Chattahoochee River
Monday, March 9, 2015
Life of Pi- No God
Throughout the first 25 chapter of the novel, there have been multiple examples of adversity. An example that stood out to me in particular was how a character (I'm not exactly sure who it was because I read that part while I was feeling sick on a plane ride) decided to no longer believe in a God because of how his "God" did not seem to answer his prayers or assist him while he was going through his sickness. Going through a sickness (don't remember which one) is an obvious a case of adversity, and often people turn to prayers in hope that their "God(s)" will find cure to their sickness. This person however gave up in believing in God and said that his sickness was cured through medicine. While going through a sickness, like I stated, is a type of adversity so is having to accept the fact that you can no longer count on a certain someone. This character in the novel was able to overcome both cases of adversity of having a sickness by medicine, and not being able to believe in God by simply having the mindset that if there was a God, where was he during his time of need?
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I found the focus on religion in this section of the book to be very intriguing, especially in the ways it can be related back to adversity. Religion isn't always the solution to adversity for our main character, in fact religion is turning out to be the cause of much of Pi's adversity because he is so indecisive. I am excited to see how he handles his unique scenario.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Andrew's observation that a lot of Pi's adversity relates back to religion in some form. I also think it's a key observation to note that a lot of his strength comes from his faith. I don't recall what chapter it was in, but I do remember reading about how he said the shrine of one of his Hindu gods made him feel secure and content. Perhaps it's the fact that religion has been such a complex aspect of his life which has provided him both prosperity and adversity alike that it has allowed him to gain a deep reverence for faith. Like his father who was both loving and disciplinary, in the end both effects of religion ultimately made him a better person.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading The Road, not Life of Pi, but in The Road, the characters also deal with spiritual consequences to the adversity they face. In The Road, the character of "the man" (he is nameless) says multiple times throughout the first portion of the book that there is no God, and it reminds me of how, in Night, Elie struggles with his faith due to the horrifying situations he and his friends/family/fellow Jews face.
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