"Life of Pi" through Archetypal Lens

Even though Pi does not seem like an epic hero that you would find in a typical adventure story, moments through his journey on the ocean shows that he has his moments of being a hero. He shows his heroism when he catches fish for the tiger. Like a hero, Pi demonstrates behaviour that is beneficial to others, in his case he makes sure to provide food for the tiger even though he knows that the tiger can kill him at any time. There is no real villain figure in Life of Pi but everything in the ocean went against him, there was a tiger that could kill him, food was scarce, water was not pure, he had no clothing, etc. It seems as if everything was his villain now. Pi frequently shows that in real life man is the real villain, for example “I realized something else: the hyena was the reason those sailors had thrown me into the lifeboat. They weren't trying to save my life. That was the last of their concerns. They were using me as fodder. They were hoping that the hyena would attack me and that somehow I would get rid of it and make the boat safe for them, no matter if it cost me my life” (Martel 62).

The boat in this story plays an important role in Pi’s survival, without it Pi could have died. The boat is coloured as orange which as Pi said was a significant colour in the religion which shows the boat as a god since god protects people. “It seems orange-such a nice Hindu colour-is the colour of survival because the whole inside of the boat and the tarpaulin and the life jackets and the lifebuoy and the oars and most every other significant object aboard was orange. Even the plastic, beadless whistles were orange” (Martel 76). As the whistle is orange it signifies that he could use it to call help when it is needed, this shows that the ties of religious hopes and strength serves as essential survival skills.

Lifeboat from "Life of Pi"

Later in the book I expect that Pi can overcome these challenges and is able to save himself from being stranded in the middle of the ocean. Through his journey, I expect that he will show bravery, intelligence, and strength as those are the basic abilities of an archetypal hero and how they travel in an archetypal journey. Although in the beginning Pi was more shy, religious, and gentle, throughout the journey he changes into a more strong, intelligent, and brave person in the middle of the book. As the book goes on his character develops into a more archetypal hero based character.