Relationships

This is page where students are exploring //Life of Pi// using the focus topic of Relationships and what these teach Pi.

Please respect students' responses by leaving the comments, additions, etc. as is.

__**Relationship with Parents:**__

Father: "You can't be both. You mush be either one or the other." (72)

"They're separate religions! They have nothing in common." (72)

Pi's relationship with his father seems to have many aspects to it. He is close with his father in that his father cares for him immensely and would do anything to help his son, but he also has different views as his son. He see's that what his son is doing does not make sense and tries to help Pi, but also end up accepting how Pi feels and does not force Pi to do anything he doesn't want to.

Mother: "Father and I find your religious zeal a bit of a mystery." (73)

"One. That's the point. One nation, one passport....Yes. Or none. There's that option too, you know.These are terribly old-fashioned thing you've taken to." (73)

Pi's relationship with his mother does not seem to be as close as his relationship with his father. His mother tries to avoid talking about any conflict even if she can teach Pi something from it. She tries to change subjects in order to avoid being uncomfortable with a topic. This, in turn makes Pi's relationship with Her more distant and not as effective as with his Father. In order to avoid a disagreement, Pi's mother stands down and accepts what the other person wants. This is why she is not as strong as many of the other characters we meet and she doesn't have any influence in the story.

Together: ""Ravi, Piscine, I have a very important lesson for you today." "Oh really, is this necessary?" Interrupted Mother..."Yes, it is," said father, annoyed. "It may very well save their lives."" (32)

Overall, Pi's parents care about him very much, and do have a Parent/Son relationship, but they also struggle to understand and grasp Pi's life. They are confused about how to raise a boy like Pi, but they still put forward their best effort. We do not think that Pi's parents will ever be able to __understand__ Pi and his heart, but they will always accept him for who he is and what he loves, making them what parents should be. They are support. They provide that slanted shack that is comfort for Pi, just like the Pi symbol does. They are the shack. They are Home.



The picture to the right symbolizes how, since Pi believes and practices many religions, how confusing the path is for everyone else. The "Hippie" represents Pi's parents in that they are trying to follow Pi's path and understand what he feels, but it is completely confusing to them and they cant understand.

__**Relationship with nature at the start of Pi's Journey:**__
"Nature can put on a thrilling show. The stage is vast...the budget for special effects is unlimited." (102)

"What I had before me was a spectacle of wind and water, an earthquake of the senses, that even Hollywood couldn't orchestrate." (103)

"Lots of water....It was surging from below like a riotous crowd, raging, frothing and boiling." (103)

"...but I dismissed the sight as illusion crafted by rain and shadow." (104)

"It was terrifying to be in the water. It was black and cold and in a rage. I felt as if I were at the bottom of a crumbling well. Water kept crashing down on me. It stung my eyes. It pulled me down. I could hardly breathe." (106)


 * __Analyzation:__**

Pi recognizes nature for its essence of pure beauty and sheer power. "Nature can put on a thrilling show. The stage is vast...the budget for special effects is unlimited" (102). Pi says this in realization of the beautiful performance that nature can provide. Also, in realization of the true, untouchable beauty nature can show, Pi says, "What I had before me was a spectacle of wind and water, an earthquake of the senses, that even Hollywood couldn't orchestrate" (103).

The power is shown when Pi says, "Lots of water...it was surging from below like a rioutous crowd, raging, frothing and boiling" (103). He sees how much damage nature can do, and the great power that is driven behind nature's forces.

Pi also he sees its ability to control everything it may wish. As he says on page 104, "...but I dismissed the sight as illusion crafted by rain and shadow," he realizes that nature was even able to control his own senses in the idea that nature can create illusions in which he may percieve falsely. This shows nature as having a lot of power, swaying influence upon ones own body and mind.





__**Existentialism=Authenticity.**__
Authenticity is a way of describing a personal way of thinking. It is all about being true to oneself. Now that is a very broad topic, ones self honesty, so to specify a little, it is all about morals. Morals that change how you view yourself according to how you live your life. It defines you in your eyes and everyone elses. Existentialism is a philosophy all based on the idea that you can look in a mirror, recognize yourself and love who you are. If you can't, you are doing something wrong. (Nick)

Life and free will. (Steven)

Existentialism is the free will of people to decide what makes them who they are, they are in conrtrol of everything. It's about freedom of choice and the responsibilities of your own actions. (Bree)



This picture of the fork in the road resembles the choices that you make in life, and the paths you can take regarding who you become. The choices that you make create you, and these choices are created by the free will that life gives you.

Period 2-NN, BM, SL, AM

Period 3- (CK, NJ, LS, MW)
"It was my first clue that atheists are my brothers and sisters of a different faith, and every word they speak speaks of faith." (Martel 35)

- In the novel, //The Life of Pi,// by Yann Martel, the main character, Pi, faces the conflict of balancing his faith and belief of three separate religions. This quote refers to the relationship between people of contrasting faiths. Pi is describing his realization that he has more in common with the atheist people than he would have expected.

“There are so many factors that will fill the animal’s mind with doubt and fear, and make it clear to where it stands, the very thing it wants to know.” (Martel 54)

- This quote summarizes the relationship that people and animals share among one another in a group, regardless of the presence of multiple species or not. When an individual creature is admitted into a new group; their first task is to find out where they stand in that particular group. It is the establishment of a sort of class order that undermines the existence of any group. "...fill the animals mind with doubt and fear."

“It has the most to gain from a close relationship with the super-alpha trainer. It is not only a matter of extra treats. A close relationship will also mean protection from the other members of the pride.” (Martel 56)

- This is in reference to the desire of an omega-male lion to bond with the super-alpha in order to benefit itself in a nontraditional fashion. This status is only shown within the pride when the trainer is present. The alpha and gamma lions do not have as much to gain from this relationship because they have already made their position clear. "...he establishes that the ring is his //territory.." p54//

“The mosque was truly an open construction, to God and to breeze. We sat cross-legged listening to the imam until the time came to pray… It felt good to bring my forehead to the ground. Immediately it felt like a deeply religious contact.” (Martel 77) "Hello Usha, I say. She comes up to her father and peeks at me from behind his leg... Then Piscine Molitor Patel known to all as Pi Patel, bends down and picks up his daughter." (Martel 117)

"The beating of his legs against the benches made the whole boat shake, and its claws were loudly clicking on their surface. Each time it came from the stern I tensed. It was hair-raising enough to see the thing racing my way; worse still was the fear that it would keep going straight." (Martel 143)

"Richard Parker also explained the animals' strange behaviour. Now it was clear why the hyena had confined itself to such an absurdly small space behind the zebra and why it had waited so long before killing it. It was fear of the greater beast and fear of touching the greater beast's food." (Martel)

"If goats could be brought to live amicably with rhinoceros, why not orang-utans with hyenas?" (Martel 154) -Because there is no known relationship between hyenas and monkeys will they be able to live in peace like the rhinos and goats?

“It has been said that the possibility of suicide makes all humans existentialists.”

“…the human being - through his consciousness - creates his own values and determines a meaning to his life.**”**

“…the meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal responsibility. The belief that people are searching to find out who and what they are throughout life as they make choices based on their experiences, beliefs, and outlook without the help of laws, ethnic rules, or traditions.”

The Nature of Existentialism

A __[|worldview]__ is the basic framework by which people interpret and interact with the world around them. It is not empirical; rather, it is a philosophical construct, and as such neither right nor wrong. It is simply what people believe to be true, regardless of any empirical evidence.

Existentialism proposes that Existence precedes Essence; that is, the essence of a person is determined by his subjective actions and not some objective standard imposed upon him. In other words, people are defined by who they are, not what they are.



Existentialism...  The belief that one shapes one's basic nature through the direction of life one chooses to live. It is the capacity for self awareness; we can reflect and make choices “The person who is searching for his own happiness should pull out the dart that he has stuck in himself, the arrow-head of grieving, of desiring, of despair.” Pali Tripitaka “The mind of the perfect man is like a mirror. It does not lean forward or backward in its response to these things. It responds to them but conceals nothing of its own. So, it is able to deal with things without injury himself. “ Tchuang-Tsu