Religion

Personally for me the way Martel started the book the way he did help add deeper meaning and respect to the things that Pi thought and said while he was on the boat. For instance when Pi explains his thirst for water he compares it to Christ and when Pi had to go near Richard Parker to find water he said "God preserve me!" If Martel started the book at the ship wreck we wouldn't have know at Pi was religious and it would have taken us time to figure that out which would have made Pie's comparison to Christ meaningless and his exclaim "God preserve me!" shallow. These religious statements wouldn't have had any personal meaning to Pi or to us.