Essays on Yann Martel

English

We always come across the term ‘intertextuality’ even though we may not realize it. It refers to the relationship between different texts, most of which are literary texts. Such literary relationships are very common in novels and their various themes. The movie and novel, Life of Pi is a great example of a story having intertextual relationships. Written by Yann Martel, Life of Pi is a story based on how a young Hindu boy is separated from his family when a storm sinks the boat they were travelling in. However, Pi, the young boy does not survive alone. He is accompanied by a Bengal ...

Introduction

The novel “The Life of Pi” by Yann Martel tells the story of one boy’s adventures in the Pacific Ocean with an Orangutan tiger. Pi is an Indian boy who lives with his parents in India. His parents own a zoo and, therefore, according to Indian standards, they are considered to be quite affluent. Being the common religion in India, Pi is brought up as Hindu but during his teenage years, he becomes interested in the other two religions that characterize his nation, Islam and Christianity. It is here that he makes the constant decision to follow all the ...

Looking into our pasts is something that is not easy at times – we tend to either romanticize or hide from it, depending on how we feel. Particularly in times of mourning or regret, the past can be something we try to bury or avoid, wanting to make sure we do not relive that same pain. This universal and uniquely human theme is present in the books Beloved, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and Life of Pi. In all of these works, the main characters attempt to reconcile who they are with what they remember of the past – from Pi’ ...

In Yann Martel’s fantasy adventure novel, Life of Pi, the elderly man Francis Adirubasamy, who tells Martel Pi’s story claims, “I have a story that will make you believe in God” (Martel, 2001, p. viii). It is not surprising that the publisher has used this claim to promote the book. Nonetheless, it is a significantly strong claim that one cannot easily oppose. Life of Pi is a bold, daring novel, in which Martel asks readers why they do not believe in God and it makes them believe. However, the truth is that the phenomenal success of this bestselling novel and its ‘ ...

Often touted as an ‘unfilmable’ novel, Yann Martel’s Life of Pi told the story of a young Indian boy named Pi who, over the course of the story, finds himself on a small life raft in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with only a dangerous Bengal Tiger (whom he names Richard Parker) to accompany him. Here, he goes on a hazardous journey of survival, during which he explores his spirituality and is taken to the depths of his understanding of life itself. Ang Lee’s 2012 film masterfully adapts these themes into an elegant, fairytale-like story that is alternatingly presentational and ...

One question that the world will perhaps never stop asking is “what is the meaning of our life?” Every philosopher in one way or another centers their career around answering this question. Is not literature and art just an attempt at either answering this question or of making the case for one possible answer? One common theme is that the answer is not a static turn of phrase, but one that is found through a journey that endeavors to understand. This essay analyzes how that question becomes answered through the journey’s of protagonists in four contemporary novels: Pauhlo Coelho’s “ ...

In the story The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, Pi shapes animals to represent people to lessen the anguish of the loss of his family: the orangutan being his mother, the hyena is the cook, and most uniquely, Richard Parker, a tiger, as Pi's will to survive. Piscine Molitor Patel represents his character as a tiger and as Richard Parker. He is the protagonist of the story and he is a shy person who tells how a shipwreck happened when he was young. As Pi, he is a lonely child who spends most of his time in the zoo watching animals and ...