#9: Creative Project and Explanation

Allie Specht, Anna Wirth, and Will Hoffman AP British and World Literature Ms. Wilson October 8, 2013 Creative Assignment Text: Yann Martel’s Life of Pi Essence: While the journey Pi takes to reinforce his faith in multiple religions may seem unbelievable, it is belief that makes his survival possible in the first place. The journey to self discovery is the greatest test of how strongly you hold onto your beliefs. Brief Summary: Life of Pi by Yann Martel is the story of a teenage Indian boy named Pi Patel. He has much interest in zoology and is a practiser of three religions, Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity. His family used to own a zoo, but they were forced to move to Canada and had to sell many of their animals in North America. As they were traveling across the ocean their ship crashed and sank, leaving Pi alone on a lifeboat with several animals, including a large Bengal tiger known as Richard Parker. Together they experienced a 227 day journey of survival and self discovery on the lifeboat, until they reached the coast of Mexico. Pi is questioned after the fact and reveals another story that is much more believable, and it is up to the reader to decide which one they want to believe. Prompt: 1978-Choose an implausible or strikingly unrealistic incident or character in a work of fiction or drama of recognized literary merit. Write an essay that explains how the incident or character is related to the more realistic of plausible elements in the rest of the work. Avoid plot summary. Thesis: In Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the depiction of Pi’s unlikely survival is used to examine both this rational and animalistic sides in order to reinforce his beliefs in the multiplicity of God. Explanation: In the notes at the beginning of the book, an old man tells the narrator, “I have a story that will make you believe in God”(ix). The game we created does just that. Our game has two paths that you can follow, an animalistic, and a rational, with both including questions of morality, faith, and survival. The game is based off of the game of Life, and it’s all about the journey. Throughout the game you are taken on a journey that in the end leads you to a reinforcement in Pi’s original belief, there is multiplicity in God and religion. Early in the book, we are introduced to the fact that Pi is a believer in three religions, Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam, and although he is scrutinized for it, his faith remains strong as he defends his choices by saying, “Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God”(87). His belief does not waiver at this point, but the true test still remains in his future. It’s not until Pi is lost at sea that this faith, as well as his morality, truly face a test. There are moments where his belief in God is tested extensively,as he describes that, “Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love-but sometimes it was so hard to love. Sometimes my heart was so fast with anger, desolation and weariness, I was afraid it would sink to the very bottom of the Pacific and I would not be able to lift it back up”(263). That is what we see in the cards for the game, you are forced to make decisions that in some cases pit survival and faith, or survival and morality against each other. If you are able to keep the faith, and reach the end of your journey first, you have won; you have reinforced the beliefs you originally had. Pi reaches his lowest point right before land is found, and it is here where he is tested most, and holding on has it’s own reward of true survival. He explains that, “It was natural that, bereft and desperate as I was, in the throes of unremitting suffering, I should turn to God”(358). That paragraph ends and the next one begins with him finally arriving on land. After he is found on the shore and taken back to a hospital and questioned there by two Japanese men who are a part of the Japanese Ministry of Transport, who were investigating the original sinking of the ship. What Pi tells them is the story that we are told throughout the entire book, and they of course are highly questioning of it. They say several times how it is hard to believe certain aspects of his story because you can not see them, cannot prove their existence. What he ends up doing is telling them a more chilling, yet realistic story, that parallels the original tale. In the end, neither story can truly be proved, and so in the final written report, one of the men, Mr. Okamoto writes, “Very few castaways can claim to have survived so long at sea as Mr. Patel, and none in the company of an adult Bengal Tiger”(401). They choose to believe his original story, even though either story leads to the same result. Just as in the game, both paths will lead you to the same reinforcement. The choice to believe the unbelievable story parallels Pi’s overall journey. While the story holds no proof and is easily questioned, so is the belief in God; Pi has faced terrible circumstances that have caused him to question his faith, but in the end he has held on and chose to believe, just as the investigators believe the first story in the end (Wood 2002). You can choose to believe whichever story you want while playing the game, but in the end, you have to have kept the faith to end the journey. The Game Of Life OF Pi What do you believe? Based off: The Game of Life DIRECTIONS: The Game of Life of Pi is a fantasy game directly based off an interpretation of Life of Pi a novel by Yann Martel. In an attempt make the game player believe in God, we created two card question sets. While the player progresses they don’t know where the two paths are truly leading to. At the beginning of the game the player needs to choose a place marker (either Richard Parker or Pi Patel). This place marker will represent the path they will take(look for the labels). The two paths are indicative of either the rational story or the animalistic, unrealistic story. As the player moves through the board they will find themselves experiencing both sides of the game and in order to progress further you need to answer questions that reveal (for example), underlying themes, plot, characters action, meaning in death, etc. This will eventually lead you to believe one story over another. All games have some way to win.The Game of Life of Pi is no different. Players race to the ending. This means you answered the most questions correct and ultimately finished the storyline, thus revealing many elements of the book, as well as the essence. In order to achieve this goal players must go in order from birthday year, the person with the date closest to the beginning of the year goes first and the rest follow suit, in a clockwise fashion. The players draw cards from their selected paths deck and proceed through the game. Once one player has finished the game concludes. Places first and second are the only ones counted. At the end of the game you total up the rest of the players questions correct to find out who the second place winner is. The two players share the same realization that Pi Patel experienced (without all the days on the boat). Players should be left with the realization that Pi’s belief in God and all his religions has helped him through his journey and without it he would not have survived. Now let’s play! Select a Piece. Find your path. Go in order. Most importantly, learn!