The Necessity of Death
Author's Note: This is my summative essay to the novel Life of Pi. My prompt was explaining why death is vital to human's existence. It is what keeps people anxious to do things in life, and have a want for it. Without death, humanity would have no need to rush to do things, and have a mindset that it will come eventually. This would allow people to live a "lifeless" life, and I feel that it would have no meaning.
People are marking calendars with important dates; clocks are ticking everywhere; workers are rushing to finish tasks and children are becoming excited for their next birthday. However, none of this would occur on Earth if death did not exist. In the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel, a boy named Pi made specific routines of his days only because he knew he would once have to face death. Death is vital for every human being, for it is what forces us humans to have a want for anything in life.
People create routines in fear of the probability that they may not get to something before death arrives. If one was immortal, they would feel no need to plan several days out, for they could do anything as they please without dealing with any stress. In Life of Pi, Pi created a routine of each individual day when stranded on the lifeboat. He felt that he was in control by creating the schedule, and did it because he had something to live for.
The idea of Pi's creation of the routines is also portrayed on the island with the teeth, for he contemplated staying on the island for eternity. After long thought, he realized that it would be of his best interest to abandon the island, and endeavor to find civilization. The question as to why he would not stay on the island is constantly pondered, yet the reason is simple. If immortality existed in Pi, why would he want to leave the island? There would be no need to try to find land livable for an extensive amount of time because death would be no issue. Living on the island to die would leave Pi completely lonely, and would have the same day occurring every day. At that point, life would have no meaning, and would result in the idea that death should have taken over the day he landed on the island.
The novel Life of Pi has many examples as to why death is so imperative. Life was not meant to be lived insipidly or boringly, and lack of death would unfortunately cause it to be that way. Humans created clocks and the figment of time for one reason and one reason only: control. If time is created, then people have the ability to get to destinations at a certain moment. Without it, humans would “lose control” and would not be able to decipher events or lengths of events. However, if death was nonexistent, time would be unnecessary and people would figure they could do anything whenever. This would be true, for there would be no deadline for anything and would be purposeless to anyone. The unfortunate side of this would be that people would be roaming around the world, having no control and care of what is going on at any time. Children often fantasize living an endless life. They are, of course, ignorant of the fact that no good would come out of immortality, and that life would become boring after a very short while. There is an obvious purpose for death, and life would become completely meaningless without it.
The idea of Pi's creation of the routines is also portrayed on the island with the teeth, for he contemplated staying on the island for eternity. After long thought, he realized that it would be of his best interest to abandon the island, and endeavor to find civilization. The question as to why he would not stay on the island is constantly pondered, yet the reason is simple. If immortality existed in Pi, why would he want to leave the island? There would be no need to try to find land livable for an extensive amount of time because death would be no issue. Living on the island to die would leave Pi completely lonely, and would have the same day occurring every day. At that point, life would have no meaning, and would result in the idea that death should have taken over the day he landed on the island.
The novel Life of Pi has many examples as to why death is so imperative. Life was not meant to be lived insipidly or boringly, and lack of death would unfortunately cause it to be that way. Humans created clocks and the figment of time for one reason and one reason only: control. If time is created, then people have the ability to get to destinations at a certain moment. Without it, humans would “lose control” and would not be able to decipher events or lengths of events. However, if death was nonexistent, time would be unnecessary and people would figure they could do anything whenever. This would be true, for there would be no deadline for anything and would be purposeless to anyone. The unfortunate side of this would be that people would be roaming around the world, having no control and care of what is going on at any time. Children often fantasize living an endless life. They are, of course, ignorant of the fact that no good would come out of immortality, and that life would become boring after a very short while. There is an obvious purpose for death, and life would become completely meaningless without it.
Life is meant to be an exciting adventure every time you wake up. Days should not be identical, and they aren’t because of death. The thought of being grateful for death may seem bizarre, yet should be thought about every day. Without death, there would be no meaning to life and would provide no desire for anyone. Death keeps people aware of the fact that they could be taken from the surface of earth any day, and must live life to the fullest to make life have a purpose.
Response About Mr. Kumar
Life is purely a long journey with many challenges and difficulties. Unfortunately, some people happen to pursue this journey without any significant challenges or questionable arguments. In the novel Life of Pi a character by the name of Mr. Kumar, the main character’s biology teacher, presents a large challenge to Pi, the main character. Pi being such a devoted Christian and Mr. Kumar being a tremendously attentive atheist, the puzzle pieces wouldn’t seem to fit together. However, Satish Kumar persuasively explained to Pi the reasoning for why religion does not exist and why there is “no sound reason for believing anything but our sense experience.” Although Pi at this point is a loyal Christian, he feels a sense of doubt in his belief, a sense that maybe what is being spoken is true. There are no true facts; there is no way of proving that God is absolutely true; everything learned in childhood may be a fake. The mind twisting inside of Pi, yet simultaneously unfolding what could really be the hard core facts.
Throughout Pi’s entire childhood, he probably never was challenged in a true area of meaning. That is until he became a student of Mr. Kumar’s biology class. What happened at the zoo, Satish’s talk of influencing atheism into Pi, changed Pi’s life eternally. The mentality of both Pi and Satish are like a paradox; both believe in completely opposite ideas religiously, yet both believe strongly about their belief. Aside from agnostics, Mr. Kumar has a perfect understanding of science, and perfectly explained it to Pi Patel. For example, Mr. Kumar told Pi a discouraging story where he had a severe case of polio and after asking several times for God, no help arrived. Satish Kumar claims of his cure resulting due to medicine, not God’s will.
On page twenty-five, Pi describes Mr. Kumar as two triangles on two parallel lines. Being such an atheist, Mr. Kumar believes greatly in science and mathematics, so Pi may have remembered him by that kind of appearance. Because science is so related to math, Mr. Kumar’s scientific knowledge may have appeared also as a mathematical look. The level of intellect that Satish Kumar has rubbed off on Pi, left Pi a thought of mathematical shapes.
After the conversation held between Pi and Mr. Kumar, Pi realizes several things that both describe Mr. Kumar and the relationship between him and himself. One of his thoughts was “Like me, they go as far as the legs of reason will carry them—and then they leap.” Referring to Kierkegaard and his quote “Leap of Faith”, Pi notices that in addition to Christians, atheists rely on faith and what they know to advance through the long pathway of life. Pi also thinks about how he now considers atheists as his “brothers and sisters of a different faith, and every word they speak speaks of faith.” At this point in the novel, Pi clearly sees how atheists are just like Christians in one true way. The fact that both of these men have tremendous faith in what they believe is strong enough to keep Satish Kumar in kinship with Pi Patel.
Prompt
When Pi was stranded in a lifeboat with Richard Parker in chapter 86, he noticed a small shape below the horizon. Being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for half of a year would definitely diminish anyone's hope to survive, but when he discovered this boat-like figure, he gained a great deal of hope and possible salvation. However, once he realizes that the boat doesn't stop for him and eventually escapes the scene, Pi has a great deal of false hope stored inside him. I believe that this event is a metaphor for all the times where we think money can help someone who is poor or unfortunate. But once that money is received, it can end up wasted for useless items and leave a person in the same or worse state than they were before the money was in their hands. Everyone will experiences a false hope here and there, yet we need to use our knowledge to reduce the magnitude of this discernment.
The false hope presented by Pi when the oil tanker blew past him is equal to that of when one experiences a great disappointment of something expected to be a salvation. The oil tanker is symbolizing salvation, and when Pi doesn't take advantage of this a false hope appears. Everyday, people take advantage of some of the greatest things that could ever happen. When the oil tanker was near, Pi had the intelligent option of launching a rocket flare, which probably would have captured the captain's attention, leading to Pi and Richard Parker's salvation from the ocean. However, Pi took advantage of the thought that the ship must have already seen him, being the reason of them heading his direction. Clearly that was not the case, and may have left Pi depressed or at least very disappointed and aggravated. Although one may say this was just an example of false hope, others could agree with the fact that Pi had the option to waver the decision of his salvation.
Everyone experiences false hope everyday, whether it's not receiving a dollar from someone, to the scenario with Pi in the ocean. In some cases however, the false hope is self-inflicted or caused by that person experiencing the false hope. I think that is the case with Pi on chapter 86. Life is all about choices, and some choices won't always be good. Pi's scenario was far more discerning than many situations, and was partly his own fault. False hope is an aspect that will never disappear from one's life, therefore the only thing we humans can possibly do is live our life and own the times where false hope is experienced.
Prompt
When Pi was stranded in a lifeboat with Richard Parker in chapter 86, he noticed a small shape below the horizon. Being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for half of a year would definitely diminish anyone's hope to survive, but when he discovered this boat-like figure, he gained a great deal of hope and possible salvation. However, once he realizes that the boat doesn't stop for him and eventually escapes the scene, Pi has a great deal of false hope stored inside him. I believe that this event is a metaphor for all the times where we think money can help someone who is poor or unfortunate. But once that money is received, it can end up wasted for useless items and leave a person in the same or worse state than they were before the money was in their hands. Everyone will experiences a false hope here and there, yet we need to use our knowledge to reduce the magnitude of this discernment.
The false hope presented by Pi when the oil tanker blew past him is equal to that of when one experiences a great disappointment of something expected to be a salvation. The oil tanker is symbolizing salvation, and when Pi doesn't take advantage of this a false hope appears. Everyday, people take advantage of some of the greatest things that could ever happen. When the oil tanker was near, Pi had the intelligent option of launching a rocket flare, which probably would have captured the captain's attention, leading to Pi and Richard Parker's salvation from the ocean. However, Pi took advantage of the thought that the ship must have already seen him, being the reason of them heading his direction. Clearly that was not the case, and may have left Pi depressed or at least very disappointed and aggravated. Although one may say this was just an example of false hope, others could agree with the fact that Pi had the option to waver the decision of his salvation.
Everyone experiences false hope everyday, whether it's not receiving a dollar from someone, to the scenario with Pi in the ocean. In some cases however, the false hope is self-inflicted or caused by that person experiencing the false hope. I think that is the case with Pi on chapter 86. Life is all about choices, and some choices won't always be good. Pi's scenario was far more discerning than many situations, and was partly his own fault. False hope is an aspect that will never disappear from one's life, therefore the only thing we humans can possibly do is live our life and own the times where false hope is experienced.
