Sirens

The carnivorous island was the most pivotal point in the book. I felt it was a metaphor for the religious context that this book offers, specifically regarding agnostic declaration.

In the beginning of the book, it tells of Pi’s search of religion and his formation of ideas concerning religion or lack therof. He explicitly criticizes agnostic beliefs; the belief resting on so much reason rather than faith. Reason is very comforting to the human mind. When things make ‘sense’ we do not concern ourselves with uncertainty or fear or the journey. We simply acknowledge the question and leave it blank.

Staying on the island is a metaphor for renouncing agnostic beliefs. He had a choice. The island held the requirements for survival: food, freshwater, and shelter, where as to leave on the boat meant an abandon to the comforts of the island. Reason would have led him to remain there forever till his eventual death, but he chose not to remain; he left as soon as he caught glimpse of the sad fate that would await him. Dry, yeastless factuality. He would stop the questioning, and simply accept this island as the way to live. He uses the words “half-life of physical comfort and spiritual death” (ch.92) regarding the island and he chooses to return to the ocean, knowing quite well that choice meant physical discomfort and yet a spiritual life.