入圍決選獎
姓  名 吳庭妤 學  校 私立長榮高級中學 年  級 應用外語二 年 仁 班

 

 

Life Of Pi

Pi survived in a shipwreck, and he was also the only survivor in the ship. He kept sailing in a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra with a broken leg, a female orangutan and a Bengal tiger in the Pacific Ocean. During the voyage, Pi confronted a dilemma : struggling between humanity and beastliness. Although he loved animals, sometimes he had to insist on believing in his religion in God. In the beginning, the hyena ate the injured zebra, and it ate herbivorous orangutan a few days later. Shortly, Richard Parker ate the hyena. Pi was afraid that he was the next ; therefore, he used a whistle to control Richard Parker so that it won’t eat him. In my opinion, it’s like an old saying. As the old saying goes, “Survival of the fittest.” Only when you are as strong as other people, can you stay alive; otherwise, you would be eliminated in such a competitive society. Ironically, the lifeboat is surrounded by food and water; however, the food is difficult to catch and the salty water was undrinkable. Pi constantly struggled to collect fresh drinking water. Pi’s repeated struggles against hunger and thirst illustrate the difference between his previous life and current one on the boat. Initially, Pi, a vegetarian, was unwilling to kill animals. As time went on, his comfort with eating meat represented his embrace of a new life.

Religion is one of the crucial elements that influenced Pi deeply. Because of faith, he survived in a shipwreck. Though miracles doesn’t always work for us, it seems that miracles had worked for Pi. To Pi, faith was a bridge between the coldness of fact and the warmth of emotion. To believe in something makes us feel more alive, more close to the world around us. Spiritually, religion is considered to be very important and essential to Pi.

Richard Parker can be seen as a symbol of fear, danger and trial in life. With fear accompanying, we can find a way to get along with it. Similarly, to avoid being eaten, Pi found a way to control and live together with the tiger during the long drifting life. When Pi and Richard Parker arrived seaboard of Mexico, Pi thought that Richard Parker might turn back; on the contrary, it just went away and vanished in Pi’s life. We can say that Pi had fought against inner fear successfully.

Additionally, Pi learned a lesson that he should never give up whenever he faced difficulties. Once you are defeated and occupied by fear, you will lose courage to take any challenges in your life. Undoubtedly, there are lots of ups and downs in our life. It all depends on your philosophy of life or attitude toward life. You can be either optimistic or pessimistic in the face of obstacles. However, an old saying goes, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” From my viewpoint, if we set up a goal and make efforts, we will eventually attain our goals as long as we don’t lose faith and courage. I want to be as brave as Pi in this novel, being strong and persevering.