Just what is going on with that carnivorous island Pi lands
on?! Why is that scene in this novel?
What does the island mean? Why
does PI find it near the end of his
journey?
Help us all (including me!) understand why this scene is in
the book. You can focus on 1 or 2
elements from this section of Pi’s journey, or look at the experience
overall. Whatever will help us…..
As Pi is starving, and consequently having eaten some of the flesh belonging to the Frenchman, he encounters the island. At first he thinks that it is an “illusion”, that he is being deceived by his eyes, until he actually steps onto it (256). This is contrary to the process of faith as in order to believe in God one must trust what cannot be proven. The man eating island, I think, represents a life without religion.
ReplyDeleteOn the island Pi is given everything he physically needs to survive, and so explains the waning presence of Richard Parker. In fact, he has no thought of ever leaving until he discovers its carnivorous nature, and how it tricks people by equally taking away what it gives in daylight. Pi realizes that he would experience a “broken spirit” or an empty soul as time passed on, therefore the island could represent the material world where it is easy to ignore faith (282). All that was left of humans who were on the island were meaningless teeth “like small change in a pocket”, implying that a life without religion is one without significance.
Ultimately Pi resolves to leave the comforts of the island and hope for the best in the risky waters (which could parallel the uncertain nature of religion), tying in with the overall theme of how a version of life with faith is better than a secular one. It is also interesting to note that the island was unfit for humans but the meerkats were thriving, further emphasizing the spiritual need humans have that is unique from animals.
Martel did mention Pi’s story as one that makes people believe in God, but instead of just merely belief I think the island represents more of a need for faith/spirituality if not in your own life than other people’s lives. So, the message of the island and its more magical elements could leave a larger impact on readers if placed at the end of the journey.
—Joy Fei
I really like your idea! The carnivorous island really makes a lot of sense as a metaphor for a material life with no spiritual sustenance.
DeleteAdding on to the chronology of the island encounter: I think that Martel chooses to let Pi find this island at the end of his journey because that is when the latter is most desperate and worn out.
After spending months lost at sea, a plentiful island seems much more than enough to satisfy anyone. However, when recounting his discovery of the human teeth, Pi says, “But for it I might have lived for years [...] on that island. Nothing [...] could ever push me to return to [...] the suffering and deprivation I had endured” (Martel 279). Even the very religious Pi was at first attracted to the material comfort the island provided because of the struggles he’d gone through. However, the toothy remains of the last man on the island (representing faithlessness) were so abhorrent that Pi was driven back to the lifeboat.
Faith is so important that the satisfaction physical gains provide is only ever temporary, even in one’s most desperate moment.
- Estella Yan
ReplyDeleteThe man eating island was one of the events that set a bunch of pieces together to explain one of the main meanings in the book. Pi is running out of food, and hope, and he almost accepts his fate until he sees land. This land was the man eating island that seemed to save Pi. Pi had an endless food and water supply, and everything he needed on the island, but Pi soon finds out that the island is carnivorous.
Pi finds human teeth encased in leaves in a tree and is hit by a realization that he couldn’t stay on the island. The idea that the island was carnivorous confused me at first, but it seems as if this island represents having reason, but not having faith. Pi had faith in being able to make it to human inhabited land, which is why he made it onto land eventually, and survived the entire journey. Martel seems to be expressing the idea that Pi would not have survived without having faith, because not having faith would have consumed him and made his life meaningless. Martel also seems to be saying that life without faith is boring, while having faith is what allows you to survive and thrive.
Another aspect of this island that is important is that it would have been easier for Pi to stay on this island the rest of his life. Leaving the island seems to be the more difficult choice and represent non-reason, but it caused Pi to end up living a happy life in the end. Martel continues using details to express the idea that faith is what makes life interesting and meaningful.
Not only does Martel describe life without faith/religion as boring, but also as a meaningless life that is just a waste of a life. Martel uses this island as a key aspect to further his argument that people should lead lives with faith.
-Molly Bratton
I like your idea that faith is what made Pi leave because he desired a purpose and didn’t want to live a meaningless life alone. I also perceived that faith was a huge part in why Pi left and that it proves non-reason is sometimes essential for survival both physically and spiritually. The idea that life would be “boring” without faith also makes sense to me because it seems Pi’s decision to enter the dangerous waters again was a form of adding some challenge to waken himself from the trance of comfort.
ReplyDeleteI want to add on to your claims with why the island appears near the end of the book. The island seems to represent comfort and/or settling. Pi was willing to settle on a lonely land because he saw that the island was a better situation than the sea. Without the awakening that it was carnivorous, the realization that this is not the end goal may have never have reached Pi. By putting it in the end Martel shows that Pi could have ended his story on that carnivorous Island but his faith, desire to have meaning, and pure will power drove him to push forward and find his true goal, which we won’t ever truly know.
-Zayd Khan