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Through binary opposition, Yann Martel conveys the theme that faith is important for one’s survival and purpose in life.

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Through binary opposition, Yann Martel conveys the theme that faith is important for one’s survival and purpose in life.

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Pi knows he must put his faith in God by choosing life instead of accepting death. 

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Pi knows he must put his faith in God by choosing life instead of accepting death. 

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“I preferred to set off and perish in search of my own kind than to live a lonely half-life of physical comfort and spiritual death on this murderous island” (283).

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Pi's faith in God gave him purpose to fight for his life, and the strength required to do so as well.

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Pi's faith in God gave him purpose to fight for his life, and the strength required to do so as well.

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“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 miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen every day. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen”’ (148).

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Mr. Kumar's faith in God eventually saved him through medicine, even though he does not perceve it that way.

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Mr. Kumar's faith in God eventually saved him through medicine, even though he does not perceve it that way.

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“It wasn’t God who saved me–it was medicine” (28).

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Pi relies on science and religion to help him regain his sanity and purpose.

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Pi relies on science and religion to help him regain his sanity and purpose.

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“Academic study and the steady, mindful practice of religion slowly brought me back to life” (3).

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Science and religion are very similar: they both attempt to explain life's meaning, but they do it in different ways.

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Science and religion are very similar: they both attempt to explain life's meaning, but they do it in different ways.

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“Sometimes I got my majors mixed up” (5).

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Even though science and religion are two opposites, they are similar because they both find importance and beauty in the same things.

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Even though science and religion are two opposites, they are similar because they both find importance and beauty in the same things.

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“Mr Kumar said, “Equus burchelli boehmi.” Mr Kumar said, “Allahu akbar.” I said, It’s very pretty.” We looked on” (84).

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The practices of religion signify and strengthen one's faith.

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The practices of religion signify and strengthen one's faith.

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“I am a Hindu because of sculptured cones of red kumkum powder and baskets of yellow turmeric nuggets, because of garlands of flowers and pieces of broken coconut…because of foreheads carrying, variously signified, the same word-faith” (47).

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Faith can be strengthened by external practices and affirmations.

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Faith can be strengthened by external practices and affirmations.

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“A little bit of hope–hard earned, well deserved, reasonable–glowed in me. I fell asleep” (176).

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Living in doubt creates a dull and sad life with no greater purpose.

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Living in doubt creates a dull and sad life with no greater purpose.

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“I can well imagine an atheist's last words: "White, white! L-L-Love! My God!"-and the deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry, yeastless factuality, might try to explain the warm light bathing him by saying, "Possibly a f-f-failing oxygenation of the b-b-brain," and, to the very end, lack imagination and miss the better story” (64).

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Not having faith in something larger than oneself is not sufficient for life.

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Not having faith in something larger than oneself is not sufficient for life.

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“To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation” (28).

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Hope gives people a purpose to chase after in times of adversity.

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Hope gives people a purpose to chase after in times of adversity.

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“Cradled in the palm of my hand was all that remained between me and death: the last of the orange whistles” (229).

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The most important requirement of survival is one's spirit, which depends on faith.

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The most important requirement of survival is one's spirit, which depends on faith.

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“Remember: the spirit, above all else, counts” (167).

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Faith in something larger than oneself helps to keep a person grounded and stable, especially in difficult times.

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Faith in something larger than oneself helps to keep a person grounded and stable, especially in difficult times.

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“I saw my suffering for what it was, finite and insignificant, and I was still. My suffering did not fit anywhere, I realized” (177).

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Faith can always be relied on, even in the darkest of times.

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Faith can always be relied on, even in the darkest of times.

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“The blackness would stir and eventually go away, and God would remain, a shining point of light in my heart. I would go on loving” (209).

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Pi's teacher is an atheist who spent his childhood in a hospital bed with polio. He looked for God to help him; however,
(; transition,)in the end, he said that medicine is what saved him. Pi, a strong believer in God (appositive), was in shock. As Pi looks back at this moment, he shares, “It was my first clue that atheists are my brothers and sisters of different faith, and every word they speak speaks of faith. Like me, they go as far as the legs of reason will carry them–and then they leap” (28). Through binary opposition, Yann Martel compares the two topics to show their underlying similarities. Pi concludes that science and religion are not necessarily opposites, but different ways of explaining the question all religion aims to answer: what is our purpose? This question is why faith, having complete trust in something (participle), is necessary. Faith gives life purpose. Without it, one is just stuck with "dry, yeastless actuality".