By Tiffany Ayuda

The Life of Pi uncovers the difficulty of self-exploration through the persistent struggles of nature and the under workings of personal wrath. The acclaimed writer Yann Martel writes Life of Pi. The book’s character, Piscine Molitor Patel, also known as Pi is a young 16-year-old boy who leads a very rich and comfortable life in Pondicherry, India. However, his fascination with religion, art and faith has made him a much more modest teenager.

As he struggles to find his religious identity as a Christian, Muslim, or Hindu, Pi does not realize that his faith will later prove to be more profound and resilient. As the son of two zookeepers, Pi learned to observe and understand the beauty and intrepidness of the animals but also the danger of their prowess. As a child, Pi was especially warned about the dangers of toying with a tiger. The tiger is an animal that symbolizes incredible agility, strength and intimidation.

When his family decides to move away from India to Canada for a better life, they take the risky chance of traveling through the rough seas of the Atlantic, packing everything they own. They board the Japanese cargo ship Tsimtsum also carrying among them many animals bound for zoos. However, the voyage was not serendipitous and Pi is trapped in the close corners of an abandoned lifeboat in the middle of the Atlantic.

With no survivors or help in sight, Pi makes companions with the unlikeliest animals, a zebra, an orangutan, and the tame less, unpredictable Richard Parker, a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. Pi endures grueling days with fear constantly in his heart that Richard Parker will one day end his pain and kill him. All his dreams of becoming someone, and his family’s dreams gradually died as time passed.

Ironically, it is Pi’s fear of Richard Parker and his faith in God that makes him survive of what seems to be a never-ending journey. Through his despair and solitude, Pi learns the meaning of life-facing his fears and adversaries confidently and returning victoriously.

Yann Martel once said in one of his interviews, “The theme of this story can be summarized in three lines. Life is a story. You can choose your story. And a story with an imaginative overlay is the better story.”

For Martel, the greatest imaginative overlay is religion. “God is the greater shorthand for anything that is beyond material,” Martel said.

Anyone can relate to Pi’s struggle through existence; his need to preserve everything that he is and who he will become.

Martel says that what led him to Pi Patel and this story was in an Indian coffee house, a gentleman told him, “I have a story that will make you believe in God.” The story is more than just a struggle to survive; it is also a spiritual rebirth. For anyone who faces an adversary, struggles in a challenge, or has lost all hope, Pi’s story will make you want to believe in God.