. I specifically want to talk about the distances between people and zoo animals and the compromise of zoo animals. When in a zoo, there is a certain distance that you are away from the animals. If you get too close to an animal, they become uncomfortable and at times, rowdy. Furthermore, when given the chance, most animals do not leave their pens, or they return. I think that these two traits not only correlate with each other, but they describe humans. Humans have their personal space, and get uncomfortable when people get too close to them. There are many reactions to close proximity: telling the said person to back up; taking a step back from the said person; increases in oxygen intake; fear; or a guarded, angered atmosphere. I think this directly correlates with animals' compliance to stay where they are because it is good enough as it is. Although these two separate traits of zoo animals do not have a solid connection, humans have this connection (and share these two traits with zoo animals). Often times, humans are comfortable where they are. They want something better, the desire is there, but they would rather stay where they know where it is safe/ THis is when they stay in their comfort zone. Anything or anyone that gets too close to them, or too close to a new opportunity, causes them to be nervous and get defensive. There are people who do take the risks and get out of their comfort zones. But too often, like the zoo animal, they stay where they are at because their fear and compliance is greater than their curiosity.
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I can look through a Marxist lens for multiple ideas in the book "Life of Pi". The one that stands out the most to me is Pi's religious influences due to ideological state apparatuses. Pi's upbringing heavily influences his decisions and his person, both through his father's teachings, and the culture that he grows up in. Pi's father, being staunchly atheist, puts a lot of stock in logic and reasoning. Growing up in a non-religious household, I can confirm that such households often place an emphasis on curiosity and self-information. I was always told, as I am sure Pi was as well, that the only way to know something is to look yourself. Nothing exists outside of the information in your head, and the only way to ease your curiosity is to lean into it. Pi is curious by nature, but his upbringing empowers him to search for his own answers. He is curious about what Christians believe, as he has only heard what his father has told him, so he investigates and gains new information from a different source. The same thing happens with the rest of his religions. He is curious, investigates, and learns enough to understand and make his own choices religiously. His culture influenced him as well, as he was surrounded by various religions, and was given the impression that one has to believe in SOMETHING. The combination of this cultural attitude and the influences from his father lead Pi to be curious and inform himself. Then he picks out what he loves of each religion and practices each religion to the best of his abilities. This attitude toward religion is something that I have found to be more prevalent in those that have taught themselves their religion. It is the attitude that religion is an individual experience, not to be judged or slandered by others. This is a hard attitude to come by in those who have been raised religious, being told what to believe while surrounded by their peers. Pi learned his religions on his own because he was raised non-religious. His society is the reason he learned his religions at all.
This year, I have had the opportunity to study Yann Martel’s influential novel entitled “Life of Pi”. This expansive work could be analyzed through a variety of different literary lenses. However, I feel examining the Freudian conceptions of the human psyche provides the most insightful analysis of this one-of-a-kind story. To start, Richard Parker best represents the conception of id due to his impulsive, wild nature. Because he is a predator, he is willing to do anything in order to survive, regardless of its morality. For Pi, such an influence is necessary, with Richard Parker being the living representation of Pi’s inner survival instinct (id). In contrast, Orange Juice would represent the superego because of his gentle, intelligent nature. Unlike Richard Parker, this monkey thinks through its actions, always following a path of kindness and nonaggression when he was at the zoo. For Pi, this influence represents his humanity and civility; the part of him that keeps him from becoming a beast himself. Finally, Pi represents the ego, using both his survival instincts and humanity to ensure a safe though moral journey. However, with the death of Orange Juice, the influence of the superego disappears, pushing Pi closer and closer to the impulsive id.
While reading Yann Martell's stunning novel entitled Life of Pi, many different lenses seemed to be filled with meaning. However, I think this book is best analyzed through a Freudian psychoanalytical lens. Clearly, Pi is extremely confused and in shock after the sinking of the ship. Thus, the images of the animals on the ship likely represent the different agents of Pi's psychic apparatus. The hyena and the tiger represent Pi's id. These animals rely solely on their survival instinct and are willing to do whatever it takes to survive, even if it means attacking and killing other beings. Orange Juice and the zebra represent Pi's superego. These animals seem to peacefully accept the fate of being stranded and, especially the zebra, exist in almost a peaceful dreamlike state. Finally, Pi's human form represents the ego. He is conflicted between his desire for survival. and his peaceful nature and love of God, making him characterize his id and superego to separate his mortality from the atrocities he is forced to commit.
After reading, studying, and analyzing Yann Martell's intricate novel titled Life of Pi, there are many lenses in which I could choose to peer through; however, the lense that I find the most obvious and clear is the Freudian Lense. First off, I believe that the hyena represents Pi's id because of his ability to act in a way that shoves morality to the side for the cause of survival. it represents in Pi that he must do whatever he can in order to survive—just as the hyena ate the zebra and Orange Juice in order for its survival. In contrast, Orange Juice represents the superego throughout this novel. The Orangutang represents this because he is quite relaxed and sophisticated. Orange juice adapts to it surroundings and is much more controlling of his impulses. Lastly, Richard Parker represents the Ego in the novel. He satisfies the id by killing the hyena, a threat to himself, and uses it as food to eat. However, he does not kill Pi because he realizes that Pi becomes a source of food for himself; therefore, killing him would be unfavorable for him. Overall, the Ego will make the most rational decisions in order to have the best result. One example of these three used together would be when Pi is creating a plan to survive. Plan number seven is a balance between the impulses of the id to kill the tiger and the rationale of the superego to keep him alive. Plan number seven is the training of the tiger in order to survive; again making the most rational decisions in order to produce the best result.
Through reading Life of Pi, I am able to notice an outline of Freudian and Marxist lenses fighting against one another. We see that there is the ID and the Superego early on. Pi, obviously being the main character of the story, is the Superego. Then we had the ID, the tiger, Richard Parker. Richard Parker is the "dumb animal" that wishes to kill anything that comes near while Pi, the "brilliant human mind", is seen as more intellectual because humans have more complex brains. However, this is when the Marxist lens starts to battle back at the Freudian lens. ISA and RSA start to combat one another in this survival text. Richard Parker would be the RSA, or the dictator, who only wants to use Pi as a food source. On the other hand, Pi is the ISA, as he tries to create his own system so that he and Richard Parker can benefit from it together.
The LIfe Of Pi can be seen through many lenses, one that sticks out the most is the Freudian lens. You can use the Freudian lens to understand the relationships between all the animals and Pi on the boat, but as well you can use the lens to focus on Pi. Pi is very intriguing especially since he follows three different religions and practices all of them. One may question if something is missing in his life that he has to fulfill it with all these religions. However, I think the true reason is simply that he is not afraid to explore. Many people are born into a religion and just stick with it not even considering the other opportunities and possibilities of different religions. Pi decides to check out the other religions and see for himself if he believes them or not. Even more to it, he finds a way to incorporate the three together. It is said in the book how Pi believes that one of the Hindu gods brought him to the church to find Christ and that they all come together and all have one purpose: to love God. So using a Freudian lens, I believe that Pi is very intelligent and tests the waters instead of doing what people tell him to do, even if it goes against his parents.
When reading Yann Martell’s Life of Pi, an assortment of literary lenses are beneficial and worth utilizing. Martell has implemented countless meaningful ideas and themes that are capable of analyzing from nearly any literary lens the reader can think of. One of the most evident lenses that presents itself early in the novel is the religious lens. Pi has a unique perspective on religion and Martell uses much of part one to share it with the reader. When analyzing Pi’s mindset and attitude about religion, Pi’s true self is revealed as a man who exercises all possibilities to no end. From a young age, Pi developed a very mature and complex point of view on not only religion but also life as a whole. I theorize Martell has made his name Pi as an analogy comparing his ideology to the infinitely ongoing mathematical constant pi. Pi’s independent thoughts and curious nature is something many readers can take away from the novel. Pi also abides by 3 different religions, to which many would disagree with and Pi takes harsh criticism for. Nonetheless, Pi is not too bothered due to his independent nature. His principles provide an abundance of food for thought and will have religious lens wearers reconsidering and pondering about religion for hours on end.
While reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel, there is a multitude of lenses that one many use to analyze the book. One of these many lenses to choose from is the Freudian lens. With the Freudian lens, one may use the psychoanalytic theory that uses the id, superego, and ego to analyze the exhibit. In Life of Pi, Richard Parker is the id. His compulsive nature and will to survive causes him to do whatever he wants without thinking. Contrarily, Orange Juice would be considered the superego. The orangutan seemed to be overall peaceful throughout its time on the boat. Orange Juice seemed to think everything through before it would make any decisions. Meeting in the middle of all of this is Pi. Pi is the ego throughout the book. He uses both his will to live, the id, and his rationality, the superego, in order to survive throughout the book.
While reading the Life of Pi, part 1 fills us in on a majority of Pi’s life. How he grew up, his family, school life, and so on. After reading all of part 1, we could really apply any lens needed to see a different perspective of Pi’s eventful life. A religious len, for example, shows us how being a part of three different religious groups is possible. Most people (in America especially) are born to believe that you can only believe and practice one religion. Pi is able to prove the readers and everyone in the story wrong. I think that it opens a beautiful door of discussion between different religions. Although the three practices are very different, he seems to explain the meaning behind each of them. I think that if we can look past the religious aspect and look closer on the acceptance that Pi is proving to the readers shows us that it should not matter what we believe in, acceptance is something everyone should practice.
There are many lenses that can be applied to the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel. To me, the most obvious lens to be applied is the religious lens. There is a multitude of religious symbols and events that take place throughout the Pi's story. I find it funny that Pi practices three religions as a child yet his father does not "have a religious bone in his body" (65). My favorite religious symbol that I have seen so far is his story about his symbolic first outing. Pi explained how for many people, as they grow older, their faith in God grows smaller but for him, it was the exact opposite. He explained that during his outing, "A germ of religious exaltation, no bigger than a mustard seed, was sown in me and left to germinate" (47). A mustard seed is a Christian reference and typically brings good luck. For Pi, this seed of religion was planted in him at such a young age and continued to grow within him causing his religious views to expand.
While reading the novel “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel, I have noticed a couple of lenses. One of them is the Freudian lense and the other is the Religious lens. After the sinking of the boat, Pi, Richard Parker, the zebra, hyena, and the orangutan (Orange Juice) are the only ones left. I believe each one of these animals plays a role in the Freudian lens. For example, the hyena represents Pi’s Id because the hyena is doing everything it can for survival, which includes eating the zebra and the orangutan. Richard Parker represents the Ego because he is conflicting with what to do. Trying to choose to stay peaceful or let out his survival skills. The zebra and the orangutan both represent the Superego because they have no intention of hurting anything or anyone. They both are in good nature. The second lens I want to use is the Religious lens because Pi Patel has committed to 3 religions. Even though his father did not have faith in a religion, Pi still managed to believe in something. With his family dead he still has God in his life and has not given up yet. On this journey, he will definitely be challenged with how to keep his faith and to not give up hope.
When reading the book Life Of Pi, written by Yann Martel, I found many different lenses. The lens that I am focusing on is the Marxist lens. Martel has many different examples of Marxism in his novel. The first example of Marxist theory in Life of Pie is the ranking of animals on the boat. The tiger is well above the rest of the animals in the high class, while the zebra is at the bottom in the low class. Martel explains the tigers rank on the boat by saying "in the face of such a superior predator, all of us were prey" (136). Another example of Marxist theory in the novel is Pi having all the power over the supplies. This gives him a lot of economical power over the animals. The last example of Marxist theory in the novel is Pi trying to get the power to become equal between Richard Parker and himself. Martel explains why Pi did this by saying "Either I tamed him, made him see who was Number One and who was Number Two—or I die..." (206). All of these examples explain the Marxist theory in Life of Pi and prove that Martel is trying to show this.
So far in my reading of Yann Martel's Life of Pi, I have found a variety of lenses to use. For this blog task, I am going to be applying the Religious lens. Throughout part one of Life of Pi, Pi discovers that he wants to follow three different religions: Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. He first learns about Hinduism but he wants to open up more of his religious beliefs. He then becomes fascinated with Islam and Christianity. Two people, Father Martin and Mr. Kumar, become very influential in his life. The three religious men meet up and want Pi to pick a religion, but he does not. Eventually, his parents get involved and Pi goes to his father for advice. His father and mother both laugh it off because, at that age, I do not believe that he could possibly find his religion. This is a very brief example of applying a Religious lens.
While reading the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel, I have noticed many lenses that could be applied to the novel. The main one that I noticed was a Religious lens. When young, Pi Patel grew up knowing Hinduism. He then discovered Christianity and Islam. These three religions make Pi who he truly is because he finds good in all three of them. The men who taught him each religion also become very important and influential in Pi's life. All he wants to believe is in a God that shows love. While on the boat with Richard Parker, a few religious remarks were made and when something good happened, he always thanked God. Also while trapped out in the sea, he made a daily schedule and he continued to pray even when times were awful for him. Pi is a boy who takes three completely different religions and combines them to make one beautiful story and belief system of his own.
Throughout the book Life of Pi, there are many lenses used, the lens that I often see the most and the one that is more obvious, it the religious lens. There is many times in the book where big religion sense are told. The two points in the book that stick out most to me, is when Pi Patel openly admits to belonging to three different religions, he is christian, muslim, and Hindu; And when he is confronted by his parents and the three different heads of churches he belongs too. Pi was put to the test when his christian paster, muslim imam, and Hindu Purohit all came together and continuously yelled at him for having three religions, telling him he had to pick between them all because one person can not belong to more than one religious community. But, despite the harassment, Pi did not listen to all the outside influence running through his ears, he believed for himself and that was enough. Religion to Pi, is the soul of the average person.
In Yann Martel's novel, one of the most obvious lenses that readers can and should view through is one that centers around religion. For Pi, religion was not something he was born with an appreciation for--it was something he had to discover and develop on his own. Pi's fervor for religion stems from valuing different aspects of the several practices he chooses to pursue. Though each faith has their own God(s) and nuances, each religion's ultimate purpose remains uniform: to enlighten and to give hope to its people. One of the biggest takeaways readers can leave from "Life of Pi" is that no matter what you believe in, you must believe in something. Even if that belief is the certainty that there is no God, at least it is a belief. Pi criticizes agnostics on several occasions because he cannot understand how someone can hold such uncertainty in their lives. A world without belief, even the belief of disbelief, is questionable in Pi's eyes.
From reading the "Life of Pi" and previous discussions of literary lenses, the job of having to point different symbols and other literary devices has become simpler. Yann Martel uses a great deal of imagery in this book along with different metaphors and allegories. These metaphors and allegories can be seen through different lenses. One main lens, Freudian, is seen throughout the story. The components in the Freudian lens is the superego, id, and the ego. From what we know right now, the id is Richard Parker. The superego is the three religions he lives by. Piscine is then the ego trying to stay in the balance. Richard Parker exhibits the basic survival skills Pi wants to do. For example, when Pi was listing each possible plan he had to get rid of Richard Parker. This displays how Pi's id thoughts relate to Richard Parker's actions. The combination of Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity is the superego. They are the guidelines for Pi to live his best. They control how he feels, thinks, and acts. Which makes Pi stuck in the middle between his survival instincts and his love for God.
After being given the opportunity to read the book: "Life of Pi" I have been able to study it and view it in many lenses. The most interesting lens for me would be a religious lens. Religion is introduced early in the book and becomes a constant pushing factor for pi. Pi was not born into religion, his family gave no push or pull. Because of this, it was something that he had to discover and pursue. He decides to study and practice several different religions, each has their own faith and niches; however, each one has the goal to enlighten, give hope, and find love for god. Pi was put to the test of all these religions when his Christian, Muslim, and Hindu religious leaders converged on him and began to yell at him. In doing so he was able to win and show them that the love of God is the most important thing. Pi did not care about outside influence on his spirituality, he made it his own. Religion became Pi's driving factor and continued to benefit and drive him through the rest of the story. Giving him a strong inclination of self-worth, spirituality, and love for god.
There are several different lenses that can be placed in Life of Pi to help you uncover more about the novel. The lens that I will be focusing on is the Marxist lens. This lens helps you look at the different social classes and/or ranks of power for each of the characters in the book. When considering this, I think about part two of the book where Pi is stranded on a boat with other animals. When ranking the animals, the zebra would be at the bottom of this pyramid since he was hurt before and was the first to get killed. I would then put Orange Juice because he also was killed by the hyena. He tried fighting back but then was overpowered. The Hyena would come next on this ranking because he kills two of the animals but stays away from Pi and Richard Parker. Pi would come next because he is smart with his decisions around the hyena and he has power to the supplies on the boat. Richard Parker has the most power on the boat because, with one swipe of his huge paw, he could take anyone/anything out. You could use this lens to look at several other things in the novel but this ranking stood out to me the most.
In Yann Martel’s book Life of Pi, many ways of analyzing this book appear and the reader can view this book through many different lenses. In part one, I would have looked at that reading through the Freudian lens, but since part two has just started the power struggle on the life raft made the Marxist lens stick out to me more than any other lens. A power stem has been created and the lower class is going to consist of the zebra, orangutan, and the Hyena. I would classify those as being the lower class animals because first the zebra was already injured before even getting on the life raft. Next the female orangutan is at a disadvantage because she doesn’t have a great ability to defend herself against the hyena. Then the hyena is going to be still part of the lower class in how it is viewed lowly upon by humans and other animals. Next up in the power structure is going to be Pi Patel in how he has a lot of smarts and he can outsmart some of the other animals. Then the upper class is going to be left to Richard Parker and he is rich in his power and fierce fighting ability and how he can take down any competition with one stroke of his razor-sharp paws. That is how the Marxist lens appeared to me at the beginning of part two of the book.
When applying a lens to Life of Pi, the most prominent theme and the idea that comes across is the spiritual lens on behalf of Pi's beliefs and morals. Being a curious young boy, that lives amongst animals in a zoo, one would think he would constantly be roaming around searching for his next animal playmates: however, that is not entirely the case. Yes, he does share wholesome moments of small animal and child growth together, but most of his growth is found in religious and spiritual practices. This trait of his is odd since his father is known to be an apatheist, someone who does not accept or reject Christ and his mother actively tries to avoid the subject of IF there is a higher power. Pi resorts to coming to know Christ in three very different languages. He repeatedly states that the best way to learn or know is to find it yourself and occasionally rely on the help of others to guide you along. Three mentors provide Pi with this help, but later question his morals of why he openly excepts three different religions: Hinduism, Christianity, and Islamic. Pi strongly believes that religion is an inclusive practice among oneself but also others of the same ideology. Simply put, he just wants to love God and thank him for the gifts he has bestowed upon his family and the world. Religion holds high importance throughout the rest of the novel when Pi will need to call upon the higher power to help him survive the most dangerous and soul searching experience of his life.
While reading Life of Pi, the Religious lens was the easiest for me to interpret. While he is on the boat, he creates many obvious allusions related to religion. In the beginning, he was focused on being involved in several different religions. Following Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam, might have been challenging to most, but Pi did not let anything slow him down from learning more about his faith. His own family even doubted him and said that it was not possible, but he did not listen. After the ship sinks and his family has drowned, he is left in the middle of the ocean on a raft with Richard Parker. He prays to God multiple times throughout part two and mentions how he is still worshiping God even with the little hope he has of surviving. The main theme in the book is a story that will make you believe in God, so the Religious lens seemed quite fitting.
When analyzing Life of Pi with an archetypal lens, you notice an abundance of archetypal characters, images, and quests used in the novel. It first can be established that Pi Patel is the hero of the novel. Even more so, Pi can be seen as the outcast. Pi is not only a dedicated Hindu, but also a Christian and a Muslim. Following multiple religions sets Pi apart from the average person in society, including all of his family. For this reason, Pi is judged. Even the religious leaders that he follows are dumbfounded by Pi's behavior. They insist to Pi that, "It's impossible [to follow multiple, very different religion]. One must choose,". These criticisms don't bother Pi, for he continues to embrace his outcast qualities and all three religions. He is both baptized and given a prayer rug. The hero and outcast characters often go hand in hand, as they do in Pi's case.
In "The Life of Pi" the lens that I can clearly distinguish is the religious lens. The whole idea of religion being like a zoo is very interesting when you really think about it. We always assume animals want to be out in the wild, having no restrictions. But, if the animal has grown up in a zoo or is physically incapable to live in the wid, they would much rather stay in the zoo. It makes you ask the question of if zoo animals had the chance to escape, would they? And that is kind of like religion. No rule in life says that you have to have a religion but most people choose to be a part of a religion because it gives them hope in the future and it makes them feel safe in life. People like to think that there is something after death and not that it is like a light switch being turned off after you pass away.
The Life of Pi provides several different opportunities for the reader to apply a literary lens. The literary lens that I find it easiest to apply is the Freudian lens. With the Freudian lens, I can analyze the motives of Pi through his actions and thoughts throughout the novel. For starters, Richard Parker could be a symbol for Pi’s spirit and willingness to survive. The battle between Richard Parker and the Mako shark on page 219 could be a symbol for Pi and his battle against the ocean because Richard Parker is also a land animal from India and the shark would symbolize the Pacific ocean itself. Richard Parker, in the end, won his struggle against the Shark but he was injured from it and was covered in the blood and gore of the vicious battle. This shows that the battle for survival against the ocean will not be easy, it will be painful and messy but it is not impossible to survive.
Since reading Life of Pi, I have decided to review it through a Marxist Lens. The most prime opportunity to do so would be when Pi is on the life raft with the other animals. There is an obvious power struggle here because it deals with life's extremes: living and dying. Animals always have to watch out because death is something that is common among them; however, as humans, we do not experience death on a daily basis like this. Martel is mixing the worlds of humans and animals and putting them in a very small scale setting: a life raft. Therefore, survival of the fittest has just become the only way to live and the only thing on their minds. Staying alive is power on this life raft. With that in mind, the least powerful is the poor zebra, who is already injured pre-life raft and is killed by the hyena. Next would be the orangutan because she is not very good at defending herself and is thus killed by the hyena as well. Ranking the hyena is hard because, he has made two kills, but those kills are on animals weaker than he is. Is he really powerful that way? Therefore, he is somewhere in the middle. Lastly, there is Pi and Richard Parker. I would say that this could go either way because they are both staying alive, but Pi is smarter and Richard Parker is stronger. It is the classic battle of brains versus brawns and what aids survival better is what determines the leader in power.
Life of Pi displays Marxism in many scenes and settings. I have decided to review Marxism as seen on the lifeboat, as that is where I am in the novel right now. I see Marxism as a pyramid of sorts—a social pyramid. At the very top of this "pyramid" is the hyena, as he is in charge of the lifeboat, in a sense, and every other character/animal is his prey. He even defeated Richard Parker, the tiger, who I believe is the next level in the pyramid. Richard Parker, without the hyena, was life-threatening to Piscine and had the means and ability to kill him. However, I wonder how that would have actually worked out because Pi was on the lifeboat first, so Richard Parker would have seen it as Pi's territory and Pi as his leader, integrating what we learned earlier in the book. Next is Piscine and Orange Juice; they are on the same level as each other and both above the zebra, which is at the bottom. Orange Juice is above the zebra because she not only tries to put up a fight against the hyena—she initiates it. Pi is on this same level because as a human (maybe I'm biased), he has critical thinking and strategizing skills that the zebra does not have that I know of.
One could look at Yann Martel's Life of Pi with many lenses. I decided to look at it through a Marxist lens. I observed the clear definition of the power structure set on the lifeboat and the exchange of "currency". Pi talks about how in a zoo or circus setting there has to be an alpha and omega. When first on the book Pi doesn't know that the tiger is on board so he treats the hyena as the alpha but the hyena knows that he is the omega. Pi is after the hyena, and the following pi is the orangutan and the bottom is the zebra. As time progresses the animals are killed and the struggle for power dominance is more prevalent. After the hyena is killed by the tiger it is down to pi and the aforementioned tiger. PI realizes the fact that he is the omega in the situation and knows he has to assert himself as alpha. The second aspect I observed was the use of a weird form of currency. In the book, pi uses food and water in exchange for life. The tiger knows that he is unable to survive so Pi is the provider of food and water and in exchange, the tiger doesn't eat him.
Life of Pi has already topped both Lord of the Flies and Cuckoo's Nest as my favorite book we have read this year. While reading it I found myself looking through a Marxist lens. The setting throughout most of the story is very simpler: a lifeboat in the middle of the sea. This simple setting still harbors a wide variety of symbols and themes. The characters on the lifeboat are all ranked in order. At the top, the highest in power is Richard Parker. A 450 pound Royal Bengal Tiger lives on and dominates, the liferaft. Next in the food chain is the Hyena. I think the Hyena is above Pi because Pi is so deathly afraid of the Hyena. Then Pi comes into the power pyramid. As he is human, he has the ability, and the intellect, to survive the many months at sea. In the lower class is the two animals that can barely defend themselves. The second to the bottom is the orangutan as he can put up a little bit of a fit before dying to the Hyena. The bottom is the zebra, who is left defenseless after it breaks its leg falling into the boat.
Life of Pi displays Marxism in many scenes and settings. I have decided to review Marxism as seen on the lifeboat, as that is where I am in the novel right now. I see Marxism as a pyramid of sorts—a social pyramid. At the very top of this "pyramid" is the hyena, as he is in charge of the lifeboat, in a sense, and every other character/animal is his prey. He even defeated Richard Parker, the tiger, who I believe is the next level in the pyramid. Richard Parker, without the hyena, was life-threatening to Piscine and had the means and ability to kill him. However, I wonder how that would have actually worked out because Pi was on the lifeboat first, so Richard Parker would have seen it as Pi's territory and Pi as his leader, integrating what we learned earlier in the book. Next is Piscine and Orange Juice; they are on the same level as each other and both above the zebra, which is at the bottom. Orange Juice is above the zebra because she not only tries to put up a fight against the hyena—she initiates it. Pi is on this same level because as a human (maybe I'm biased), he has critical thinking and strategizing skills that the zebra does not have that I know of.
While reading the novel Life of Pi, you can apply several lenses to analyze the text. The lens that stands out to me the most though, is the Marxist lens. While he is on the lifeboat, there is an obvious struggle between the power of the characters involved. Clearly, the orangutan and the zebra are on the bottom of the chain, because they are the weakest and are killed by the hyena right away. Since the hyena did this, it is controversial whether this makes him more powerful or less powerful, because he is killing those who are below him but would never touch the tiger, who is stronger, or the human, who is smarter. This leaves the tiger and the human at the top of the chain. I would argue that the tiger is on the top of the chain because if there came a circumstance where the tiger was to try and kill the human, the tiger would win in no time. But in controversy to that, the human is much smarter than the tiger and can outsmart him anytime. There are several lenses you can apply, this is just one.
In the outstanding novel by Yann Martel Life of Pi, there are a lot of lenses that can be applied to nearly every chapter. The lens that I find the most interesting while reading the novel is the religious lens. The book includes a lot about religion, Piscine takes on multiple at once: Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Most people would find that task impossible, but Pi in this novel makes a lot of the impossible seem possible. He really dove into his faith when he needed help or when he needed answers to life. All throughout his time on the boat with Richard Parker he keeps religion close to him and always reflects on it, which shows the significance of religion in a person's life. Religion is a very important factor in this book and it is really emphasized as an important thing. Pi is trying to help people believe there is a God or some higher power and it is very apparent.
A lens that is used quite often while reading Life of Pi is the Freudian lens. The Marxist lens is quite apparent throughout the animals that are on the boat. It is a constant battle to live, and all the different animals on the boat make this quite difficult. Although at the zoo there is a sign that says the most dangerous animal is humans, I think that the tiger is the most dangerous in this boat. This is probably because at the zoo they are in a cage by humans, but in the boat, it is a free for all. The tiger is huge and has razor sharp teeth that could easily kill anyone on the boat. Right under the tiger on the pyramid would be Pi. Pi has the brains to outsmart the zebra, hyena, and orangutan, but he would not be strong enough to beat the tiger. The class under Pi would be the hyena. The hyena is always hungry and is a vicious animal. He is able to eat the zebra and orangutan because of this. This would make the zebra and orangutan the bottom of the pyramid. They are pretty defenseless and easy targets. This makes them very easy to be defeated.
After wearing and interpreting many different lenses while reading Life of Pi, I found the religious lens most intriguing. Religion is Pi’s world and it’s what keeps him alive during the many days spent on the boat. Pi is different though. He is interested in three different religious practices all being so different, yet so similar. Pi is interested in Hinduism (his original faith and what he was raised to be), Catholicism (Christianity), and Islam. When first telling his family, they were disappointed and perplexed how one could follow all three religions. Pi didn’t care that he was different, all he knew was that there was one God and that he had made an impact on his life. Throughout the book, Pi references praying a lot and how faith can keep a person going. The book references a seed being germinated which is referring to the bible. There are so many parts talking about religion and God which makes the religious lens easy to spot in the Life of Pi.
While reading Life of Pi, I have been applying a Freudian or psychoanalytical lens to the characters and their roles. While on the lifeboat, we see sanity slowly starting to slip away and Pi's mental state starts to be showcased in his actions. In chapter 54, we see a battle between Pi's id and superego as he is trying to decide what to do with Richard Parker. His id sticks to the natural instinct to eliminate any threat and kill him. The superego is telling Pi to keep Parker alive because his presence brings an ironic peace to Pi. Symbols in the novel also can represent the 3 parts of Pi's mind: the id, superego, and ego. Personally, I saw the id as being Richard Parker due to his presence in Pi's life is what gives Pi the desire and drive to naturally survive. Due to his presence, Pi must face his natural desires of killing, dominating, and surviving. The superego would be Pi's prior religious practices. These help to shape and add morality to how he goes about things on the lifeboat. His faith helps to keep his drive to survive but doesn't allow Pi to do things that he deems as morally wrong. Finally, the ego is Pi himself. Overall, Pi knows what has to be done to survive. He acknowledges thoughts of his that show his natural desires and needs but uses the values from his superego to try to find moral solutions. The superego still allows him to have emotions and thoughts over becoming completely savage and controlled by his id.
When reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel, you understand that the book is about having a religion and believing in something. When looking at this with a religious lens you realize that since it is a real-life story, not something made up in someone's mind that can have symbolism. In our previous books, they had symbols such as Simon representing Jesus or electroshock therapy representing crucifixion. The 3 religious men in the book that Pi called the wise men all to represent different religions and they each have their own beliefs that they let lead their lives. Pi follows 3 very different religions and he finds a way for them to not clash beliefs and just simply love God. The first part of the book is all about religion and it becomes less apparent in the second part, but it is still there. When the accident happens and he is left orphaned and alone in the water beside the animals he continues to still have faith that someone will come and save him soon.
There are many lenses you can apply when reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel. One that I found that I believed to stand out the most is the Marxist lens. You can see this through the classes of animals left on the boat. Obviously, the carnivores are at the top of the chain and have won the genetic lottery in this case. The herbivores like the zebra and the orangutan lost the genetic lottery and are eaten early in the book by the hyena. Due to the fact that Pi was on the lifeboat before Richard Parker, he is seen as the leader and the boat is his territory. That is why Richard Parker does not eat Pi when he easily could. The battle between these two is definitely brain versus brawn. Water and food in this novel can be seen as the currency and how Pi is going to stay alive in society.
Life of Pi is a book I found to be particularly difficult when reading to find symbols and themes. Applying different lenses allows me to more easily discover a deeper meaning. I was able to make the most connections in this novel to the Freudian lens. In this novel, Pi is on an excruciating journey on this lifeboat with him and the animals. He has to make difficult decisions in order to keep himself alive. I believe that Richard Parker represents his id because it represents the zoo side of his life. The zoo made a huge impact on him while he studied the animals and their way of life. Richard Parker kills the Hyena after an extended amount of time, showing you must do whatever you can in order to survive. While on the other hand, Pi’s religious beliefs represent his superego. Not only has the zoo made an impact on Pi’s life but his religions do as well, they both heavily weigh on the decisions he makes. His religion reminds him to stay hopeful and gives him the guilt he feels when he commits his first kill of the fish. His decisions made on his journey are affected by the morals of his superego and the survival instincts of his id.
Yann Martel's Life of Pi is a novel that can be viewed through a number of different lenses. A literary lens that has abundant relevance in the novel is the religious lens. Pi Patel is a character that is a believer in three religions: Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. All three religions have different requirements for a follower, and Pi keeps up with all of them. Not only is religion Pi's hobby, but it is also one of the things that keep him going and motivated while he is stranded. When the shipping ship is sinking and Pi is thrown into the lifeboat, he falls out but is able to hold onto an oar. He mentions that he does not know why he hangs on to oar; drowning would be better than being stranded at sea. Subconsciously, Pi knows that all of his gods will protect him and that there is a reason to live, or he will at least get a good afterlife (or reincarnation) for trying to survive. Later on, a rat appears on the boat that Pi feeds to Richard Parker. One could argue that this rat was sent by Ganesha to save Pi and tame Richard Parker.
In the past few weeks, I have been reading the novel "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. Martel really did a great job with this book because it feels like there is an unlimited amount of lens' to read this book through. The one that sticks out the most to me is the religious lens. In the first part of the book/Pi's early life, it is what seems to be the most talked about part of the book. I think that it is quite interesting how he truly can believe in three different religions at once. In the book when all of the religious leaders and both of his parents find out the truth, it was interesting to me that they started fighting. While they start to argue, Pi is just sort of sitting there, and this is when I was glad to be seeing through a religious lens, I sat back and thought to myself, is Yann Martel trying to show how these religions are fighting, and they little quiet little boy in the corner is what the bottom line of religion is all about? You have the religious leaders arguing, when in reality, what does it matter what he believes in?
Life of Pi is an amazing book. I have loved reading this book more than any other book we have read this year. While reading this story, I have noticed many things through a Marxist lens. The environment and setting that is described throughout the story has a basic pyramid of class rankings to it. I think the obvious choice for the top spot would be Richard Parker. He is a 450 pound Royal Bengal Tiger. He is the top predator on the lifeboat. The hyena would be next in the food chain. The tiger easily can kill the hyena but I also think that the hyena deserves to be above Pi. Pi is scared of the hyena therefor making him lower on the pyramid than the hyena. I believe that Pi comes next on the list of our food chain. He is a human, making him smart, and able to conquer problems that approach him. He is a little bit defenseless as most of the other animals are stronger than him. The orangutan comes next after Pi. He is able to sort of fight when put up against the hyena but inevitably dies. At the bottom of the chain, we have the zebra. The zebra stood no chance with any of the other animals due to its' broken leg. It has no way of defending itself or fighting back.
Yann Martel's distinguished novel, Life, of Pi is an amazing source to read through a religious lens. Pi grew up a very religious young boy. Taking on three religions at ones, Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. Pi was raised as a Hindu in his little Indian town, Pondicherry. Pi's second religion was Christianity. He then added to his religion after he met an Islam baker. Islam was Pi's final religion. After the sinking of the ship, Pi finds himself aboard a lifeboat along with a crippled zebra, hyena, and Richard Parker, the tiger. Being stranded on a lifeboat for 277 days could make a person really question their faith. Not for Pi. Pi sticks to every faith and religion he grew up and continues to pray every day. My thought is that Pi uses a part of each religion to fill the gaps and questions he has for the other 2 religions.
In Life of Pi by Yann Martel, religion is a huge part of it, so I decided to use a religious lens. One of this books main focus is religion, and some characters have even made the remark that Pi’s story will make you believe in God. When the boat crashes Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with a motley of different animals. This could be seen as an allusion to Noah's arc. Pi is a very religious person, the entire first part of the books was centered around him discovering different religions. So him being an allusion to Noah makes perfect sense. Also, he was on the ship going to a new life, just as Noah built his ark to sail to a new life, both included animals. Although the animals in Noah’s ark did not attack or eat each other. Also the water, water is usually a symbol of cleansing. I think that waters cleaning away his old life. His life was not bad before, but after this journey, he will never be the same person, so I view the water as cleaning away his old life, and is ultimately God's test to Pi.
Throughout Life of Pi, I think the most resonating lens I viewed was the lens of religion. The different motifs, allusions, and references throughout Yann Martel's writing interest me the most. The stigma that Pi receives for being a devout follower of three different religions baffles me. I have heard and seen discrimination based on people's faith or lack thereof for that matter, but never for having "too much" religious beliefs. It is also intriguing to me that Pi believes in one of the largest faiths that encompasses the globe, while also following a religious "path less traveled." While entertaining the fact that we live in an area that has a more predominantly Christian belief system, I think that it is hard for readers like us to understand other religions and their practices simply because we rarely witness it. However, this novel does a great job of providing vivid imagery and thorough explanations that give each religion an even viewpoint, such as they viewed for Pi. In summary, I think reading this book with a perspective of faith and with a religious lens will be able to give the readers a truly moving story that can warm the heart and touch the mind of any readers
While reading the novel Life of Pi, you can analyze the book through multiple lenses. The lens that sticks out most to me is the Marxist lens. While Pi is trying to survive on the lifeboat, he is faced with struggles between the other characters, himself, and the environment. The zebra and orangutan are obviously below Pi because they are just zoo animals and don't have the thinking capabilities of a human. The hyena is above the zebra and orangutan because it's stronger and can kill more easily. Next, I think Pi would be next in the chain because he is smarter than the zoo animals but not as physically strong as Richard Parker the tiger. I do think Richard Parker is on top because he is the strongest of them all and has very sharp claws and teeth. He can kill anyone in a second and Pi obviously can't.
A lens that can be applied to the book, "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel, is the religious lens. Pie, the main character, talks about his journey into the religious world. He partakes in three religions: Catholicism, Hinduism, and Islam. On page 69, Pi is confronted by his three religious leaders. They are all arguing that he can not be following all three religions, and Pi says this, "Bapu Gandhi said, 'All religions are true.' I just want to love God" (69). The boat that pi is on can also be seen, through the religious lens, as a symbol for Noah's Ark in the Christian Bible. Pi carries an animal through the ocean until he hits land, just like how Noah carried animals through the flood after God sent rains to create a "new world". Another coincidence from a religious lens is when the two different characters found land. The bible states that Noah found land on the seventeenth day of the second month or February 17th. Pi finally reached land in February. So both of these figures were able to step onto land after months of life on the sea in February, which seems more than just a coincidence.
The lens that I find makes the most sense to me in any book I read is a Freudian Lens. In Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the id and superego are present for Pi and he often fights himself on the two. Pi senses that as time passes while on the lifeboat, he is tempted more and more by his id. The urge to drink his pee such as the hyena did, the urge to eat savagely like Richard Parker does, and the urge to do anything in order to survive are all pushing him further from his civilized upbringing. Pi grew up as a vegetarian but because he has to eat something other than biscuits, Pi ravages fish and turtles, a thought that made him shudder before. He is progressively getting closer to the way animals instinctively deal with issues. Pi does try to stop himself from a few of these temptations but all is in the name of survival. Pi also notices many similarities between humans and the animals on board. Orange Juice looks for her young boys much like Pi searched for his family in the water. The battle between civilization and savagery is present in Pi's consciousness and what he notices around him.
I feel as if a Freudian theory best fits this amazing book. Once you reach the end and it is brought up that it is possible that the animals were all figments of Pi's vivid imagination things really click into place. Pi is the tiger in this book and he feels as if he is his own best friend and he has to make sure that he keeps himself alive. This provides a really deep insight into Pi. At first glance, he might seem like a week-ish small person, but his personality and perseverance heavily makes up for it. This whole book, in my opinion, was a metaphor for how trauma can really change the mind and that subconsciously you need to fabricate stories and ideas to help you get through it. Pi witnessed a terrible tragedy when his ship sank and most of the people he cared about died. To deal with this terrible shock he unknowingly assigned every person on the lifeboat to an animal to help him deal with the terror. Coming from a background in zookeeping and his love for animals this really allows him to stay strong and fight for survival. I feel like he might not have survived if his body didn't take the shock and convert it into something less terrible. This just goes to show that subconsciously, your mind knows what it is doing and it knows what needs to happen for you to survive. You just need to listen to it.
While reading the Life of Pi one of the most applicable lenses for me was the freudian lens. Throughout the novel Pi faces several mental challenges as to himself and the circumstances set before him. Stranded on a lifeboat for 227 days, Pi clings onto his superego by regularly practicing his 3 different religions, fishing, writing in his journal, and taming Richard Parker. The immediate psychological challenge was gathering the courage to eat sea life because Pi had been a vegetarian his whole life previous to the ship sinking. After months spent at sea, Pi becomes completely malnourished and feels like he is on the verge of death. He loses his sight and ironically begins to hallucinate and hear things. At this point he has completely lost his mind and talks to Richard Parker about food. But then he hears another voice, a french man who was also lost at sea begins to talk with Pi about trading and food. The man attempts to kill Pi for food but is in turn killed by Richard Parker. The tiger protects Pi because obviously he is hungry, but also because he knows Pi is his master and the one that brings him food. Richard Parker is psychologically hard wired to be obedient and protective of his alpha male.
Through reading Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi I noticed that there are many different lenses in which this book can be analyzed. At the beginning of Pi’s journey on the raft, I was able to see through a Freudian lens the different animals on the lifeboat with Pi represented his apparatuses states. Hyena being the id and the Orange Juice being his superego. But this was short-lived as the animals later killed each other. I then began to think about through a Marxist lens on how the animals also represented the different social classes. Through a Marxist lens the zebra represents the lower class, The Hyena and Orange Juice as a middle class and Richard Parker and Pi as the upper class. This was very clear to see as the higher classes took advantage of and abused their lower classes. With the Hyena attacking and eating the zebra, then with Richard Parker attacking and eating the Hyena.
When we read through literary lenses any book in literature comes alive. This concept is especially true when it comes to Yann Martel's book Life of Pi. Any reader can use various lenses to read this book such as religious, Freudian, and Marxist. I am going to talk about the archetypal lens associated with Pi himself. When we first read the book, we can tell that Pi is an outcast. He is made fun of for his name and needs to take matters into his own hands. Pi lives in a zoo where there are more animals than humans. He is ridiculed for wanting to follow three different religions. His parents don't understand his want for multiple religions and even his religious figures are left in a confused state. Following three religions makes him an outcast within each of those religions. Pi is also an outcast from society when he is stranded on a life-boat for 227 days with a tiger.
While reading the novel Life of Pi, there are many ways to uncover the deeper meanings in the story. We are able to analyze Pi's story using several different literary lenses. I think that many lenses can be used, such as the Freudian literary lens, Religious literary lens, and the Marxist literary lens. So far in my reading, I think it is best to analyze through a Marxist literary lens. While on the rowboat initially, a zebra, orangutan, hyena, tiger, and Pi Patel are all present. They have their own little society where they must understand their roles. Through the Marxist literary lens, we can understand that the zebra and orangutan are the lower class of society. They do not have very much power, and will most likely be seen as only prey. Next would be the hyena because it cannot beat the tiger nor outsmart Pi. Pi would be the upper-middle-class because his smarts are more valuable than the other animals despite the tiger. The tiger, Richard Parker, is in the upper class. He controls what happens on the ship and with all of the other classes.
In the past couple of weeks, while reading Yann Martel's story, I have realized that it can be viewed with many different lenses. The main two that I see are the Marxist lens and the Religious lens. The main thing that I noticed when it comes to the Marxist lens is that I see how the animals are ranked in an ecosystem similar to how they are on the boat in the story. The Tiger should be on the top of the food chain on the boat. However, Richard Parker is smart and he knows that he cannot eat him because he is his only source of food and is the only one providing him with anything. These two would be considered the upper class of their economy and ecosystem that they have. After these two it goes the hyena and the orangutang that would represent the middle class. Then finally the zebra would be the lower class in the ecosystem that they have because it has nothing to eat on the boat and therefore is the bottom of the food chain. When it comes to the Religious lens in the story I see many allusions and references to religion commonly occurring in the story. He believes in three different religions and he makes references to each of them throughout the novel. As I continue reading I will be sure to keep on using my lenses!
I look into Yann Martel's book Life of Pi with various different lenses. Although most are present, I decided to focus on the Freudian lens. To help you understand the relationship with Pi and the animals, and Pi's life, you can use the Freudian lens. From the start of the book, we know Pi is different. He is the only one who lets his uncle swim in the pool, but also practices three religions at the same time. I believe that he uses religion to fill a void. His parents are focused on Revi and all the sports he plays, but they don't really focus on Pi, but I also that it has to do with how much Pi likes to explore and push limits. In the book, it says that Pi believes that the gods brought him to find Christ and to find other religions all for the purpose of loving God. I believe that Pi is an intelligent character that tests boundaries and does things that no one else would believe. He goes against everyone, and it shows character because he goes against his parents too.
A common theme in the novel is that of religion. Pi’s intense love for religion and how it can help a person’s soul, is consistently brought up throughout the novel. A way Pi is able to survive the brutal conditions thrown at him is through his belief. The way Pi interacts with life in the novel is a result of his religious nature. He disdains from harming a living thing of any kind but when push comes to shove he is forced into slaughtering countless marine life in order to feed himself and Richard Parker. Even when his habits become increasingly savage as the novel progresses, his love for religion persists. These themes of spirituality give positive examples of how religion can affect a person. Often religion can be viewed as negative such as the reason for terrorism and other atrocities. Pi Patel’s story highlights how a person can feel loved when part of religion and how that love can inspire them to live.
After reading part 1 of "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel I decided to look through a Marxist lens. This lens helps the reader get a much better understanding of higher classes compared to lower classes but in this case with the animals in the zoo. Obviously, the Tigers remain at the top of the chain since they are big, strong, intimidating, and dangerous. The middle class I would consider to be the giraffes and hippos. They aren't viewed as scary and seem more friendly compared to the tigers. The lower class would be the guinea pigs like in the book even though they aren't in zoos that often or if they are ever. When Pi's dad walked Ravi and Pi through the zoo telling them to be careful about each animal because they are all dangerous, Pi's dad says that they can play with the guinea pigs because they are completely harmless. They are small and not feared by most.
Yann Martel’s “Life of Pi” can be analyzed through many literary lenses. Personally, I feel the most useful lens is the Freudian lens of psychoanalysis. Throughout the novel, it can be blatantly seen that Richard Parker, a tiger, is symbolic of the id. He is a wild animal with savage instincts. He kills without any thought towards morality only for the reason of invasion of territory and food. The superego in this case I think is Pi’s religions. All three of his religions, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism are peaceful and focus on loving God. Pi himself is the ego. He is constantly battling between the savagery of the id and the peacefulness of the superego. On the boat, Pi starts off more civilized and put together. Over time though, he starts to give into the id and acts more animal than human. His once vegetarian lifestyle has turned into eating anything and everything he can get his hands on. He used to be against killing fish, but will now kill with ease. Pi’s fight for survival has changed him to become more and more animal-like.
Currently, I am reading Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi. Numerous lenses can be applied to this novel in order to study it on a deeper level. Some of the lenses that can be used are the Marxist Lens, the Freudian lens, and the Religious lens. The lens that sticks out the most to me is the Religious lens. The main character, named Pi Patel, is a young boy who is raised Hindu by his mother, but his dad is not religous. As he grew older, Pi discovered Christianity and Islam. All three of these religions play a large role in his life. As a child and as an adult Pi worships the gods of the three religions. There are numerous mentionings of the different gods and ways of prayer. While stranded in the middle of the ocean, Pi is still strong in his faith. He prays routinely and is grateful for all the things God has blessed him with during this life trial. Overall, Pi's character is strongly based around religion which makes the Religious Lens a perfect tool to use to analyze the novel.
Yann Martel's novel, Life of Pi, contains dozens of allegories that can be broken down by a reader. The lens that I think is most helpful is the religious lens since this book is fraught with religious symbols and references. The book starts out telling us about how Pi follows the three religions: Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. Young Pi is persecuted for many things. He is frowned upon for his religious beliefs and is made fun of for his name. He can be related to many religious figures, but the most prominent, I think, is Adam (as in Adam and Eve). Adam was surrounded by animals was in charge of naming them. Adam was known for knowing everything about the animals, much like Pi. Pi also can be related to Noah, as they are forced to flee from their home on board the Tsimtsum because of political changes. Later on in the book, Pi encounters an island. The island seems perfect, but Pi finds out something sinister. He finds a human tooth in some fruit. The island has certain acidic properties and is slowly eating away at him. This island symbolizes Satan tempting Adam to eat the fruit in the Garden of Eden.
If I had to choose a lens to look at Life of Pi with, it would probably make the most sense to use a Marxist Lens. There are many instances throughout the book, especially while in the ocean, where power is expressed within the lifeboat. It is a little weird doing this because we are looking at both humans and animals, but that is pretty much the whole book so we have to do with what we are dealt. I think that Richard Parker resembles the highest of powers, as nobody on the boat wants to mess with him. I think Pi is the middle class because he is a little scared of the tiger, but he isn't really worried about the hyena as time goes on and kind of ignores it like it is worthless. The hyena is definitely the lower class, just as they are in the lion king. They are just ugly creatures and can always be assumed as the lower class, just as tigers are usually assumed in the higher class (in the animal world anyways), and Pi, the human, is in the middle class just like most humans seem to be when you meet them. The three living things on the lifeboat can actually fit a Marxist lens fairly well.
Through reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel many different lenses have emerged throughout the story. The lenses that have become most apparent in my view are the Marxist Lens, Freudian Lens, and the Religious Lens. The Marxist lens can be applied best because Richard Parker is most obviously the upper class in the situation on the boat. He controls all of the decisions that will be made on the ship, in part because of the fear of Pi. The Bengal Tiger instills fear into Pi and could end the life of Pi at any second. Pi might be a human and have the ability to talk and solve his own problems, Richard Parker still lies above him. Looking through a Religious Lens, you can see in Part One that Pi is very religious with his three different views on Religion. With Pi having three different faiths, people question his faith and his faith gets questioned throughout the book itself.
In Yann Martels Life of Pi, there are many lenses a reader could view the story from after all the entire first part of the book is merely about how Pi Patel worshiped in 3 different religions, a religious lens would be that far off. However, a Freudian lens for analyzing Pi Patels' mental state as he is in the lifeboat, as we read in class today—page 240 to page 255—we find a cannibal cook who wants to eat Pi, supposedly was on another lifeboat, and self admits to killing two people, a man and a women. As earlier in the book the hyena is told to commit acts of cannibalism against other hyenas in a feeding frenzy—so perhaps this meat connoisseur that Pi meets is not a stranger rather the "hyena" that has been with him the whole time—thus giving meaning to the zebra with the broken leg and Orange Juice also being people that the French cannibal killed and ate and Pi is repressing the trauma from witnessing such brutality and thus hiding the truth of the worlds cruelest animal, the human, behind the fog a being a deranged frenzy driven animal.
After reading through the first 90 chapters in Yann Martel’s novel, “The Life of Pi,” I have noticed multiple views that can be analyzed through the lenses. I believe the most prominent one I have seen so far would be Marxist. The book starts with Pi as a young boy who grows up in a zoo. His mother and father obviously hold power over him at this age, but also many of the animals in the zoo; his father gives us and Pi a clear lesson he holds no power over animals. As Pi grows older, we see a shift and he starts to gain power over the course of his years. First over his parents as he persisted that he truly follows all three of the religions he claims too. Eventually they have no choice but to give in and accept that he will follow all three religions. With time after the shipwreck, Pi also gains power of Richard Parker. Now, we have to admit that some of this is because of Richard Parker’s intelligence, however the knowledge that Pi obtained from his father and through reading about the circus has allowed him to survive as long as he did one the life boat. Pi had to know how to make Richard Parker respect him which shows that he has some control over the tiger, which in turn makes him more powerful from a Marxist view.
In Life of Pi, many lenses can be viewed through and sought out. For myself, I have chosen to view this book in a different lens compared to most. With the Feminist lens, you can see many ideas and concepts through Pi's survival after the shipwreck. The only known female character on the lifeboat is Orange Juice, the orang-utan, who is a mother-figure to Pi. Pi describes how she had two babies since entering the Pondicherry Zoo and had always been one of his favorites. During the attack of the hyena, Orange Juice defended herself and Pi, while ending up giving up her own life for her child and becoming beheaded. Through a different perspective, Pi can be viewed as having more feminine qualities compared to his brother, Ravi. His parents talked about Pi and wishing he was more like Ravi—who was involved in sports in school—and Pi was only interested in two things: his 3 religions and the zoo animals. Although he may be more feminine, this helps him take care of himself and Richard Parker—by fishing to feed both of them and whistle training Richard Parker to keep himself (Pi) safe.
As I am reading the Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel, you a very diverse group of the literary lens. One really obvious one that stuck out to me was the Religious lens. Pi is a very unique man who is a follower of Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity. Pi melds all of these religions into a "super religion". He makes room for every religion in his daily life. He uses each religion as a guide for everything he does. For example, he doesn't eat any meat. You can use the Marxist lens as well when you look at the situation on the life raft. Richard Parker is the obvious leader of the raft because if anyone challenged him, they would surely be killed by the massive Bengal tiger. You could say Pi is the lower class because he can't do anything to unseat Richard Parker from his "throne" on the life raft.
As I made my way down to leave my comment, I noticed that there was a lack of use when it came to the Feminist Lens. Therefore, I'll slip on my lenses and analyze Life of Pi through a Feminist lens. This is typically not the lens of my choosing, but it's good to change things up. From the beginning, it was obvious that the setting was in a male dominating society. In India, women know their place and will often keep their opinions to themselves. When Pi's father decided to show his sons what danger a tiger can be, Pi's mother began to protest. Quickly rejecting her, Pi's father proceeded as he had planned without a second thought. She was seen as vulnerable like the children and looked over. Ignorant even. She needed to be taught the lesson as well. Later in the novel, Pi talks about the difference between male and female orang-utans. Males are much larger and stronger and Pi says that if Orange Juice were a male, then she would have had a chance at surviving the fight with the hyena. These are facts and I am not trying to find fault in them. However, I find it interesting that the only real times that a female came along, they were shown as weak and helpless.
I believe a Freudian lens can be applied to Life of Pi quite effectively. As we go through the novel, Yann Martel does a great job describing to us what the lifeboat, animals, and living conditions are like. I, like many readers, can picture vividly what day-to-day life was like on the raft, and I almost feel as if I myself am in the lifeboat. Because of the clear description of even the smallest details, we get a very good insight into what Pi is feeling and thinking. I think if any one of us were in the situation Pi was in, we would be so lost and anxious that we would not be able to operate with the efficiency and thoughtfulness that Pi does. Pi has a pretty level head most of the time, and takes his time to assess the situations he is forced into. Challenge after challenge, failure after failure, Pi continues to return to his low-key state of mind and is able to make rational decisions each and every day. During the highs, like when he discovered the food and water rations, he gets excited, but uses these resources carefully, as he knows he needs to make them last as long as possible. During the lows, like when the ship initially sank, he was devastated, but never lost hope, and continued to use his survivalist mindset to stay alive the best he could.
When analyzing novels with brilliant authors such as Yann Martel, it is no challenge to “put on” our literary lenses. Religion is a huge aspect of the novel––making it simple to apply this lens to Life of Pi. Pi grew up in a Hindu family; however, religion was never something Pi was forced into. Despite his father being raised as a Hindu, he appears to no longer practice his faith––one of the many reasons why Pi’s father is so perplexed with Pi’s adoption of three religions: Hinduism, Islam, and Christanity. Pi truly just wants to love, and be loved by a God––or simply a higher power. His faith is a tremendous factor of surviving on a lifeboat with a tiger. Throughout his adventure, Pi continues to pray after realizing that he is alive solely because of his God, demonstrating how God has not failed to leave his side (possibly why he survives the ship accident and not his family).
While reading the Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the lense that is the most obvious to me is the Freudian lens. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of the ego, superego, and the id can be used to understand the relationship between Pi and the animals on the boat. Orange Juice, the orangutan, can be interpreted as the superego. Orangutans are overall relaxed and sophisticated animals. They control their impulsed and adapt their decisions to their surroundings. Richard Parker, the tiger, can be seen as the ego. He rationally thinks about his decisions before acting upon them. He satisfies his urges of the id by killing the hyena, who was a threat, and using it as food. Parker does not kill Pi because Pi is his source of getting food. The id would be the hyena because it acts on its impulses without thinking. For example, the hyena attacks the Zebra when it sees that it is dying.
This year I got the opportunity to read Life of Pi during Literature 201, and while reading one thing stood out to me, the amount of religion is heavily present during the book and would not be any fun to analyze. The one lens thought that one must look for harder then most is the feminist lens. The biggest thing with this lens is Santosh Patel and the way he judges Mrs. Ghandi, not only does Santosh Patel want to leave the country after Mrs. Ghandi is changing the way India works and his way of life, he sells his zoo animals, the greatest impact on Pi Patel's life and survivability throughout the novel all come from the zoo. Another big aspect that would stand out to anyone wearing a feminist lens while reading Life of Pi is the lack of females throughout the novel and positive female influence. The only positive female that comes to mind is Pi Patel's mother, Gita Patel.
Religion is very evident in Life of Pi by Yann Martel. It can also be linked critically to the book as well. Pi's father's attitude toward, or more accurately against religion leads Pi to conclude that everybody has to believe in something. even if that something is choosing to be an atheist they are still consciously choosing to believe in something. Pi chooses to fill his life with God, in his many different forms through Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. Being a curious young man Pi came to see the wonders of God's work and also found his path of faith. Pi believes that one of the Hindu gods helped him to find the church and by association, Christ. To him, the different religions all chare one big commonality: loving God. They all love God, but they just express it in different ways with differing beliefs behind the reasoning and faith. Pi shows us that God accepts us for who we are even if our faith differs from what the majority believe is the correct and straight path. God's paths can lead in different directions, and in Pi's case, it leads him to 3 different religions to help Pi find his place with God. While not common, it is possible for kids to find their path completely on their own with God's help. Many kids find help along the way and frequently are introduced to their religion through their parents. Pi matures into himself as he finds his religion. He cements his beliefs and finds himself when he finds God. Some will say that God found him, but religiously speaking that is not the case. God has always been there watching him, it was just up to Pi to realize that God was there with him the entire time.
When reading a book such as the Life of Pi by Yann Martel, a brilliant author, it is easy to come across a variety of examples of different literary lenses. One of the most protruding ideas in the novel is the idea of religion and how Pi merges them all together. Because of this theme in the book, I will analyze the Life of Pi from a religious lens. There are many ways Martel includes Pi's beliefs into the book. He writes about his childhood, his mentors Mr. and Mr. Kumar, the three wise men, his parents, books that he reads, and also the way he acts on the boat. Growing up Pi would go to three different types of what we would call church. Being mentored and taught in each faith provides problems for others, but he believes that it is loving god to the fullest. His parents and the three wise men aren't very supportive in Pi's unordinary thoughts, but eventually, they come around to see that it is doing no harm and it is good that he has faith. His parents, with convincing, allow him to be baptized and also buy him a prayer rug (a prized possession of Pi's). Later in the story when Pi is stranded on the boat he asks the three of his gods for different things to help him through his struggle.
I have had the great opportunity to be able to study Yann Martel this year. In the book Life of PI, there are many lenses you can apply to the wonderful book. One I find can improve a readers compression is religion. Yann Martel’s book comes alive more when you look at it through a religious lens. He does not just talk about one religion he actually talks about believing in three which catches some people off guard. He says in part of the book that for most people when they grow older they grow farther away from God, but it's the exact opposite for him. He gains more knowledge as he grows older and looks deeper into it. The mustard seed quote came up. For Christians that is all they believe you need to move a mountain and grows your faith spiritually. Same for PI he is growing in his faith throughout the entirety of the book.
When reading Yann Martel's "Life of Pi" it is easy to focus on the many expertly-crafted details of Pi's journey through the Pacific and through religion. However, throughout Pi's journey, there are various elements easily spotted by one wearing a Marxist lens. As a Zoo Owner, Pi's father struggles financially in the poor French colony of Pondicherry. Therefore, Pi's status economically lies on the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder. When immigrating to Canada, Pi's father is attempting to raise their status economically so his family has more opportunities. Most obviously in the novel, however, is the ideal of Pi's "economic" gains while he is in the Pacific. Beginning his journey, Pi makes a list of all his material assets. With a Marxist lens, it is apparent this as a comparison to the levels of wealth often debated within Marxist discussions. Finally, Pi asserts his place as the alpha of the lifeboat, with his subordinate being Richard Parker. His material possessions allow him to provide for Richard Parker, and therefore his wealth directly relates to his ability to survive.
Throughout reading Life of Pi, one can't help but notice the prominence of religion in the novel. Life of Pi begins with a claim: this is a story that will make you believe in God. The entire first part of the book is dedicated to how Pi came across all three of the religions he follows and what his life is like practicing these religions. Pi losing his family, being thrown out to sea with a tiger on board, and struggling to survive is the ultimate test of faith. Despite all of the struggles that he is forced to endure, he doesn't lose touch with his spiritual side. When looking through the religious lens, Pi’s survival could be considered a testimony that perhaps there is a Higher Being looking after Pi while he is at sea, or how else could he conceivably survive such unthinkable odds and evade imminent death? In the end, Pi was able to pass the great test of faith while remaining true to what his beliefs are, even given the dire circumstances.
In terms of studying Life of Pi, I find it incredibly hard to apply a lens to this novel. I only say this because the story stems from a true story. One thing that I do find interesting in this novel has the presence of miracles, that is why I think a religious lens is easy to apply. The book already has heavy religious overtones in Pi's life but what strikes me as crazy is how life makes a transition into a god form in the novel. What I mean by this is if you take a moment and consider that Pi is Jesus. Then life would be a god as it helps him perform miracles and stay alive. For instance, when the rat shows up, when the flying fish jump out of the water, and Pi's overall survival. Another way of looking at it would be through a Freudian lens. I think that Pi could be the smart and rational superego using what he has learned to help him survive and the tiger could be the primitive id that acts instinctively and has to be tamed. Also, I think there are Marxist ideas to look at as well, I think that the boat and specifically the locker is the base and things like the raft, canopy, and objects in the locker are the superstructure.
Throughout reading Yann Martel's "Life of Pi", I have been able to experience his wide depth of knowledge and multiple perspectives on life. "Life of Pi" can easily be analyzed through multiple literary lenses to help further our understanding. The easiest lense for me to depict when reading "Life of Pi" is a Marxist lens. With various examples of social classes, there are multiple approaches. One of the greatest examples of Marxism is Pi's family situation. Pi's father owns a zoo and had struggled to provide for his family. From a standpoint with social classes in mind alongside a Marxist lens, Pi's family would be in a lower social class due to his loss of environment with the genetic lottery. A religious lens is highly prevalent as well being most of Pi's life story revolves around him practicing three religions. Pi practices Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam all at the same time. Each different religion has various allusions. These allusions help to bring readers along and fill in the blanks of what they might not know already. At the end of the day, Pi just wants something to believe. He feels comforted by the idea of a higher power.
While reading Life of Pi I have been applying a Marxist lens. First of all, Pi is a small boy and he is given a name that sounds like "pissing". This causes kids in school to pick on him and make him feel inferior. You could say that Pi has not won the genetic lottery. Pi is not a kid who is interested in sports like his brother is. I would say his brother has won the genetic lottery considering he is athletic. Pi believes in three different religions while his father is mainly focused on business. His father represents society's need for power and dominance over all other things. In the story, Pi's father wants to teach his sons a lesson by showing them a goat get eaten by a predator. I think this is showing power and dominance within the zoo and between the animals. An animal who is a predator has definitely won the genetic lottery whereas an animal who is prey has not.
Many lenses can be applied to Yann Martel's outstanding novel, "Life of Pi". Although there are many, the one that sticks out the most to me is the religious lens. One thing you will notice early in Yann Martel's Life of Pi is the main character, Pi Patel's peculiar attitude about religion. Pi is very peculiar as he identifies as Hindu, Christian, and Islam. Pi acknowledges that every religion has its own absurdities but he also respects the viewpoints of all of them. He realizes that the basis for most of the religions and that is that they all have a higher power that is worshipped. How they worship them is a different story. He also says that for most people, when they grow older, they grow farther away from God, but for Pi, it is the exact opposite. He gains more knowledge as he grows older and looks deeper into it. I am interested to see how else Mr. Martel uses religion in the rest of the novel.
When reading Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, I was able to use many different lenses. In this blog task, I will be using my personal favorite, the Marxist lens. The first clear sign of Marxism in the book is when Pi is stranded on the boat with the animals. There is an obvious ranking system that appears among the outcasts. Richard Parker is seen as upper class because he is the strongest. He could kill everyone if he wanted too. “In the face of such a superior predator, all of us were prey.” (151). I’d say Pi is lower to middle class because he is able to befriend the tiger and tame him all while staying alive. The other animals are lower class because they are slaughtered by Richard Parker. If there was an even lower class it would be the zebra. The zebra stands no chance against the tiger due to its broken leg.
Yann Martel's Life of Pi is so well done that you can apply literally any literary lens you can think of in some way. Today I am choosing to look through an orientalist lens. Orientalism is the relationship between the “orient” and the “occident”. I think this applies to Life of Pi because Pi Patel would be the orient while Yann martel is the occident. Normally the occident is telling the story, like how Martel is writing this one, and usually it portrays the orient in a negative light. I think Martel does a really great job at not doing this. I think he shows how beautiful Poniberry and India are. He doesn’t degrade the various religions Patel practices, he writes about them with respect. One cultural difference between the orient and the occident is food. I thought it was funny when Martel told Pi he loved spicy food, then would cry when eating the meals. He said he put dollop after dollop of yogurt to try and calm the spices of the indian food.
Yann Martel's novel, Life of Pi, can be analyzed through a wide variety of various literary lenses. I think the Marxist lens provides many insights into this novel. First off, right from the beginning of the story, you can see that Pi has won in terms of the environmental lottery. He is given a loving family who will always be there for him even when they do not agree with his actions of following 3 different religions at once. His family also owns the Pondicherry Zoo. As a child, this is truly a dream come true. Another instance where a Marxist lens can provide insight is during Pi's 200+ days at sea with a tiger. Marxism is very dependent on its social classes and this example of a tiger and boy is no exception. Although rather strange, Richard Parker can clearly be seen as the Bourgeoise, and Pi, the Proletariat. According to Karl Marx, author of the Communist Manifesto which serves as the basis for a Marxist literary lens, the Bourgeoise is dependent on the Proletariats' efforts for survival. In the story, the only reason that Richard Parker is alive is that Pi is making it so by working to provide food and water for him, startingly similar to Marxist Theory.
While reading Yann Martel's Life of Pi, there are so many literary lenses that can be used to view the book in a more detailed way. The way I choose to view this book is with a Religion Lens. The entire story is trying to get you to believe in God, that is what the beginning says. The story is about how Pi came across three different religions but used them all together to believe in more things. When Pi was young, he was made fun of for believing in three different religions, and for his name, sounded like pissing. Pi acts in a religious nature, the way he acts with the animals on the boat. Even though Pi's father didn't have faith In a religion, Pi was still able to believe in something with his parents not being as supportive as they could have been. With the boat sinking, his family dying and being left on a boat with the animals, Pi prays to God many times, that is why the religious lens seemed like a good way to view this book.
Life of Pi, a fantastic piece of literature created by the wickedly talented author Yann Martel, can be looked through as many lenses as you can think. The book is that good. But for my lens, as prominent as religious themes are throughout Life of Pi, I believe Freudian would be the most useful and efficient. Pi is very clearly the superego as he is the patriarch of the boat while he and the animals are stuck at sea. He has to instill confidence in the members and provide for them the best he can. Richard Parker would be the ego as he acts on his urges only when he needs to. He is not an impulse thinker. The hyena, on the other hand, is the Id. He completely disregards any form of logical thinking and complete acts on urges. He paid the price for this by getting killed by Richard Parker.
As I continue to read the Life of Pi by Yann Martel It is hard to pick from the varying literary lenses Yann Martel placed throughout the book. While the religious lens is abundant I would have to choose the Marxist lens. During the lengthy part 2, I chose to study the most defining part of the book of Pi and Richard Parker in the lifeboat together. Pi trying to obtain the alpha role in the lifeboat as he is joined with Richard Parker the fierce lion. Pi attempts to treason with the animal by giving him a side of the boat and Richard Parker asserts himself standing his ground. I would say Richard Parker has the most power in the lifeboat as Pi still has a sense of fear of the tiger. Pi then stays to his side of the lifeboat as he knows the tiger can kill him at any moment but he realizes after time his bond growing with Richard Parker.
The lens I would like to apply to Life of Pi is the religious lens. I think this lens is probably the most prominent when we read the book and directly relates to some of the themes in it. During half of the book, it mostly talks about the early life of Pi and what he believes in. We understand that Pi is Hindu, Christian, and Muslim all at once. With the religious lens, we can understand Pi's reasoning and psychology in depth. Pi believes that all religions can be true if one believes in it. He believes that religion provides insight and color to life. He believes that religion makes life better and that is why he adopts all three religions. Later on in the book, we can see this theme amplified when he mentions that the color green reminds him of Islam. Overall I think we can infer that the religious lens is definitely the most prominent lens and perhaps the most in depth
There are many different lenses that would have gone with this book, but the one that I chose to use was the Religious lens. I chose this lens because throughout the whole beginning of the book I find myself reading over and over again about the different religions Pi comes across and discovers while a little boy. Even though his father does not believe or go by any sort of religion, Pi puts this aside and goes after THREE. I think this is really important because is shoes just how determined Pi really is and shows how broad of a spectrum Pi looks at things. To be able to believe in three different religions must be a challenge, but it shows you just how much Pi is willing to understand. This also shows that he is not a narrow-minded person, but a very dynamic person perhaps. Pi continues to amaze me throughout this book and I can't wait to keep applying the many different lenses that I can.
While reading Life of Pi, I have been reading with a Freudian lens. Throughout part 2, we begin to see the relationship between Richard Parker and Pi, and how they interact with each other and how they subconsciously depend on each other. What is interesting to think about is if Richard Parker is really there? Is Richard Parker a figment of Pi's imagination and in some way or another symbolizes himself. I can see Richard Parker resembling Pi and this is a way of Pi to overcome his problems within and fight his demons. This is also a way for Pi to stay connected with himself, and help him survive the dangers of open water. The other animals can represent other things too, like the zebra with his family, the orangutang with hope, and the hyena with determination. When these animals die, the part that represents them dies in him. I can not wait to apply more lenses while reading this book, like religious and Marxist.
Life of Pi by Yann Martel has been my favorite book so far this semester. After learning how to read books with literary lenses each book I read can be studied in depth. There are many lenses that bring out the major themes in the Life of Pi. The theme and lense that sticks out the most to me is the Religion lens. Pi Patel chooses to study every major religion including, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. Each of these religions is helping Pi become a better person in many ways. Pi uses these religions to grow himself. Another lens that sticks out to me is the Freudian lens. While Pi Patel and Richard Parker are stuck in the middle of the ocean, it is interesting to dig deep in their minds and see what is going on, especially since there is no one to talk to.
When applying a Freudian Lens to the book, Life of Pi, you can begin to see why Pi acts the way he does. He was raised in a zoo culture. This way he knows how animals act and behave. His father was an atheist and did not believe in much for religion. This might be why Pi wanted to explore religion, to somewhat go against his father and learn about something he has not been around before. When on the boat, Pi faces the challenge of staying on the boat with the tiger. He cannot decide whether to risk his own life and try to attack and kill the tiger, or to try to live with it and make peace with the tiger. He chooses to keep Richard Parker around. This is a questionable decision because this tiger takes up so much for resources. But this proves to be beneficial for Pi too. They both benefit from each other. I think Pi subconsciously enjoys taking care of the tiger. It gives him something to do and something to work for. It also gives him a companion, which is huge for keeping his sanity while being alone in the middle of the Pacific.
The lens that I decided to use to look at Life of Pi is the Marxist lens with the most prominent example of this when you observe the boat with all the creatures that inhabit the boat. With the top, or often referred to in The Life of Pi as the Super Alpha, would be the bangled tiger Richard Parker, who is never challenged by anyone other than Pi, not the Orangutan, Orange Juice, or the Hyena dared to challenge his rule over this small ecosystem. The only other example is the severely injured Zebra who is the first to be killed by the Hyena and is eaten alive at that, then the next to go is the Orangutan who is killed by the Hyena by decapitation. The last to be killed in this ecosystem is the Hyena, who is killed by Richard Parker, leaving just RP and Pi on the boat. Showing that the two Alphas are the only ones who will survive and will take everything, even the lives of those below them to keep living.
When reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel I find it interesting to apply a Marxist lens to the book. A lens can provide a deeper understanding of the book. While there is no money on the ship there is still a power structure that has formed upon the lifeboat. At the very bottom of the chain is the zebra. The zebra not only is prey in the wild it is also prey in the boat and the hyena regularly takes bites of the poor defenseless zebra. The next highest on the chain is the Orangutan because he is not necessarily as strong and aggressive as the tiger and hyena but he is definitely above the zebra with a broken leg who is being eaten alive. Next is obviously the hyena because he has taken charge of the zebra yet still respects the tiger and seems to wait to see what the tiger does before eating the zebra. Pi Patel and the lion are both at the top but it is hard to determine who holds the highest position. It makes most sense that Pi is at the top because Pi could kill the tiger if he really wanted to by not feeding him but the tiger would have trouble killing Pi because he could jump into the water if the tiger attacked.
While reading Life of Pi, I have used many different lenses. But one that I think is crucial to the story of Pi, is Orientalism. Pi has to establish to Richard Parker some ground rules if they are to live near one another. Pi establishes right away that Richard Parker is not allowed onto Pi’s raft. This is extremely important for later in the book, as Richard Parker is about to pounce onto Pi’s raft to kill the fish and take it for himself. Pi must stare into his eyes and with the rules that have been established, Richard Parker knows that Pi will feed him and he does not need to get the food himself. This would have been a turning point in the story where Pi may have be killed, but due to Pi’s orientalism they are able to live in harmony with the rules that have been set.
Life of Pi can be viewed through many different lenses. The lens that seemed most apparent to me when I was reading was the marxist lens. A tiered system of power is immediately formed on the lifeboat between the animals and Pi. The zebra, being injured and unable to protect itself, was at the bottom of the chain, next above it was the Orange Juice, the orangutan who had a good deal of knowledge, but was still unable to protect herself from the next up on the system, the hyena. The hyena is powerful enough to kill Orange Juice, but he is no match for Richard Parker. In the beginning of his time at sea, Pi sits clearly below Richard Parker. He hides from him and fears him. But as time goes on, Richard Parker becomes reliant on Pi for food and water, and Pi begins to "train" Richard Parker. Once this happens, Pi and Richard Parker become equals at the top of the power system.
I don't know what type of lens this is or if this is a type of lens. I want to compare the zoo animals to people. I specifically want to talk about the distances between people and zoo animals and the compromise of zoo animals. When in a zoo, there is a certain distance that you are away from the animals. If you get too close to an animal, they become uncomfortable and at times, rowdy. Furthermore, when given the chance, most animals do not leave their pens, or they return. I think that these two traits not only correlate with each other, but they describe humans. Humans have their personal space, and get uncomfortable when people get too close to them. There are many reactions to close proximity: telling the said person to back up; taking a step back from the said person; increases in oxygen intake; fear; or a guarded, angered atmosphere. I think this directly correlates with animals' compliance to stay where they are because it is good enough as it is. Although these two separate traits of zoo animals do not have a solid connection, humans have this connection (and share these two traits with zoo animals). Often times, humans are comfortable where they are. They want something better, the desire is there, but they would rather stay where they know where it is safe/ THis is when they stay in their comfort zone. Anything or anyone that gets too close to them, or too close to a new opportunity, causes them to be nervous and get defensive. There are people who do take the risks and get out of their comfort zones. But too often, like the zoo animal, they stay where they are at because their fear and compliance is greater than their curiosity.
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