Pi’s self-redemption少年派的救贖之路

曹瑋

I.Introduction：

Life of Pi is a Canadian fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. It tells a story of a boy who named Pi from Indian Tamil， who explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. They raised many animals in the place they lived. But one day， his family decided to immigrate with all the animals they raised. But there are something bad happened during their seaway immigrating. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

This story is pictured into a very famous movie by Ang Lee by the same name， and gained a great reputation after its public show. It tells two stories by the protagonist after his survival， one to the insurance company used the people name， another to the story-writer but used the animals’ name. However which one is the true story is depends on readers your own belief. Some saying goes after this movie， which is if you are kind enough， you will believe the latter one， but if you are still clinging to believe the nature of human beings is evil， you are prefer to believe the former one.

And many readers are confused by the two stories he told us more or less， this is the most interesting part of this adventure， many scholars are stick to make clear about what it refers to. For examples， there are some common sense that what the tiger refers to， and what the small island shaped like a woman refer to， and etc. But still some other thing is a little confusing， so I want to use this passage to use a simple way to understand the images appeared in this adventure novel.

II. The metaphorical meaning of some names：

The first one we get noticed is Pi. It is quite a strange name， the full name of Pi is Piscine Molitor Patel. Piscine Molitor is a name of swimming pool， Pi’s father hope his son can have a pure soul and after a party in that swimming pool， Pi got his original name. And this name is a little annoying Pi in its pronunciation， it reads like ‘pissing’， because it bears some bad meaning and Pi is teased by his classmates for a long time. But once at the math class， he reexplain this name again use the the mathematical marks ‘Π’， so he changed his name into Pi after that time. Π is a mathematical mark and it means unstoppable， means never give up.

Another name we need to pay attention is Richard Parker， which is the tiger’s name， who is a Bengal Tiger. It was a mistake at the very beginning of this story. The original name of this tiger is ‘thirsty’， and the one who found this Bengal tiger is Richard Parker. But when the workers transfer this tiger from the place he was found to the zoo， they are mixed up this two names， and mistake Richard Parker as the tiger’s name. And why the author try to use this name for a tiger， maybe there are some other reasons. Richard Parker is a a quite famous name in the history of marine perils. Cause in the record of some of the perils on the sea， the survivor of the catastrophe often has the same name by coincidence， Richard Parker. And factually， mane of the readers of this novel quite believe that Richard Parker is just an incarnation of the protagonist Pi， and there is no doubt that he is a survivor of that disaster.

And the mother Chimpanzee in this story named Orange Juice. Why she use a name sounds a little sweet？ Cause the orange juice just like the milk of a mother， it symbolize the power of a mother. And also， orange is a quite positive color， which can give us some positive feeling such as passion， courage and power. And also when she fights with hyena bravely， it gives kind of courage and hope to Pi to fight with the tiger.

III. Pi and Richard Parker

The rescued Pi told a story like this. He said that only himself and a few animals survived in the beginning. In the story， the cooker becomes a hyena， the mother becomes an chimpanzee， the sailor becomes a zebra， and the experience of eating people becomes a cannibal island floating in the ocean. There are so many things he want to cover up. The teenager Pi himself split into a juvenile pie and the Bengal Tiger Parker.

In this story， what does the Junior School and Richard Parker represent？

Pi’s own alertness allowed him to survive in the sea disaster， so Richard Parker was "dangerous" itself. And this thing that makes Pi feel dangerous is just a split personality of Pi himself. But we can not perceive any dangerous subconsciousness on Pi before this catastrophe， and also can not track it after his survival， the black side of his subconsciousness seems to leave it again after the suffering has passed. The Bengal tiger’s split of Pi symbolizes the beastly instinct of his heart.

The complete soul of Pi split include the spiritual （Pi） and the animal （Richard Park）.

I tried to search the words in my mind to describe the symbolic meaning of Richard Park. Finally， I found that the most appropriate concept is an old-fashioned concept， that is， the "id" in Freud's personality theory. （And the teenager himself is the "super-ego".）

Richard Parker is a symbol that bears the basic survival instinct of human being. Among these instincts， we can see the instinct of avoiding danger in order to surviving. When his mother was killed， his fear is more than courage， so he can just see the disgusted things happened. We can also see the attack instinct that comes out in the face of a great threat - Pi eventually kills the cooker.

And the one that is the least likely to be exposed in the civilized world but contains the most powerful energy is the instinct to find food to continue life when suffer with extremely hunger. Under this powerful instinct， even the most untouchable moral taboos can also be broke through easily， for example， including eating your own species （even eating people and loved ones）.

So there is a real version of this adventure story， just because we live in a civilized society， we have no chance to suffer from the extremely hungry， so we choose don’t believe that disgusted version. But maybe it is the truth.

In the drifting， he ate the human beings. Pi felt and witnessed the enormous and daunting energy out of his survival instinct， which is hidden in the deepest part of his heart， and this energy that makes him run in an opposite direction which contradicted with his so-called believes and faiths. The energy made him completely a beast.

Pi’s daily life before rescued on the lifeboat that was threatened by Richard Parker but at the same time he tried to tame it， which was the kind and mercy part in his heart. Or in the words of Freud， it is the "superego" of the human being， the part of the human heart that represents morality and conscience.

Sticking to the pious spirituality， he is a person. But at the lifeboat only by obeying the animal nature can he survive. How to make a choice？ This is not only a question for Pi， but also for all the human beings.

Ⅳ. Pi’s spiritual sublimation

The young Pi believes in a variety of religions， and his father once said before： Believe to everything is equal to believe nothing. At this time， Pi seems to be a pious religious believer， but in another sense， a more strict way， he is not a religious believer. He is just a person who seems to be pious but has no way of knowing the true meaning of religions. In the eyes of the philosopher Kierkegaard， these people are only those who follow the the canons and rituals in an ethical stage， while the people of the religious stage are suffering from the great pain of life， when the pain becomes quite unbearable for him， God will come. The true pious person is the "faith knight". Only faith can ask God to give strength and power out of that absurd and unmeaning world.

After Pi suffered a series of tribulations at sea， he changed from a rational person to an irrational individual. His inner life is painful and mysterious. Finally， when living in his life is totally unmeaning， the true God finally appeared. Pi was eventually saved and became a true religious person. In the story， the young Pi was prayed first and then eat， and Pi was still stick on this habit in his middle age， but this prayer has gone through the sublimation of faith， through the negation of negation of himself， he became a real pious God believer.

Everyone is a God believer essentially， the word ‘God’ just refers to all kinds of supernatural spirituality or belief. Someone who are not believe it just because you have not suffered enough pain and miserable. Only if the great catastrophe happened to you， you are destroyed totally both mentally and physically， at that time you are suddenly lose the faith to live， you are willing to and eager to find something to help you to explain the disaster and regain some faiths to live in a reasonable way. That is the only way you can survive，and also that is the way that Pi survive.

Ⅴ.Conclusion

Some people say that the story of "Life of Pi" can be interpreted in many different ways. Each interpretation can reflect a certain aspect of human nature. Therefore， "Life of Pi" is the "Rashoman" story by Yann Martel. I do not think so. The story of eating people is true， and the story of the tiger is false， it is obvious although it is not so acceptable for civilized society.

It is also said that the "Life of pi" is a story about a teenager who has experienced suffering and uses a fantasy fairy tale to comfort his soul to escape the miseries. Therefore， "Life of pi" is the "Pan’s Labyrinth" by Yann Martel. I don't think so. The fairy tale fantasies of the little girl in Pan's Labyrinth can be said to be a? subconscious passive escape from the suffering， and what the Pi do after being rescued is an active choice， he changed that merciless story into a adventure version， it stands for his mercy and redemption.

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