The Wonders of Symbolism

I was not sure what I wanted to touch on so I thought I would write something a little more personal. While reading this novel I have found myself analyzing everything. I am trying to pin point symbolism through out the entire novel. The wonderful thing is, every set of symbols is going to mean something completely different to each person. 

What I mean by this is Martel could be trying to represent a specific thing like the Zebra looking forsaken up at the skies, but to another person the Zebra could represent something completely different. There is a part in the book where Pi is trying to chart his corse, but says it is completely pointless because he has no way of getting there. This applies directly to my life and I don't know if anyone else would see this symbolism because it applies directly to me. I thought about my life and how I try and plan everything out and try so hard to have a goal in mind and try and try to make things work out when in reality not everything is in my control. I need to let the "wind" take me where it will. I still need to have goals to "survive," but where i end up ultimately is up to a higher power.