This may be going out on a limb. This book is brilliant in many ways. I gained a lot both in a literary and thematic sense from this book. There are many different things that I could discuss for days. However upon finishing the novel I mainly want to talk about love. For that is theme from Life of Pi that I will carry with me most.
I think it is safe to say that Pi is saved by his ability to love. This is established as the first of the book when he expresses his sincere desire to just love God. What astounds him about Jesus of Nazareth is that this "God" descends below all else and dies for his people. And for what purpose? Love, replies Father Martin. Pi believes in God, no matter what religion and thereby believes in love no matter where it stems from. It is this love that will rescue him from despair and hopelessness as his suffering continues. In his darkest moments he states that he must teach himself to love again. "The blackness would stir and eventually go away and God would remain, a shining point of light in my heart. I would go on loving."
Later in the novel Pi expresses his love for Richard Parker. I found this passage deeply moving. Many of us, I think lose our ability to love at sometimes in our lives. Our human hearts get broken and we choose bitterness, anger, and sometimes hate because it is safer. Pi suffers an ordeal that many of us will never and even after months of hopeless hardship, Pi bursts forth a sentiment of love, for a tiger no less. "Truly I do. I love you, Richard Parker". The ability to suffer and to keep loving is an amazing one.
As the novel begins with love, so it should rightly end with it also. As Pi is being questioned by Mr. Chiba and Mr. Okamoto, he chastises there use of the phrase "hard to believe". One of my favorite lines of this novel comes here "If you stumble at believability what are you living for? Isn't love hard to believe?....Love is hard to believe." Love is the most powerful intangible thing in the world. Love can be defined sometimes as what we touch and what we see but mostly it is defined by what we feel. We are defined by our ability to love. It is the greatest attribute mankind possesses. I believe it was Leo Tolstoy who said "Everything I understand I understand only because I love."If we believe in nothing else we must believe in love. Because it will be love that rescues us.
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I agree entirely. Pi is saved by love. One of the prompts asked if the book succeeds in being a story to make one believe in God. I answer yes. During his most difficult times he turned to God. "High calls low and low calls high," says Pi on page 283. He turned to God and he made it, he was saved. Even though there are all kinds of ways to think about logic and what we have faith in, the book made me believe in God. He is saved because he went on loving. He makes the point that love comes from somewhere higher. In his book Man’s Search for Meaning Victor Fankl said the salvation of mankind is through love. He learned this from thinking about his wife as he went through horrible suffering. Loving thoughts saved him. The same goes for Pi. Jillian, great thoughts on love.
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