Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Life of Pi day 5
In this section of the book, Pi finds himself stranded on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, separated from his family but surrounded by wild animals. Obviously, few people ever experience anything like this. Is it possible for us to relate to any aspects of Pi's experiences, or can we never understand what he has gone through? If we can relate to him, how? If not, why not?
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Of course it's relatable. I don't think that the reader should focus on the actual physical journey that Pi is going through, but instead the emotional one. The setting and circumstances that Pi is in just add to the story of Pi's journey. His feelings of fear about the unknown are very universal and relatable. Many people also turn to religion in times of trouble, and that is what Pi is doing now.
Yes, we've never been on a boat with a tiger, hyena, zebra, and orangutan. That isn't the point. As an author, Martel's job is to explain to us Pi's experience and help us to relate to it. He explains Pi's emotions and lets us experience it with him without needing to be stranded. We all know a feeling that is similar (if not as intense) to Pi's in his ordeal (hey, hey, universal nature!) and we are able to relate this way.
I don't think that any of us can personally relate to Pi's loneliness because no matter where we are, we usually have a friend or family member close by and within reach. We are never really stranded from everyone that we know, we can always contact them if we want to. In his situation, Pi does not have any human contact at all. We can however, relate to his fear because everyone has gone through times when they were extremely scared.
Although few of us will ever experience being stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger 8(, I believe there are still some mutual relations to take away. One aspect in particular is survival- learning to manage and get by independently. Pi is forced into an unknown environment and for him to do well he must adapt. In our lives, we're also put in uncomfortable situations where we have no clue on what to do. However, usually we find some way to deal with it by adjusting to it.
I think we can relate to Pi, but not as in depth as we can to other stories. Hopefully, none of us will ever be separated from our families as Pi was. In my opinion that is pretty drastic. But, we can relate to him on lower levels. Everyone loses things they love, whether it is family, friends, a pet, or even a special possession. We may not feel an deep, intense connection but we can relate and learn from Pi's experiences.
I think that though none of us can ever know exactly what Pi is feeling due to the situation he is in, we can all relate. I find it stupid when people say, "you have no idea what I'm going through!" The fact is, we do. We don't need to be in an identical environment to understand the underlying feelings. Certain aspects of a personal journey resonate with people, as they've felt something similar. I know that I personally feel a connection to Pi, regardless of my somewhat-less traumatic life. I find similar feelings in times when I was uncomfortable or didn't know how to communicate with the people around me. In short, I think we can understand what Pi's going through without ever being stranded on a boat with a bunch of animals.
We can all relate to Pi's experience. Granted none of us have ever been stranded on a life boat with a Bengal tiger, we have felt lonely. We have also felt hopeless and out of place, to use the metaphor "a little fish in a big ocean". All of have also experienced loss; whether it was a pet fish or a relative, we all know what it feels like to lose someone you love. Yann Martel is quite aware of the fact that none of us truly know what Pi is going through, but we can relate to his emotions. We understand just what he feels when he looks around him and feels loneliness; we understand what it feels like to give up and lose hope.
This journey that Pi has been forced on is certainly one that not mant people take. Pi has definitely experienced extremes that not many people will suffer, but we will all face losses in our lives, and in that we can relate to Pi. We've all been lonely, or lost someone special so we can understand what Pi is going through. We should accept all of his emotions because any of us could be in a similar situation and we should hope that we can survive.
I think we can relate to him to a certain degree. We can't relate with him exactly with the zebra and tiger and such, but we can relate to him on a mental front. We have all felt stranded at some point. He has felt stranded and scared and afriad. I know I've felt that way before and we can relate to him that way.
I don't any of us can fully comprehend what Pi is going through, even if were to compare his mental state. He is going through such a great trauma of losing his parents and his brother, being stranded on a ocean, being alone and without shelter, having to deal with the INTENSE FEAR of having VICIOUS animals unleashed that can KILL him in a any time now. He has to deal with facing his death. I don't think any of us can truly imagine how that must feel. Most of our expiriences with fear would be comparably small. SOme of us may have gone through some bad expiriences, but I doubt we can comprehend his feelings.
I think we can definitely relate to it. Seeing as it's not a factual recount of survival, it's easy to relate to. In other words, we're not actually reading a true story, but rather Martel's view. He hasn't experienced it either, but we're still able to understand what he's saying. So it's a little bit of a dumbed-down survival story, and the survival elements probably aren't accurate. The story is all about Pi's emotion and human aspects, and we can easily relate to these.
So, no, we can't relate to such a situation. But we can relate to the story being written by Martel.
I think that what makes this scenario relatable is the emotions that Pi experiences and Martel's craft in making us experience Pi's journey. The feelings themselves are not unique, but the buildup to each emotion is what makes them different. i think that almost anything can be related if you look at the meaning behind the plot, and you connect with the character rather than their circumstances.
While although none of us have been in the same specific situation as Pi, his emotions are what makes his story relatable. He feels lonely, fear, scared. These are emotions that everyone has at one point in their life experienced. While although our physical paths may not have been the same, the emotional journey is one that can be shared by all. These emotions make it easier to relate and connect to Pi's circumstance, even though the setting and place are foreign to us.
Perhaps we cannot relate literally to Pi's situation but his experiences are quite applicable to our own. Through Pi, Martel portrays faith being tested. Not religion; faith. Does isolation and loneliness strengthen or lessen faith? Those who believe in something will at some point question what they believe in. There is also of course the idea of survival. A soldier once said something along the lines of, "When you get out on the battlefield, you forget about why you're there, what purpose you serve. You just want to survive."
I think that while Pi's situation is certainly not relatable, the emotions he experiences are. It is obvious that Pi is having an emotional upheval: he has just most likely lost his entire family, he is stranded, and his only company is a tiger. I think that his fear is relatable to some degree because while I have never been stuck on a boat with a 450-pound tiger, there have been times where I have felt extremely alone (one of those days where the world is against you). In that case, I think that everyone can relate to some portion of Pi at this point: at some time in their lives, everyone experiences loss, fear, and loneliness. And this is what I think makes Pi a character the reader can relate to.
If it were not relatable Martel would not have much of a novel on his hands. A connection between reader and text is necessary to achieve meaning of any sort, let alone the deep philosophy that Life of Pi reaches for.
The gift of a novelist is in describing fantastic scenarios in ways that make them as close to us as the mundane. We relate to Pi with Martel's adept descriptions of emotional and physical state.
Yes, it is possible to relate to aspects of Pi's experiences. Although most people have probably not been stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger, a hyena, an orangutan, and a zebra, people can relate to the emotions he feels. Some examples of emotions he feels are hope and fear, and people can relate to these emotions. Although they may have experienced these emotions in a different way, they will still have some level of understanding of what Pi is going through. Also, Pi's faith is something that people can relate to. many people follow a religion, and Pi's faith for religion plays a role in his experience. By understanding religion and faith, we can understand and relate to Pi's experience much easier. On the other hand though, there are aspects that most people cannot relate to, such as survival. Most people have not been in a situation in which they were striving to survive in the way Pi does. Although some aspects of Pi's experience are not very relatable, other aspects like emotion and faith allow us to connect to Pi.
I don't feel that one can relate to Pi's journey. I am a firm believe in the belief that you have to have a similar experience to be able to relate to anyone. We can sympathize, but not empathize. That is why the are called personal experiences. Though, I am not saying the we can't know what he is feeling because I am sure that all of us have had moments where we have had the same, if not similar, emotions.
I think it's partially relatable. Really, if interpreted as a metaphor for loneliness, Pi's entire journey can be applied to pretty much anyone. Although we rarely are far from our family physically, we can be distant from our loved ones emotionally. You could say that the tiger/hyena are bullies or just issues in your life that are bothering you. So yes, I think it is very relatable. People feel lonely and removed all the time.
It is not relatable to a certain degree. Literally, none of us here have suffered a horrible "stranded-with-a-giant-tiger-in-the-middle-of-nowhere" tragedy. However, more general aspects of Pi's situation can be applied to our lives. Such as being thrust into an unfamiliar environment. Or having to overcome very large obstacles.
Although the relationship might not be as strong, you can dig deep to find one. Why would somebody bother writing an unrelateable book? I think I could probably connect with Pi's emotions such as fear in some point in my life. I think people could also connect with loneliness and companionship, as well as feeling deserted. Another connection could be how your coping mechanism relates to Pi's.
We can relate to some parts of it, but we cannot understand the whole thing. For that, we'd need to go through it ourselves.
I have nothing else to add that hasn't been said.
We can sympathize with his emotions, but not the occurences.
Obviously we can understand parts of it and not comprehend others. That feeling of complete and utter lonliness? I don't think any (hopefully) of us can or will be able to relate to him. Yet, Yan Martel isn't just telling us a story for no reason. Yes, Pi's on a lifeboat but it's all just a metaphor for religious faith and various other things in the world like fitting in and the choice between living life or really LIVING life. All of those things, the hidden meanings, are definetly relatable.
Alright, I have a quick experience to relate to this. Obviously I'm one in a thousand people who can, but just a quick recap: Last weekend, I got lost in the woods. It wasn't scary because I was in the woods, it was scary because I was in the woods by myself, in unknown territory and no way to contact people (I forgot my cell phone charger.) I can really connect to the loneliness that I can feel emanating from Pi. You just get this terrible fear that almost paralyzes you to the point where you're hyperventilating and crying out and nothing but silence greets you. But as far as your average Joe being able to relate to Pi like I can, I would have to say literally, no. You just can't imagine how it feels to be cut off from everyone and how alone you feel unless you experience it. I think, though, that Pi does communicate some of this through his words and philosophy, and of course we can sympathize.
Kind of. In buddhism, it is decreed that everyone has a personal form of suffering, but this kind of thing is kind of different concept. He is utterly alone, and the fear he feels cannot be rationalized like ours can. Public speaking may scare some people at first as much as a tiger and a missing family, but the difference is that the speaker is able to console himself with the fact that the stakes are relatively low.
You can definitely relate to him, but not the exact thing he's going through. You can certainly understand his thoughts and feelings toward his situation. He's afraid of the current predicament he is in, and he's wracked with grief from the loss of his family. I'm sure there are thousands of people out there who have had that feeling at least once in their lifetime. (I sure as hell have)
I've never been stuck in a lifeboat with a hyena and a 450-pound Bengal tiger, but I think some can relate to his struggles with morality and survival. In our lives, most of us will have to make very hefty decisions that seem to have no positive outcome, which is very difficult to do. In the same way, every day on the boat, Pi must make the right choices because the wrong ones could cost him his life.
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