As you probably remember, this novel had many ups and downs and various changes but one thing that remained constant was Pi’s faith. His belief in God was evidently extremely strong and this was demonstrated in several different parts of the novel.
Although his belief and faith was constant in the book, it wasn’t as strong as it was in the beginning. The trauma that he went through while lost at sea and the experiences he had had an impact on his faith ­ understandably so. Many of the things he had to go through made him question God at times and wonder why such a higher power considered so amazing and giving, would allow Pi to go through all this suffering and difficulty. Although all of this made him doubt and question his faith, it still never went away. His faith overall gave him the courage, power and hope needed to survive at sea which all proved how religion had an extremely significant role in the novel. Religion is used in
Life of Pi to help Pi persevere through his struggles and essentially give him a sense of hope, sanity and individuality. Religion is fundamentally what kept Pi alive throughout the journey he experienced. It was the one motive he had that reminded him to remain hopeful through all the adversity. There were many scenarios he found it very difficult to have hope in, and he could’ve easily given up on everything ­ as I think many others would have done if they were in his situation. He kept his hope and pushed through it and that primarily was the reason he survived. “I was giving up. I would have given up ­ if a voice hadn’t made itself heard in my heart.
The voice said, ‘I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far miraculously. Now I will turn my miracle into a routine. The amazing will be seen everyday. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so as long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen.” (Martel 163) In this quote, we can see how there is a man vs. self conflict. Pi is basically giving himself a pep talk and reminding him to persevere and stay strong. He said “I have

survived so far miraculously” and feeling like that probably strengthened his faith even more because he is in shock himself that he is still alive ­ he feels that he made it this far with the help of God. Pi refers to him still being alive as a miracle which relates back to religion. Also, Pi says that as long as God is with him, he will not die. Pi knows that
God will always be with him so he is using that as motivation that he can and he will survive the rest of this horrendous journey. Pi was a very religious person so consequently religion was a major part of his life. It affected his thought process and daily decisions for example. Pi uses religion in the story more or less as an escape and as a distraction from what is happening in his life.
He kept his morals and values strong and as a result, he fights insanity. Imagine being in Pi’s position. Imagine losing everything ­ your family, your belongings and being lost at sea. Your life is at risk primarily every minute of the day and you don’t know where you are or when this will end. You can imagine how easy being in this scenario can lead a person to insanity. It has been scientifically proven that traumatic events can take a toll on you and lead to loss of sanity. So you can see how Pi easily could’ve surpassed the border from sane to insane but his religion and his beliefs kept him sane. His religion acts as an anchor. “I practised religious rituals that I adapted to the circumstances ­ solitary Masses without priests or consecrated Communion Hosts, darshans without murtis, and pujas with turtle meat for prasad, acts of devotion to Allah not knowing where Mecca was and getting my
Arabic wrong. They brought me comfort, that is certain. But it was hard, oh, it was hard.
Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love ­ but sometimes it was so hard to love. Sometimes my heart was sinking so fast with anger, desolation and weariness, I was afraid it would sink to the very bottom of the Pacific and
I would not be able to lift it back up.” (Martel 231)

You can see how Pi is a very optimistic, positive person and I believe that derives from his belief in God and his religion. I think that the fact that he believed there was a God always looking out for him and caring for him helped him to stay positive even in the hardest of times such as this one. In this quote, you can see how even Pi admits himself how he was afraid of sinking to the bottom and going insane basically. He states how at certain times even his strong faith wasn’t strong enough to lift his spirits up. In this quote you can also see how religion gives Pi a sense of comfort. He says in the beginning of this quote all the religious rituals and traditions he had adapted to that gave him comfort. Throughout this novel, you also see how Pi struggles with religion in terms of being traditional. He was raised in a very secularized family who believed in Hinduism. Later in Pi’s life though, as he comes across other people with other religions he learns more about them and becomes interested and absorbed by the whole concept of it. He soon starts believing in various different religions and finds it difficult to just choose one. In the novel, Pi believes in Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. You can see how this is very untraditional since every individual usually has one set religion or belief system they follow and value. One thing that all three of these religions share though is peace ­ which Pi expresses. Pi used his many religious beliefs to help him through the ordeal. Hinduism: He remembered the story about Markandeya and falling out of Vishnu's mouth into the entirety of the universe, and found himself seeing with clear eyes how miniscule and meaningless his suffering was. Christianity: He sought comfort that even Christ suffered, and knew that everything would be okay even if he were not to live; the absolute faith of being saved from eternal hell comforted him a little.

Islam: He knew he had to coexist with Richard Parker in order to survive. That all creatures are one entity is the belief of Islam. Atheism: This is where all of his Earthly needs came into effect. Hunger, thirst, survival, animal psychology, wind, anchors, weather. He saw each with a strictly scientific eye, observing and hypothesizing and then experimenting with ways to get out of the problem. “[Pi:] ‘Religion will save us,’ I said. Since when I could remember, religion had always been close to my heart. ‘Religion?’ Mr. Kumar grinned broadly. ‘I don’t believe in religion. Religion is darkness.’ Darkness? I was puzzled. I thought, Darkness is the last thing that religion is. Religion is light. Was he testing me? Was he saying, ‘Religion is darkness,’ the way he sometimes said in class things like ‘Mammals lay eggs,’ to see if someone would correct him?”
(Martel 29­30) In this quote, it is evident how strong his religion is because his naive mind is shocked and cannot believe that someone may have a completely opposite belief system and mindset when it comes to religion. Pi holds religion on such a high pedestal because it is what most of his life revolved around. When he was growing up, he was being raised with one certain religion and when he was older, he spent so much of his life learning about other religions. Pi’s survival is conditioned by his faith in religion. After shipwrecking, he already believes that his survival is work of God’s will, reflecting how much Pi is into religion. In this way, faith plays an important role in his struggle for surviving on the boat,

considering that he constantly turns to religion to the extent of praying several times daily, and never losing hope. Moreover, during his journey, Pi compares happened situations with religion. One of the many of them, is when the orangutan approaches to the boat, and Pi compares her with Virgin Mary, representing hope and rescue: “She came floating on an island of bananas in a halo of light, as lovely as the Virgin Mary.
The rising sun was behind her. Her flaming hair looked stunning.” (139). Besides that, Pi finds religious symbolism in Richard Parker, Orange Juice, lifejackets, the interior of lifeboat and the whistle, due to the fact that orange color represents hope, life and survival in Hinduism. As we can prove through these instances, religion had influenced
Pi in different ways. Overall, we can evidently see how significant of a role religion played in the novel. It birthed his beliefs, morals and values so consequently was a result of every single decision he made throughout the book. Religion affects people by influencing their decisions, motivations, and sense of personal value. Religion can give people a great deal of peace of mind. A person who has experienced religious conversion can feel much better about themselves than they did before. They can feel much less stress in their lives if they feel that God cares about them and has a plan for them. The time that they spend in prayer can actually be beneficial to their health by reducing stress.
Religion can also give people a sense of purpose. It can affect them by making them want to dedicate their lives to accomplishing some sort of good in the world. Both Pi's dependence on religion and his affection for storytelling help him to survive because they provide an element of escapism for him. Pi went through a terribly traumatic experience, one that no one should have to go. His perseverance, faith and courage essentially was what kept him alive.