Life of Pi

The Life of Pi

Piscine Molitor Patel lived 16 years of his life in Pondicherry, India before moving to Toronto. In Pondicherry, his father was busy managing a local zoo, so Pi explored his opportunities with no boundaries. Pi, who already practiced Hinduism, somehow stumbled upon Christianity and Islam. He tried to practice all three secretly, but his secret slips out. His parents had a deep discussion with the ones who had been teaching him the religions. “At the rate your going, if you go to temple on Thursday, mosque on Friday, synagogue on Saturday and Church on Sunday, you only need to convert to three more religions to be on holiday for the rest of your life” (Martel 89). After many tough conversations and negotiations, Pi convinced his parents to let him practice all three. Much later in the book, while Pi is shipwrecked, religion is something that keeps his spirits up, even in the worst of times. I enjoyed this book because I, like Pi, am very religious. Of course, unlike Pi, I only practice Christianity. Aside from church, I have a prayer group I go to twice a week with my parents. I think it’s very neat to read about religion because the books I’ve read before have never gone as in-depth as this book. I felt happy to understand many references they had said about Christianity. Also, when I told my parents about how religious my book was, they were interested and wanted to read some too!

Another subtle part that I thought was amusing was about Pi’s name. At school, he was tormented by his classmates by either butchering his name, or by being heckled “Pissing” instead of “Piscine”. “The sound would disappear, but the hurt would linger, like the smell of piss long after it has evaporated” (Martel 26). Although no one has come up with an insult to Urbiztondo, yet, I totally relate to Pi. My last name is pronounced wrong all the time, even though I think it’s an easy last name to read and pronounce. After moving to another school, Piscine comes up...