Would you say that religion and fiction work in the same way?
To the extent that for either to work you have to suspend your disbelief. The subtext of Life of Pi can be summarised in three lines:
1) Life is a story.
2) You can choose your story.
3) A story with God is the better story.
Pi imagines that his brother would have teasingly called him Noah. How does Pi’s voyage compare to the biblical story of Noah, who was spared from the flood while God washed away the sinners?
Like Noah, Pi has to live with animals on a boat. The cook was a sinner and he disappeared. However Pi is not innocent.
What did Pi learn in his life?
Survival.
What is the role of the story with the island?
I wanted to push the reader till he/she was forced to make some leap of faith. If the island didn't do it, then I hoped the second story would.
www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/nov/26/fiction
ch 99, ch 7 when you read the story you believe it at first but then you start to be mistrustful as the algae island seems too strange. yet, at the end you prefer to believe in the story of the algae island: you take a leap of faith because the rational story is too awful.
What do you need to do to get the full flavour of life?
“You can view the world in different ways - historical, scientific, social, political - but there are limits to what you can do with a calculator or a hammer. You must make a leap of faith to get the full flavour of life.”
http://textualities.net/writers/features-h-m/martely01.php
ch 99, 23 reason is helpful but it doesn’t tell you why there is life, it explains how life appeared. you must believe in god otherwise life is absurd and meaningless.
samedi 5 juin 2010
lundi 31 mai 2010
The answers of the author (grpwork of the 29/05)
What human trait do the animals on the lifeboat embody?
“The other animals in the lifeboat ? The zebra, the hyena and the orang-utan arose naturally, each one a function of a human trait I wanted to embody, the hyena cowardliness, the orang-utan maternal instincts and the zebra exoticism.”
http://www.powells.com/fromtheauthor/martel.html
ch99 the hyena is the symbol for the cook who decided to let the sailor die to use his body as bait. he couldn’t resist his lower instincts: hunger. the orang utan stands for the mother and rebels against the hyena. the zebra represents the Chinese sailor that they don’t understand. he’s a foreigner. It’s easier to kill someone you don’t know and see as a perfect stranger.
What is the common point between religion and reality? Think of Pi’s particularity!
Interviewer: “Is your exploration of multifaith in Life of Pi a part of your exploration of the boundaries and blurrings of reality, fiction and storytelling? Is multifaith comparable to a multiple-reality existence?”
Yann Martel : “Yes. And yes. Reality is how we interpret it. Imagination and volition play a part in that interpretation, which means that all reality is to some extent a fiction. This is what I explore in the novel.”
volition: son propre gré
www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/nov/26/fiction
cf Ch 99, , CH7 , CH 23there’s not only one reality in life but different interpretations of it. Pi imagines that he was in the lifeboat with the tiger because it would be too hard to live with the burden of having eaten human flesh. it would also be too hard to live in an absurd world without god.
Why does Pi say ‘love is hard to believe, ask any lover”?
“Pi had told them two stories. Both had the same beginning: a ship leaves India. Both had the same ending: there is only one human survivor - in either case, the investigators only have his word for what happened. Pi asks the investigators, 'If you stumble about believability, what are you living for?' He says, 'Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer.' He wants to know why they have a problem with 'hard to believe'.”
http://textualities.net/writers/features-h-m/martely01.php
ch 7, 23, 99 The common point between all the religions is love. At the beginning Pi doesn’t understantd why Abraham kills his son and the Father Martin tells him that’s because of love. In life you have to take a leap of faith to live fully. you have to believe even if it’s hard. At the end, the two officials prefer to believe the story with the animals. Scientists and religious people take a leap of faith as scientists go as far as reason bring them and then they leap. they believe in the supreme power of reason to explain everything but reason doesn’t tell you why you are or why biological rules lead to the appearance of humans from cells.
“The other animals in the lifeboat ? The zebra, the hyena and the orang-utan arose naturally, each one a function of a human trait I wanted to embody, the hyena cowardliness, the orang-utan maternal instincts and the zebra exoticism.”
http://www.powells.com/fromtheauthor/martel.html
ch99 the hyena is the symbol for the cook who decided to let the sailor die to use his body as bait. he couldn’t resist his lower instincts: hunger. the orang utan stands for the mother and rebels against the hyena. the zebra represents the Chinese sailor that they don’t understand. he’s a foreigner. It’s easier to kill someone you don’t know and see as a perfect stranger.
What is the common point between religion and reality? Think of Pi’s particularity!
Interviewer: “Is your exploration of multifaith in Life of Pi a part of your exploration of the boundaries and blurrings of reality, fiction and storytelling? Is multifaith comparable to a multiple-reality existence?”
Yann Martel : “Yes. And yes. Reality is how we interpret it. Imagination and volition play a part in that interpretation, which means that all reality is to some extent a fiction. This is what I explore in the novel.”
volition: son propre gré
www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/nov/26/fiction
cf Ch 99, , CH7 , CH 23there’s not only one reality in life but different interpretations of it. Pi imagines that he was in the lifeboat with the tiger because it would be too hard to live with the burden of having eaten human flesh. it would also be too hard to live in an absurd world without god.
Why does Pi say ‘love is hard to believe, ask any lover”?
“Pi had told them two stories. Both had the same beginning: a ship leaves India. Both had the same ending: there is only one human survivor - in either case, the investigators only have his word for what happened. Pi asks the investigators, 'If you stumble about believability, what are you living for?' He says, 'Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer.' He wants to know why they have a problem with 'hard to believe'.”
http://textualities.net/writers/features-h-m/martely01.php
ch 7, 23, 99 The common point between all the religions is love. At the beginning Pi doesn’t understantd why Abraham kills his son and the Father Martin tells him that’s because of love. In life you have to take a leap of faith to live fully. you have to believe even if it’s hard. At the end, the two officials prefer to believe the story with the animals. Scientists and religious people take a leap of faith as scientists go as far as reason bring them and then they leap. they believe in the supreme power of reason to explain everything but reason doesn’t tell you why you are or why biological rules lead to the appearance of humans from cells.
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