People should always believe. As described in the novel and film (Martel 2014), this story makes you believe in God. The whole movie is considered a fable, to tell a legend through this period, when a fantasy adventure began. The blue sea, the Green Island, the white boat, the yellow tiger and other creatures symbolize different meanings in the movie. In the first story, the law of the jungle will not find it difficult to accept. In the second story, it will feel cruel, which reveals the beast inside human nature. Both levels are acceptable in real life. In this paper, I will demonstrate why I believe in the first story and how religious thought reflects in the story, in other words, I believe in God after watching the movie.
Life of Pi is a story about faith. In my opinion, it is very direct without a metaphor. What is faith, the film directly into the topic to begin to tell? PI went to find his own belief and pursue the guidance of God. He even believed in three religions, accepted the gods of three religions and went to worship and pray devoutly. In the beginning, three “beliefs” are used to contrast beliefs. I believe this is to make the content directly. He is just looking for meaning, to understand the world and to accept the three religions; however, the shipwreck makes him have the faith.
The mother of Pi represents traditional religion, while the father represents rationality. In the film, when arguing about science and religion at the dinner table, his father thinks that it is very confusing for the young people to believe in so many religions and they should learn the science that has defeated thousands of years of faith in just a few hundred years; however, his mother thinks that science makes people know the outer appearance and religion can explain the inner self. When his father stopped Pi from feeding the tiger, young Pi told his father that the tiger has a soul, and he could see the soul in its eyes. And his father said to him that what you see in his eyes is just a reflection of yourself in his eyes. All of these seem to imply that film’s plot agrees with the drifting story of the two versions. Using religion to explain the inner self is the first version of the story told in the movie. While the tiger is just the reflection of Pi, which is the second version of the story.
Pi’s mother is a representative of Hinduism and he falls in love with a girl who dances in Indian religious dance. When the girl meets for the first time, the last hint is the lotus. When she looks at the tiger in the zoo together, the girl teaches her how to look at the tiger. She opens a flower that looks like a lotus on the island and finds a human tooth in it. She gives him a farewell rope Tied to an island. And the island symbolizes the Hindu Vishnu. What the film shows is that Hinduism persuades people to pursue a world of heaven(such as the world on an island). Although the world of paradise is beautiful on the surface there is a hidden crisis that makes people relax their vigilance, paralyze themselves and die in a world that has completely lost its autonomy and uniqueness. Just as the fox Mongoose, a symbol of Hinduism, is insensitive to be hunted by the tiger, a symbol of brutality. After seeing the teeth, Pi suddenly wakes up and decides to escape from the greed for ease. Leaving the island also symbolizes the abandonment of Hinduism. As for that girl, I prefer to believe that it is also a symbol of love for Hindu beauty. To tie a rope to the root of a tree is to show that he no longer believes in it.
The choice of story version is a judgment of not knowing the truth. Many times, what we see and hear cannot to prove if it is real. Just as the two staff members of the Japanese ships listen to the two versions of the story of their drifting experience told by Pi, we do not know the truth at all. Maybe neither of the two levels is true. What we choose to believe is based on our ideas or values, perceptions, and our beliefs. Believing in different religions or only believing in scientific rationality, the difference lies in our own tendencies and the stories we hear and experience. Choosing the first version is that we are unwilling to believe in the cruel human fraternity. We are more inclined to accept that human beings are guided by God to escape from the reality. The choice of story version is only your own choice. From my perspective, the latter is too cruel. I would rather believe in the story of the hardship and common adventure of the boy and the tiger on the lifeboat than believe in a real-world of moral imbalance. Believe in something that can bring salvation to the spiritual world in human nature.
References
1. Chicago. Martel, Yann. 2014. The Life of Pi. Scholastic Readers. Royal Leamington Spa, England: Mary Glasgow Magazines.
