第五名
姓  名 蔡立晨 學  校 國立台灣師大附中 年  級 一 年 1453 班

 

 

Life of Pi

The will to survive could sometimes be extinguished by despair or hopelessness. Some fall into a vicious cycle of self-destruction, and the end is nowhere far. Yet, some, forced by an external, even fatal force, are pressed into keeping the flames of the will to survive ablaze.

The tale starts with the author interviewing an Indian man, Piscine Patel, about the story of his life. We are taken back to French India, where Patel describes his childhood as the son of the manager of the city zoo, and when he received his legendary alias, “Pi”. Due to the handover of French India back to the government in Delhi, Pi’s family lost financial support from the city, and Pi’s father made up his mind to sell the zoo and animals, then relocate the family to Canada, in pursue of a better future. Pi was then forced to part with his hometown, and leave all that he loved behind. But tragedy occurs en route, when the cargo ship carrying Pi, his family, and the animals capsized due to unfavorable weather conditions. According to Pi, all that made it on the lifeboat was himself, a hyena, an injured zebra, an orangutan, and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Subsequent incidents leave the hyena, zebra, and orangutan dead, with Pi having to face Richard Parker alone in the middle of the Pacific.

Could Pi survive the voyage should Richard Parker never be rescued from the waves? Pi later stated in his report to the authorities that the presence of the predator was what kept him alert, and subsequently the force that kept him alive. Should the threat never exist, men are very susceptible to degeneracy into laziness and despair, which would have drastically reduced the chance of survival.

Another topic discussed is dealing with despair. Life at sea is boring, to say the least. The never-ending scene of the sky and sea, with the occasional wave and schools of fish, is just fuel to boredom. Also, with limited resources available on the lifeboat, any kind of failure, in obtaining food and water or creating a semi-comfortable environment, is a waste of those precious resources and could easily lead to despair. As we know, despair is the last emotion to slip into when the main objective is to stay alive. Moments of frustration were expressed by Pi, yet the strong will of his to survive and to constant threat of Richard Parker helped him go through the highs and lows.

If I were in Pi’s situation, with a tiger on board with myself, I could probably survive for the first couple of weeks, but I don’t see myself surviving much longer after that. It is possible for me to improvise, adapt, and overcome some basic difficulties, and plan out the consumption of what available food and water I have, but boredom and the feeding of my carnivorous companion, in my opinion, are the hardest to overcome.

Life of Pi touches some of philosophical questions that most often are unnoticeable in everyday life, yet may still exist. Problems such as leaving the homeland for a brighter future, leaving behind loved ones and everything familiar; the loss of loved ones in a tragic accident; how to survive when facing the impossible; and many more. Through the fantasy story which seems to be impossible at happening in our lives, Yann Martel wrapped various problems for us to answer with our hearts, and how we will deal with these situations.