The Theme of of Conquering One's Fears in the Book Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Survival is a big thing in everyday life, from just making money to feed families and live a happy life, to the struggling of having all the necessity essential for life. In the book, Life ofPi, by Yann Martel the journey that Pi experiences clearly portrays the big idea of survivali Pi’s journey out in the sea made him realize that only he can save himself so he must make wise decisions and conquer his inner fearsi In the end, he realizes the true value of life.

Thus, in the book Life ofPi, by Yann Martel, the author explores the idea that survival needs to start within oneself and not others, effectively making one to conquer one’s fears and make wise decisions, Thus, suggesting that one learn the value of life in the end, In the times of harsh survival conditions, one must realize that only one can save oneself and not others, Pi fails to realize during the shipwreck that only he can save himself, Pi thought, “Pilots were running to their planes.

Ship officers were spinning their wheels i i it Even submarines were swerving underwater. We would be rescued soon” Pi had no experience on the sea so the only thing he can rely on is for other people to save him Pi realizes later that hope will not gain him any benefit since no one comes to rescue him Later, Pi wakes up to realize the truth. As Pi said, “Survival had to start with me.

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Survival starts by paying attention to what is close at hand and immediate”. Pi starts to realize that the only chance of surviving out in the sea is to perform actions that will benefit himself or he will suffer. Pi’s constant reliance on others in the beginning of the shipwreck cost him his life One day Pi saw hope in the sea but immediately the it was destroyed, as Pi said, “I realized with horror that the tanker was not simply coming our way – it was in fact bearing down on us.”

Pi learned the hard way that relying on other people to save him is not a fantastic idea since it almost got him killed, this event ultimately has Pi losing trust of the other people, and he now knows that only he can rely on himself to save him, Therefore, it is evident that one must rely on oneself to survive in harsh conditions as Pi has demonstrated this and learnt it the hard way. Relying oneself for survival means that one must make good decisions and conquer one’s fears. For Pi to survive on the lifeboat, he must make a plan to be able to move freely around the lifeboat without having to be endangered by the tiger. As Pi said, “I couldn‘t always be running away from him. I needed safe access to the locker and the top of the tarpaulin”. Realizing the fact that he can’t really survive on the boat without making friends with the tiger or conquer him, he decides to contest the tiger. This ultimately makes Pi at a higher position than the tiger so that he can do whatever is necessary to save himself without having to worry about the tiger. Pi is very clever at how to solve problems since the thirst is the big issue on the sea.

Pi “discovered what a solar still is solar still is a device to produce fresh water from salt water”. This discovery shows Pi’s ability to make wise decisions because without him searching the lifeboat all around for a way to solve the water crisis, he wouldn’t be able to last the days out in the sea, Another of Pi’s wise decisions was shown with him and the tiger. As Pi described, “[The fish] landed with a heavy thud and provoked a gruff expression of surprise from Richard Parker”. With the tiger being on board the only way Pi could have made better of the situation is to provide the tiger with enough food so that it would not start attacking him, It is evident that when one relies on one for survival, one must conquer the inner fear and make wise decision or it will lead to disaster. Finally, one will gain the knowledge of the value of life after one survives a harsh condition, PI repeatedly shows that he values life and then he doesn’t value life, As Pi once said after he knew the terrible situation on the sea, “I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine“.

Pi thinks that his journey on the sea is a miracle so he thinks that if he survives this miracle he could be famous. As a result, he really wanted to survive. Pi ensures his survival by convincing himself of an “animal“ story. As Pi described in the beginning of the novel, “This story has a happy ending”. Since Pi mentions that the novel contains the “story” of what he experiences, it shows that the story is not real. Pi needs to convince himself of the presence of this story so that he could go on and live without drawing into the terrible memory of what happened in the lifeboat. The value of Pi‘s life is mainly his family. Pi states, “The Pondicherry Zoo doesn’t exist any more explore it now in the only place left for it, my memory. This explains that fact Pi values his life a lot because of his family since the shipwreck that happened made him separate with his family and he thinks that if he survives he will be able to see his family.

Clearly, after one survives in harsh conditions one will ultimately value life more than before therefore, Martel explores the idea of how survival needs to be started in oneself and not others, which forces one to conquer one’s inner fears and make wise decisions that will benefit oneself. Thus, suggesting that if one accomplishes all these actions, one will learn the tme value of life. Pi demonstrated this by realizing that only he can save himself. Also, he confronted the tiger and solved the thirst issue. In the end, he realized the true value of life. This statement also relates to people in the world today because people in the business sector will always compete to ensure survival, also, people who live in terrible condition will always need to save themselves and make good decisions.