'‘‘Pi'‘’ - An Embodiment of Indomitable Spirit in Life of Pi

Abstract

‘Faith can move mountains’ is an age old proverb that has a Biblical origin wherein it is said: “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (Matthew 17:20). How this fits in the context of the novel Life of Pi is the subject of discussion of this paper. The ‘Man Booker Prize’ (2002) winning novel as well as the Oscar Winning 3D film Life of Pi creates a sensation in a highly materialistic and pragmatic world when the protagonist Piscine Molitor, generally referred to as, Pi Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of ‘Spirituality’ and ‘Faith’. The story deals with the narrator’s ordeal in the Pacific where he survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a boat with a Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker. The novel becomes an occasion, for an alluring debate, to open up between secular humanists and religious followers: To believe Pi’s story of ‘Faith’ or think otherwise. The present article is an attempt to examine how Pi’s indomitable spirit brings about not only his personal transformation but also the transformation of those who read or watch the novel or movie as it truly depicts how ‘Faith’ serves as a unifying factor in all religious traditions