Life of Pi -Pi’s Physical Journey of Suffering and Pain

In Pi’s 227 days of being stranded in the sea, he has had many problems that have

caused physical suffering and pain. However Pi has been able to overcome his adversities

and has shown his endurance through suffering and continuing to survive. In this novel,

the author makes a very close connection between Pi’s physical suffering and his mental

suffering. Pi shows that as long as you are able to live through mental suffering, you are

capable of living through physical suffering. When you have conquered your mental

struggle, you have the courage to take on your physical struggle with out fear. Pi’s

physical journey of suffering and pain was a test to his mental knowledge and inner

courage.

One of Pi’s biggest challenges was when he travels across the ocean and stumbles

on to the carnivorous island. He soon figures out with his intelligence that the island is

dangerous and he must leave immediately. This shows his mental courage because the

island was more mentally dangerous than physically dangerous. So when Pi leaves the

island he is sacrificing his physical pains so that he won’t lose the will to live which has

kept him alive for so long and let his mental strength die. The quotation

“I preferred to set off and perish in search of my own kind

than to live a lonely half-life of physical comfort

and spiritual death on this murderous island.”(Martel, 361)

shows his mental courage to take on the physical pain he is about to face when he goes

back on the boat.

Pi also faced lots of challenges when he was in the boat. His suffering in the boat

has taught him many new things about life. It is there that Pi obtained spiritual courage to

help him take on his physical suffering courage. Pi’s experiences in his boat have taught

him that his suffering and pain is a part of life he must go through as he has seen the

zebra live through unimaginable pain. Here is a quotation from Soren Keirkegaard “Life

is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” The meaning of this quote

is that our lives are based on our experiences. Pi’s experiences