Pi learns “faith and love of God through the lens of a physical world depicted as wondrous, brutal, and deeply mysterious.”

Prompt:

[Sample Argument for Paragraph One; You must write your own argument that is different from this]:

The Life of Pi is a journey to enlightenment. It is written by a non-religious author, Yann Martel, who is a proponent of secularism. In interviews about the book, Martel said that the story was written for those who disbelieve (especially agnostics). The author’s preface to the novel describes that it will make you “believe that there is a God.” But critic Gregory Stephens goes further than this. In his essay “Feeding Tiger, Finding God: Science, Religion, and ‘the better story’ in Life of Pi,” Stephens argues that the book appeals to two different types of readers – agnostics and true believers. He contends that the story depends upon this liminality of approach and that it’s positioning midway between faiths, continents, boyhood and adulthood, fact and fiction, and animal and human is what gives the tale its great power and effect (Stephens). This essay takes up some of the questions asked by Stephens and attempts to answer them more thoroughly by looking at specific examples of passages from the book. It argues that having to establish faith outside of a church or an “institutional” context makes Pi understand something about what real faith is. Pi learns “faith and love of God through the lens of a physical world depicted as wondrous, brutal, and deeply mysterious.” (Pamela Cooper). For Pi, the body of the animal is both an “agent of God” and a sign of “unexpected cruelty” (Cooper). The novel argues that a central component of a story that makes us believe must relegate human beings to the sideline and put animals back at the “center of our secular and religious imagination.” But this essay also shows the importance of the balance of religion and science, as necessary components of believing in God. This is simply put in Gordon Houser’s view that the two central themes of the Life of Pi are that “that all life is interdependent, and that we live and breathe via belief,” a statement that encapsulates everything from God’s providential designs to the fragile nature of ecosystems and modern chaos theory (Houser). Finally, this essay argues that religion is made clear by the close connection in this novel between religion and storytelling. As Cooper puts it, in some sense, believing in God involves a willingness to suspend disbelief and to listen to fantastic stories, many informed by religion, or at least some element of faith and spirituality. Pi’s worst enemy on the lifeboat is not the Bengal Tiger, but fear and despair (loss of faith). He uses prayers to God’s and also Richard Parker himself in order to maintain faith. This is underscored by Pi’s experience on the carnivorous island, which he lands on, near the end of his ordeal. The island has been viewed as a test of not only Pi’s faith, but also the readers’. To believe in such fantastic islands is to suspend imagination, but also to be captured and transfigured by Pi’s story itself. At the end of the book, even the insurance agents who are trying to find the “real” story admit that the story with animals is the “better” story. Pi replies “that’s how it goes with God.” For Pi, “imagination is the agent of faith” (Cooper).

Instructions:

In your paper you will come up with examples (passages from the book) that illustrate each one of these points. You will use these examples (block quotes) in order to structure your paper. Please cite block quotes correctly and then go in depth into describing them. You will also (when appropriate) bring in at least 3 critics who have written about The Life of Pi. (See the examples below).

Please also staple your paper, include a creative title, and page numbers. I will also be looking for a complex, interesting, and well-articulated thesis in paragraph one.

I will not accept papers that don’t have these features.

Papers should be minimum 7 pages. There is more than enough information to write 7 pages on this topic.

Aspects of religion in the novel that you should include (use at least 5 of the following, and you must include 6, 7, and 8):

1. Pi learns “faith and love of God through the lens of a physical world depicted as wondrous, brutal, and deeply mysterious.” (Pamela Cooper).

 

2. For Pi, the body of the animal is both an “agent of God” and a sign of “unexpected cruelty” (Cooper).

 

3. But this essay also shows the importance of the balance of religion and science, as necessary components of believing in God. This is simply put in Gordon Houser’s view that the two central themes of the Life of Pi are that “that all life is interdependent, and that we live and breathe via belief,” a statement that encapsulates everything from God’s providential designs to the fragile nature of ecosystems and modern chaos theory (Houser). Find examples from the novel that deal with the relationship between science and religion and analyze these in depth.
4. This essay argues that religion is made clear by the close connection in this novel between religion and storytelling. As Cooper puts it, in some sense, believing in God involves a willingness to suspend disbelief and to listen to fantastic stories, many informed by religion, or at least some element of faith and spirituality. Find examples from the book that deal with religion and storytelling.
5. Pi’s worst enemy on the lifeboat is not the Bengal Tiger, but fear and despair (loss of faith). He uses prayers to God’s and also Richard Parker himself in order to maintain faith. Find examples from the book to illustrate this point. Passages. Close readings.

 

6. This is underscored by Pi’s experience on the carnivorous island, which he lands on, near the end of his ordeal. The island has been viewed as a test of not only Pi’s faith, but also the readers’. To believe in such fantastic islands is to suspend imagination, but also to be captured and transfigured by Pi’s story itself. What is the significance of the carnivorous island? Find passages from this episode to help you answer these questions. Use passages and close readings in your answer.

 

7. Something about the interaction between Pi and the insurance agents. Significance of this scene?

 

8. Conclusion. Nice. Long. Really show me what you have learned about religion in the Life of Pi.