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In many works of literature, a physical journey �� the literal movement from one place to another �� plays a central role. Consider how the physical journey in Yann Martel's "Life of Pi" is an important element to the text and discuss how the journey adds to the
meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

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Lizannette Gonzalez

In literature, physically journeys develop and expand more than meets the eye. Whenever a character goes through a journey, their beliefs and personality tend to change or be challenged. In "Life of Pi" the journey that our main character, Pi, experiences is both traditional and unorthodox in the sense that while Pi is constantly adapting and changing to his surroundings and mind, there are also many days in his lifeboat with Richard Parker where the world seems to be endless and uniform for the rest of his life. Through the course of the novel, Pi's experience on that lifeboat tested the limits of everything he stood for and put his faith in God to question.
In one of the earlier chapters where Pi is retelling his first few days adrift in the ocean, he recalls that he had the company of an orangutan, a hyena, a zebra, and, of course, a tiger. Fully aware of the millions of possibilities that could occur between the animals, Pi watches the hyena brutally tear apart the zebra and the orangutan before Richard Parker ends him. Then out of necessity he begins to hunt for fishes and turtles and anything edible even though he has become everything he never wanted to be in life. A character's physical journey is more than just a journey through the material world. A journey will always be of importance to any character and will always change that character, whether for better or for worse.

Luis Gutierrez

In the book "Life of Pi", Pi goes through catastrophic events which lead him to be stranded in the ocean with a tiger on his lifeboat. A physical journey in any text has a great effect on any character. The scenery, the environment, and the encounters a character faces throughout their journey can have an effect on their behaviors and the way that they view the world they know. "Life of Pi" sets the scene for a massive change that Pi will undergo due to his circumstances. In the first half of the text, Pi's childhood home is described as a place of joy and freedom. Pi recalls having wonderful experiences in his family's zoo and being with his brother, mother, and father. Pi also express the sympathy he has towards the animals which he has known for his entire life. The first few days Pi experiences stranded at sea is a huge contrast to the sunny and joyful home he knows. Pi being stranded on a lifeboat with animals is a huge turning point in his life and personality because he learns of the dangers of danger and his faith and reason are put to the test like never before. Pi must take control of himself and be a man. That is the change that Pi goes through due to the experiences he has in his Physical Journey.

In Life of Pi, Pi goes through horrid events that lead him to partake in a dangerous physical journey throughout the pacific ocean. In the beginning half of the book, Pi basically foreshadows the events that would take place in the ocean. Pi experiences the true savagery that the animal kingdom has to offer , which is elaborated on in the beginning chapters of the book when Pi's dad explains how each animal could be deadly in their own way. This in effect gives him a wider point of view on these animals and helped him realize that these animals are not as cute as they seem. During the time in the boat, Pi seemed miserable due to the fact that he had to bear witness to grotesque kills and had to hunt and try his best to survive. In the first half however , Pi seemed happy with his life and gave off very positive energy and spoke about the animals in a more lighthearted way. This journey really tested the capabilities of Pi as he had been portrayed as a small and bullied kid at school. Pi changed after this journey because he had actually faced the dangerous sides of animals which he had learned about but never experienced first-hand and his limits were put to the test which really left a lasting mark on him.

Nohely Diaz Ontiveros

Physical journeys in any literary piece tend to have a much higher impact on a person than they ever expected. The events individuals encounter can at many times change their way of being and/or the way they view the world. This character evolution is presented in “Life of Pi�� when we are introduced to our protagonist, Pi and the devasting shipwreck that marked the beginning of struggle during those everlasting days at sea. Throughout the novel, the encounters on the lifeboat truly tested Pi’s character both physically and spiritually. Early on, we discover that his family’s zoo is one of the main places he cherishes most. Being able to spend time with his family and connect with the animals led to a further understanding of how they interact. Therefore, when we are told about the hyena, zebra, orangutan, and tiger he is stranded with and how terrified he became after witnessing nature’s wild trying to survive one another, these experiences are exposed as complete crossroads. After being in a radiant happy home, Pi is now forced to show everything he is made of to be able to survive, to hunt and do many of the things he never thought he would possibly do in life. It was time to bring out the man hidden beneath the boy stranded at sea.

In the book Life of Pi our main protagonist Pi is exposed to a very harsh and vigorous journey through which he must endure all forms of mental and physical labor all in order to survive. Pi begins his journey as a simple man caring for the animals on his families boat along with several other people, until a storm strikes causing Pi’s entire life to change. This scene and moment in the book is the starting point of the physical journey that Pi must endure in order to survive, it has Pi go against the world itself as he is forcefully paired with a hungry bengal tiger named Richard Parker and is meant to keep this wild beast at bay so it will not eat him however, Pi dose not break and allows for himself and the animal to coexist as one in their small life boat kindling drifting through the open ocean. These events all culminate into a life altering and perspective shifting scenario for Pi as it is one that was met with great loss yet much discovery of the world he lives in his place in it. Cementing the stories element of a Physical journey and at the end of it creating a new and changed character with the same name.

In Life of Pi, Martel uses vivid imagery of Pi’s physical journey to balance the whimsical aspect of the book - the animals and discussion of religion. It’s a widely discussed topic whether the book was more about Pi’s physical journey through the ocean, or his mental journey in dealing with his trauma, and this book uses his physical journey to best show the audience how they go hand in hand. The best example of this is when Pi goes to the “carnivorous island��. In the book, Pi in person goes to the island himself, and plans to stay there until he realizes the true nature of the island and flees. When you take it at face value, it sounds like a fantasy, but only because the island itself isn’t really physical- it’s a metaphor for the life Pi was going to live if he stayed at sea. The island is savage and cruel, it kills and eats and leaves no trace behind and Pi is oblivious to this until he nearly gets absorbed into the island and it’s only then that he is afraid of what he literally almost became. Pi’s journey was very much physical, but it’s with these added elements of “did this really happen?�� that the line between fiction and reality become blurred, leading the audience to realize that this book is more than the destination- it’s about the journey.

In "Life of Pi" Yann Martel uses Pi's physical trip across the pacific ocean as a way to materialize Pi's internal Journey and how he grew and changed as a person because of it. Pi's physical trip across the world is a reflection of his mental journey, also caused by the oceanic trip. The journey is important because since it is a physical reflection of Pi's internal journey it makes his story, hardships, and internal struggles feel real. many people do not consider mental hardships to be real and disregard them, but in "Life of Pi" these mental struggles are represented by the very physical journey causing them which in turn allows Pi's internal struggles to be seen as actual hardships and struggles. An example of this would be the carnivorous island Pi finds himself stranded on. Of course, physically the island provided Pi with food, water, and shelter making him feel safe and like he might actually have a chance of surviving but the teeth he finds show how that is all a facade and that in the end death is definite and the only option on the island so he decides to leave and travel the vast nothingness; the ocean. The situation he finds himself in reflects mentally because the same way that the island made him feel safe his mental state was at peace, the stress of death and survival were only memories, but that did not last very long for the many hardships and unknown facts of the ocean world and life would not allow this and he would be forced to return to his survival state; he would not know where he was going mentally and where he would end up as a person after the long and treacherous trip across the world.

In “Life of Pi��, Yann Martel uses the protagonists physical journey through the Pacific Ocean in order to developer many different lessons. In Pi’s story he accidentally finds himself in a catastrophic physical journey that takes place across the Pacific Ocean. Throughout this outstanding journey the main character (Pi) undergoes a lot of both mental and physical challenges. For example a really big Chungking of the Life of Pi book was based on religion and faith and how his faith is being challenged throughout his physical journey. For example Pi was a vegetarian all his life but when he is left with nothing else in the world but a fully grown male tiger in his boat he is forced to eat out of survival instincts to eat fish or meat. This is considered a sin in his religion but even though he technically sinned he still kept faith in his gods and beliefs. I felt as though that his sacrifice of eating fish and sinning actually made his faith stronger and made him dive into his religious aspect even more than he was before. The journey also installed a lot of physical challenges mainly with staying sane and the labor he had to do. Pi knew that the animals that he was stuck in the boat with were known as dangerous and will have ultimately have killed him if they were real. The big idea of the animals in the ship turned out to be Pi’s coping mechanism where he would imagine other as people since that is what he grew up with in the zoo. Pi is most familiar with animals and he has always had a connection to them because he felt as though the animals had more than just a murderous instinct. With the boat sinking and Pi thinking that his whole family died it created a very stressful and chaotic environment for him so his mind tried to calm Pi down by bringing to light something he knew and he thought of a lot. The physiological toll that was placed onto Pi could have easily destroyed a person and most likely would have driven them insane but the fact that Pi thought that Richard Parker (the tiger) was real made him have tasks therefore engaging the brain. There was also the big part as to when Pi stumbled open the island and he saw that night of what might have happened if he would have stayed there till someone found him. The island showed that at night it became murderous and dangerous to other therefore showing how the act of him staying in both the island and the ocean would have lead him to pure insanity and recklessness. Pi took that as a message from his god saying that he must leave the island and embark onto his challenging journey until he made it to land. The fact that he embarked back to onto the ocean also demonstrates a journey that spreads the message of “never giving up�� or pushing through the thick since Pi took the message from his god and hopped right back into the boat in order to finish his journey or so what he wished to do. Faith is demonstrated throughout the passage and plays a huge part into the development of the story since without the faith of Pi in his gods and of being rescued, Pi would have not lasted that long nor would he have had the mental strength to survive.