Life of Pi - Close Reading of passage

Life of Pi is a story about a boy who unwillingly partakes on a journey of survival. Many themes are present throughout the book. However, one theme particularly stood out, which connects to nearly the entirety of the story. The theme of the subjectivity of freedom. Parts of Chapter 4 delves into the idea of freedom, how it relates to the main character’s beliefs and characteristics and even foreshadows the events to come.

To begin, “The more you look, the more you see.” is a line in Chapter 4 that symbolizes the main plot of the story; the survival of Pi in the Pacific Ocean (Martel 14). It foreshadows what Pi must do in order to survive. Pi needed to obtain the basic necessities of life, so that he could live until he reached land. The basic necessities were food, water and shelter. Pi was able to obtain food by closely observing his surroundings, investigating and “seeing”. Pi was able to catch fish and sea-life because he was careful and keen eyed. He witnessed patterns displayed by fishes, from how they reacted to the grapple that he used to hunt, to how the fish reacted when a larger predator was nearby, allowing him to react accordingly and capture dorados and sharks. Furthermore, Pi was able to see behavioral patterns displayed by Richard Parker and the hyena, allowing him to understand them and survive. This passage from the book is simple yet creates meaning through symbolism.

Pi delves into the theme of the subjectivity of freedom later in this chapter. He begins by talking about freedom in the perspective of the “Well-meaning but misinformed people” (Martel 16):

I have heard nearly as much nonsense about zoos as I have about God and religion. . . The life of a wild animal is simple, noble and meaningful, they imagine. Then it is captured by wicked men and thrown into tiny jails. Its “happiness” is dashed. . . Being denied its “freedom” for too long, the animal becomes a shadow of itself, a spirit broken. So some people imagine. This is not the way it is. Animals in the wild lead lives of compulsion and necessity within an unforgiving social hierarchy in an environment where the supply of fear is high and the supply of food is low and where territory must constantly be defended and parasites forever endured. What is the meaning of freedom in such a context? (Martel 17)

The passage above allows the readers to learn about the peculiar beliefs and opinions of the main character, as well as his personality. Pi opposes the widely shared and “ethical” view of confined animals by arguing that animals are not free in the wild. He states the various reasons in a logical and evidence-based manner. This allows the readers to understand that Pi must be quite intelligent. He reasons his perspective on freedom with his arguments with such information that leads the readers to believe that those are his beliefs and values. The topic of zoos and wildlife are his passions. Religion also seems to be another topic that interests Pi, as he correlates it to his passion for zoos.

As mentioned before, the main plot of Life of Pi is the life of Pi during the 227 days in the Pacific Ocean. The idea of freedom relates to the plot and the setting of the story. Although the environmental setting is still Pondicherry in this chapter, the future settings beyond this chapter are established in a discrete way. In addition, the passage above directly foreshadows the situation that Pi will soon find himself in. Pi will soon become stranded on a lifeboat, floating on the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. This chapter is related to the ocean because oceans could be the literal symbol for freedom due to its openness, the unrestricted flow and the amount of life that is contained within it.

Ironically, Pi struggles to survive in such “freedom” of the ocean because of the very factors that he mentioned; the hierarchical and territorial conflict with Richard Parker, difficulty of obtaining food, presence of fear and lack of cleanliness. Large chunks of the main plot deals with each of these issues constantly. When Pi was “confined” within the boundaries of Pondicherry, he felt happy. He easily accessed food, education, entertainment, enlightenment (religion), his established territory (his house and the zoo) and so on. Within the boundaries of Pondicherry, Piscine was free. However, he was not when he lived in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. Pi certainly did not view his situation as freedom. The author was attempting to instill the idea that freedom can be subjective and carry different meaning depending on one’s perspective. This passage connects with another integral aspect of the story, religion. Why do religious people confine themselves to the limited beliefs of their religion? It is because they feel free within their religion. Perhaps they are confined by the walls of the limited beliefs, however through those walls, the reality becomes bearable. Thus, being a part of a religion with belief is better than the cruelness of reality.

Photo 1, 2 & 4: Wix, Photo of Mosque: Hameed Ullah, Unsplash

Aside from connecting to the main character, setting and plot of the book, the subjectivity of freedom is an important theme to remember throughout this story because it relates to another theme That theme is the importance of faith and how it contributes to the understanding and effects of stories. Pi states that, “Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both.” (Martel 21). Pi becomes a Muslim, Hindu and a Christian because of his love and faith for God. Yet, his perspective is challenged by the practitioners of each religion and his parents, confined in their own beliefs. The freedom to love God in all religion is the perspective of Pi, while others believe that he must choose one religion to practice. The perspective of Pi is that as long as he remains faithful to God, he can practice whatever religion he wants, and however many he wants. Being able to practice whatever religion he wants is Pi’s freedom, while deciding on only one is others’. To Pi, as long as one believes in something, they will be free to enjoy a meaningful life. The author, Yann Martel feels similar to this idea. In an interview, he states, “If you have neither stories, nor gods, you have nothing,” (Yann Martel Interview 3:50-3:53). Pi was able to survive the various events within the lifeboat due to his faith in God and his imaginative process which helped mute the harshness of reality.

Finally, as mentioned above, Pondicherry was once a place of freedom for Pi. However, it is the symbol of pain and sorrow for him, “The Pondicherry Zoo doesn’t exist any more. Its pits are filled in, the cages torn down. I explore it now in the only place left for it, in my memory.” (Martel 21). The very place that he loved and felt such freedom in, was the thing that caused his freedom to disappear. If Pi’s father hadn’t sold the zoo, Pi’s family would still exist and they would still live in Pondicherry (or perhaps another part of India), and never risked their lives on the Tsimtsum. If the zoo was not sold, Pi would have lived an average life (at the very least) and looked out to the ocean to simply watch beautiful sunsets, not struggle to survive in the ocean.

To conclude, several parts in Chapter 4 acted as a spiderweb to connect its lines to different themes, events, plot, character and setting. The passages introduce the reader to the relative opinions regarding freedom as well as connect to deeper ideologies, which ties into other themes and the main plot as well. The passages deliver the values, beliefs and opinions of Pi and foreshadow the harshness of the environment that Pi will have to live in. Overall, although Chapter 4 of Life of Pi was not riddled with information, several of the passages allowed the reader to gain deeper insight of the fundamentals of this story.

The video above is an interview of the author of Life of Pi, Yann Martel.

Works Cited

Kenower, Bill. “Yann Martel Interview.” YouTube, YouTube, 13 May 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=B29tigyBJlQ.

Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. Vintage Canada, 2011.

Life of Pi Chapter 4 - Close Reading

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