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A main theme of "Life of Pi" By Yann Martel is while religion provides a framework for understanding the world and navigating issues, it is ultimately up to individual humans to choose whether to act  with their higher beliefs or succumb to their animalistic instincts.

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Richard Parker is an animal, using human emotions to pull strings on Pi's heart; the opposite of his animalistic tendencies.“

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Richard Parker is an animal, using human emotions to pull strings on Pi's heart; the opposite of his animalistic tendencies.“

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“I’ve never forgotten him. Dare I say I miss him? I do. I miss him. I still see him in my dreams. They are nightmares mostly, but nightmares tinged with love. Such is the strangeness of the human heart. I still cannot understand how he could abandon me so unceremoniously, without any sort of goodbye, without looking back even once. The pain is like an axe that chops my heart. ” (6)

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The importance of being open-minded and willing to learn about and understand different perspectives and experiences in order to overcome our biases and prejudices.

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The importance of being open-minded and willing to learn about and understand different perspectives and experiences in order to overcome our biases and prejudices.

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It seems to be a law of human nature that those who live by the sea are suspicious of swimmers, just as those who live in the mountains are suspicious of mountain climbers.” (22)

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Religion is nothing more than just an old myth: as everyone is born without any religious affirmations. 

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Religion is nothing more than just an old myth: as everyone is born without any religious affirmations. 

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We are all born like Catholics, aren’t we—in limbo, without religion, until some figure introduces us to God?” (47)

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There is a deep interconnectedness between all things, and that everything is ultimately part of the same fundamental reality: highlighting the idea that there is a deep connection between the individual soul and the world soul

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There is a deep interconnectedness between all things, and that everything is ultimately part of the same fundamental reality: highlighting the idea that there is a deep connection between the individual soul and the world soul

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The individual soul touches upon the world soul like a well reaches for the water table. That which sustains the universe beyond thought and language, and that which is at the core of us and struggles for expression, is the same thing. The finite within the infinite, the infinite within the finite.” (48-49)

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In order to survive, one must take initiative and actively seek out solutions to their problems.

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In order to survive, one must take initiative and actively seek out solutions to their problems.

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“Survival starts by paying attention to what is close at hand and immediate. To look out with idle hope is tantamount to dreaming one’s life away.” (168-169)

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By comparing life to a "peephole," Pi suggests that our understanding of reality is limited and incomplete.

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By comparing life to a "peephole," Pi suggests that our understanding of reality is limited and incomplete.

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“Life is a peephole, a single tiny entry onto a vastness–how can I not dwell on this brief, cramped view of things? This peephole is all I’ve got!” (177)

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Pi's experience suggests that humans can become desensitized to violence and killing, even when they initially feel reluctance or sorrow.

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Pi's experience suggests that humans can become desensitized to violence and killing, even when they initially feel reluctance or sorrow.

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“You may be astonished that in such a short period of time I could go from weeping over the muffled killing of a flying fish to gleefully bludgeoning to death a dorado. I could explain it by arguing that profiting from a pitiful flying fish’s navigational mistake made me shy and sorrowful, while the excitement of actively capturing a great dorado made me sanguinary and self-assured. But in point of fact the explanation lies elsewhere. It is simple and brutal: a person can get used to anything, even to killing.” (185)

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Martel's use of contrasting pairs such as "thunder and tinkle, thick and thin, the near and the far" emphasizes the vastness of the universe

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Martel's use of contrasting pairs such as "thunder and tinkle, thick and thin, the near and the far" emphasizes the vastness of the universe

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“At moments of wonder, it is easy to avoid small thinking, to entertain thoughts that span the universe, that capture both thunder and tinkle, thick and thin, the near and the far.” (233)

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Pi is reflecting on the innate fears that humans have and how they cannot be trained out of us.

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Pi is reflecting on the innate fears that humans have and how they cannot be trained out of us.

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“I have read that there are two fears that cannot be trained out of us: the startle reaction upon hearing an unexpected noise, and vertigo. I would like to add a third, to wit, the rapid and direct approach of a known killer” (263)

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Pi emphasizes the importance of reason, which he views as the best tool for keeping tigers away, an allusion to the wild and dangerous elements of life.

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Pi emphasizes the importance of reason, which he views as the best tool for keeping tigers away, an allusion to the wild and dangerous elements of life.

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“I applied my reason at every moment. Reason is excellent for getting food, clothing and shelter. Reason is the very best tool kit. Nothing beats reason for keeping tigers away. But be excessively reasonable and you risk throwing out the universe with the bathwater.” (298)

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Pi is a young, curious boy who develops into an experienced man with "stories that will make you believe in god." When Pi first gets stranded on the lifeboat, a small, bleak excuse of a boat, (absolute) he struggles with staying true to his religion-like framework, killing animals to maintain his hunger. In relation, Pi's reasoning drops severely as he compares life to a "peephole" his sense of reality slipping away from his fingers. With his mental state becoming lucid, common human nature is turned into animalistic traits "...a person can get used to anything, even to killing" Eventually, Pi re-finds his spiritual ways by realizing to avoid small thinking and "to entertain thoughts that span the universe.