of

There are instances in life in which one can be trapped by certain situations that seem absolutely impossible to escape. But what if this isn’t true? What if there is always a choice hiding just beneath the surface of some sort of personal transformation?

• The quest pattern is a fundamental template for all stories.

• The basic concept of the quest pattern is centered on one individual’s journey to enlightenment, in which they discover certain things about themselves that were hidden or silenced before partaking in the journey.

• The novel Life of Pi follows the journey of Pi Patel, who, after being in a shipwreck when moving from India to Canada, spends two hundred and twenty seven days sharing a lifeboat with an adult Bengal tiger.

Lead:

Thesis: Yann Martel's Life of Pi is an effective modern interpretation of the archetypal quest pattern, the Hero’s Journey, through its use of the Call to Adventure, the Challenge and Adventure, and Returning to the Ordinary World.

Body Paragraph 1

Firstly, Pi’s previous KNOWLEDGE and

UNDERSTANDING of animals aids him in

accepting his CALL TO ADVENTURE.

Pi’s knowledge of zoo habitats.

“Animals are territorial. That is the key to their minds. Only a familiar territory will allow them to fulfill the two relentless imperatives of the wild: the avoidance of enemies and getting of food and water. A biologically sound zoo enclosure-whether cage, pit, moated island, corral, terrarium, aviary or aquarium- is just another territory, peculiar only in its size and in its proximity to human territory” (Martel 19).

The lesson Pi’s father teaches his sons about the danger of animals when he feeds Mahisha the tiger, a goat, in front of them at the Pondicherry Zoo.

“I don’t know if I saw blood before turning into Mother’s arms or if I daubed it on later, in my memory, with a big brush. But I heard. It was enough to scare the living vegetarian daylights out of me”(Martel 39).

Overall, Pi’s previous knowledge and understanding of animals, acquired by his attentiveness to zoo habitats and the lesson his father taught him, proves Yann Martel’s Life of Pito be an effective modern interpretation of the archetypal quest pattern, the Hero’s Journey, through its natural transition into Pi’s acceptance for his Call to Adventure.

2. The Call to Adventure

Body Paragraph 2

• Topic sentence: Secondly, Pi’s diverse religious background helps him to thrive while in the Challenge and Adventure stage of the Hero’s Journey.

Pi and his mother speak of why Pi should not believe in more than one religion.

In his response to his mother, Pi says, “If there’s only one nation in the sky, shouldn’t all passports be valid for it?”

Pi’s willingness to accept different approaches to religion helps him to accept different methods of survival. By participating in three different religions, Pi understands that he does not have to survive by only using one method. For example, he uses his survivor’s handbook, Richard Parker, and various sorts of food in order to survive.

Pi claims to have met Jesus Christ on a family vacation to Munnar.

Pi says of Jesus, “This Son, on the other hand, who goes hungry, who suffers from thirst, who gets tired, who is sad, who is anxious, who is heckled and harassed, who has to put up with followers who don't get it and opponents who don't respect Him – what kind of god is that? It's a god on too human a scale, that's what.”

• “This SON is a GOD

with moans,

GA

SPS,

And laments.

“What KIND of GOD is THAT?”

WH

ATis th

ere

to INSPIRE this SON?”

wh

o D

IEDin

three h

ou

rs,

Without being introduced to Jesus Christ through learning of his suffering, Pi may not have been so ready to push through his own suffering. In having to accept that Jesus was a human, as vulnerable as any other human, Pi was forced to understand more about his own fragility within the confines of humanity.

• In terms of the Challenge and Adventure stage of the quest pattern, understanding that suffering is a large part of humanity helped Pi make certain decisions such as kill and eat live animals. After reading the novel in its entirety and then reflecting on the above quotation, is it not possible that Pi Patel’s suffering could be directly related to the suffering of Jesus Christ?

6. Challenge and Adventure

• When analyzing the Call and Adventure stage of the quest pattern, in which Pi discovers he is not who he thought himself to be, readers discover that his diverse religious background helps him to push himself to do the things he needs to survive.

• This plays a major role in Yann Martel's Life of Pi being an effective modern interpretation of the archetypal quest pattern, the Hero’s Journey.

Body Paragraph 3

Topic sentence: Lastly, Pi’s coping mechanisms throughout the novel are the driving factors behind him crossing the third threshold and returning to the Ordinary World.

Pi realizes that he and Richard Parker need to coexist in order to survive.

• “…a part of me was glad about Richard Parker. A part of me did not want Richard Parker to die at all, because if he died I would be left alone with despair, a foe even more formidable than a tiger. If I still had the will to live, it was thanks to Richard Parker.”

By using Richard Parker as a means of survival, Pi does not place as much emphasis on his own suffering.

If Pi had not had Richard Parker to tend to, he may not have found the strength to survive, resulting in his death and also in him never being able to cross that final threshold and return to the Ordinary World.

Pi would have never discovered the parts of himself that were capable of taking drastic measures to survive.

With Richard Parker’s help, Pi learns things about himself he never knew he had.

Pi’s use of the two different stories at the end of the novel.

Pi says to Mr. Chiba and Mr. Okamoto, “In both stories the ship sinks, my entire family dies, and I suffer […] So tell me, since it makes no factual difference to you and you cant prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with the animals or the story without the animals?”

Pi uses the two stories about the animals and the people as a coping mechanism in order to deal with his own guilt. He never says which one is true, but readers get the sense that if he did not present two variations of his experience, there is a distinct possibility that Pi may not have been able to keep his sanity intact when he crossed the final threshold after being rescued into the Ordinary World.

Coping mechanisms seem to make up a large portion of Life of Pi, and the role they play in helping Pi’s transition into the Ordinary World run more smoothly, shows readers that the novel is an effective modern interpretation of the archetypal quest pattern, the Hero’s Journey, through the stage Returning to the Ordinary World.

Yann Martel's Life of Pi uses the Call to Adventure, the Challenge and Adventure, and Returning to the Ordinary World stages of the Hero’s Journey in order to demonstrate that the novel is an effective modern interpretation of the archetypal quest pattern.

To enhance the efficiency of this process, it is noteworthy to mention:

• Pi’s knowledge of and previous experience with animals• His assorted religious background• The stories he tells in order to cope with the events of his

journey

It is ultimately the aforementioned characteristics that lead Pi to fall so effortlessly into the various stages of the Hero’s Journey.

Life of Pi, though full of heartbreak, is a novel riddled with wonder, mystery, self discovery, and most of all, an everlasting sort of faith. It is a novel that can and will leave its imprint on the youth of our generation, who, as Pi suggests, may refuse to be told which story to believe and opt instead, to choose which story they want to believe with the help of Yann Martel’s influential and meticulous story telling.

• Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. Toronto Ontario: Vintage Canada, 2011. Print.

• http://hdw.eweb4.com/search/life+of+pi/

• http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/02/which-story-do-you-prefer-how-different-cultures-saw-life-of-pi/273265/

• http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd/life-of-pi-2d.html

• http://www.filmapia.com/sites/default/files/filmapia/pub/scene/scene/life-of-pi2.jpg

• http://galleryhip.com/life-of-pi-shipwreck.html

• http://www.filmapia.com/films/movies/scenes/pis-family-zoo

• http://www.filmapia.com/films/movies/scenes/young-pi-church

• http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/symbols.htm

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_symbolism

• http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/symbols.htm

• http://www.kushiinstitute.org/better-brain-health

• http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/tigers/images/16120028/title/tiger-wallpaper-wallpaper

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• http://deadline.com/2013/02/oscars-the-adapted-screenplay-nominees-433591/

• http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/2012/11/reader-spotlight-steve50-on-life-of-pi/

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star

• http://screenmusings.org/LifeOfPi/pages/Life-of-Pi-334.htm

• http://ksxyforeverlove.blogspot.ca/2012/12/life-of-pi-3d-premier-screening-gsc.html

• http://www3.canisius.edu/~grandem/animalshabitats/SOFTCHALKGOOD_print.html

• http://blog.wonderfulmachine.com/2012/06/shattered-glass/

Works Cited

• http://natepyle.com/secular-people-or-not/#sthash.7F9QuO5i.dpbs• http://shiggins.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2013/03/14/pi-eyed/

• http://screenmusings.org/LifeOfPi/pages/Life-of-Pi-282.htm• http://www.your3dcenter.com/life-of-pi-3d-review/• http://habee.hubpages.com/hub/Life-of-Pi-Movie-Review-and-

Analysis• http://www.readliterature.com/BC_lifeofpi.htm• http://marigoldnatural.blogspot.ca/2013/03/normal-0-false-false-

false.html•

• http://www.aveleyman.com/FilmCredit.aspx?FilmID=30289• http://www.thewritersjourney.com/hero's_journey.htm• http://ethology.eu/life-of-pi-read-the-book-watch-the-movie/