The Morals of Survival
The human instinct for self-preservation is powerful. The instinct and responsibility of all humans is to thrive through desperate and dire situations at all costs. One’s behavior in these crucial situations would flow from their desires and needs and their emotions and psychological state of mind. A concern is raised when we try to find a positive correlation between following one’s moral compass and the success of survival; which there is none. If one does not succumb to their survival instincts – that kick in to aid in an unfamiliar situation – you cannot survive. In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, Pi Patel is faced with despairing hardship when the ship he has boarded sinks and he is led astray on a lifeboat with four wild animals along with him. Furthermore, Pi faces the issue of morality versus survival which is especially difficult for him because of his religious nature, the usage of Richard Parker as an emotional and psychological crutch to get through this chaotic circumstance and also, the constant fixation on food and the lack of it. Being lost at sea gives the story a perspective very different from the normal life of Pi Patel. Pi’s will to survive coordinates with his loss of spiritual purity – though those acts of survival are needed for Pi to thrive, in which societal norms of behavior are irrelevant when ones sole priority is to survive in a circumstance that is nearly impossible to overcome. Morality and survival do not go hand and hand in dire circumstances. In order to survive, you must lose your morality and do things to survive that are far from your usual behavior. In Pi’s case he was forced to eat feces and walk around naked to accommodate himself in these severe surroundings. “All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in a strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive. (Martel 41)” There’s an understanding that one must go to any extremes in order to prolong their survival: by making difficult decisions that can come off as crazy or senseless. The decisions that Pi was faced with cause him to abandon his vegetarianism and focus on his short term needs, also to disregard his feelings toward these actions. Furthermore, as Pi is faced with living conditions with greater severity, his mental state changes and the rules of normal society cannot be applied to his situation and also cannot accommodate his needs. “Life will defend itself no matter how small it is…”(38) Pi’s close understanding of the animal kingdom suffices his knowledge of ‘survival of the fittest’ and he exercises the survival strategies that every life form has while on the lifeboat. However, if Pi does not succumb to his instincts and partake in the savagery, it would be detrimental to his survival. The “…sixteen years old, a harmless boy, bookish and religious” (183) had to adapt and alter himself to have “an instinct, a feel, for what to do to” (195). Thus, morality must be eliminated during dire circumstances because in these situations bizarre and immoral actions have to take place in order to prolong survival also, the way someone acts in civilization cannot be compared to their actions in the extremities of the wild. Throughout the novel there is a parallel between Pi and Richard Parker; a strong comradery between the two grows as they are on the lifeboat and Pi soonly begins to behave similarly to the Richard Parker. In this distinct case of survival – Pi being a religious boy who shields his actions by obeying the rules of religion – an outlet is needed for Pi to commit this heinous behavior. “Richard Parker was tougher than I was in the face of these fish…” (182) For Pi to survive and still keep a sane state of mind, he had to create a split from the brutality of his actions on the lifeboat – such as killing the Frenchman, killing the animals in order to sustain his life, etc. Richard Parker can be considered his id while on the lifeboat and his primal instincts to do what every human would have to do while in that situation. Richard Parker contributes to Pi’s survival because he is the inhuman side of Pi whose actions do not need to be justified; this worked as a comfort to Pi and the assurance of his own survival. As a result, Richard Parker turns into an emotional and psychological support that assists Pi in keeping grasp of his morality while allowing him to use his impulsive survival instincts that must be used in this circumstance. “This was the terrible cost of Richard Parker. He gave me a life, my own…” (255). With Richard Parker aboard the lifeboat with him and the both of them collaborating together to aid in each other’s survival; there is an apparent leeway for Pi when he recalls this whole ordeal in the future. In his own way of thinking, his morals were never tainted because Richard Parker was a separate being from himself. Pi, while in civilization, does not need to traits of Richard Parker – ferocious, intimidating and violent – to survive but the impulsive primal instincts of Richard Parker while Pi is on the lifeboat translates into a survival mechanism that gives him the liberty to act inappropriately; without the stress of following the behavioral and spiritual norms that Pi values so much. Thus, Richard Parker allows Pi to fulfill his needs without completely sending him over the edge mentally; by Pi not giving full acknowledgment to the fact that he is doing these actions himself. In Life of Pi the fixation on food and hunger is a huge issue while Pi is on the lifeboat – there are many challenges within himself when there is a need to resort to immoral actions, in order to fulfill his needs. While on the lifeboat, Pi is strongly disadvantaged more than the other animals on the boat with him. There is a hyena and a tiger that are accustomed to this type of circumstance and are biologically capable of killing Pi, the orangutan or the zebra for their hunger needs. Pi is faced with the option of shedding his vegetarianism for his own sake and to indulge in the resources he has around the lifeboat. “It was a little discolored. Specks were floating in it. Did I worry about ingesting some horrid bacteria? I didn’t even think about it. All I had on my mind was my thirst. (172)” When Pi says this about his urine we notice the desperation he is in to survive, though, this is completely different than his behavior back at home in Pondicherry. When Pi exclaims that nothing else matters than his thirst, the realization that the fact of the matter is not what is normal or acceptable but what works for him to satisfy his thirst and to stop himself from becoming dehydrated. Again, Pi is aware of what thirst can do to a person, “If thirst can be so taxing that even God incarnate complains about it, imagine the effect on a regular human” (135). The cessation of any act of normalcy in order to satisfy thirst is clearly understandable in Pi’s case because it is his life he must be responsible for. In addition, Pi begins to fulfill his hunger by eating anything, no matter the taste; this begins to lead Pi into madness, where the instinctive and strategic side of himself begins to reach a peak. “…In a moment of insanity brought on by hunger – because I was more set on eating than I was on staying alive” (222). Pi begins to turn into the total opposite of his ordinary self in this extraordinary situation. In the novel, he expresses that he began to hunt beyond the needs of his hunger; this is where one sees that hunger and thirst is not a main issue once he gets comfortable with the method of capturing food. However, the instinctive nature of Pi takes over allowing him to prepare for the duration of this journey. Thus, Pi eventually realizes the severity of his situation with hunger and thirst and becomes contented with the drastic steps he has to make in order to survive this ordeal. Therefore, one’s behavior in dreadful situations such as the one in Life of Pi is for the greater good of the person affected. No matter how beastly or outrageous, these steps must be taken in order to better the chances to survive. When faced with a survival situation your cards are already dealt, whereas, in civilized society you have options, choices and loopholes in order to overcome the problem. In the case of Morality versus Survival, survival is the only goal of all humans so it is understandable for Pi to let morality to diminish in this circumstance. Also, to create a shadow-like figure like Richard Parker in order to keep grasp of his morals; shows the urgency of human instinct to survive in this case. With this in mind, one recognizes the need for food and water is an important one – all boundaries must be crossed in this circumstance, regardless of how they would be perceived in civilized society. Furthermore, instincts are an innate ability in which one is born with, we use this ability to: Analyze the situation, find a way to ease the difficulties of said situation and to ease the difficulties using the easiest and most accessible of resources. One will always have to revert to the tactics of savagery because that is the only tactic that will sufficiently aid in helping survival.