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| “Life
of Pi” by Yann Martel
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“Life of Pi” is one of the most famous books written
by Yann Martel. This novel may be viewed as an allegory that
vividly depicts human society and the complexity of relations
of an individual and society. It is necessary to underline
that throughout the entire book the main character Pi suffers
from solitude and miscomprehension. In fact, he rest alone
wherever he is, whether it is a densely populated city or
a deserted island. In such a way, the author apparently attempts
to depict the theme of the solitude of an individual in society
and the unsurpassable barriers that exist between an individual
and society.
First of all, it should be pointed out that the novel consists
of three major parts where the reader can trace the evolution
of the main character from a naive boy to a disenchanted individual
who lost any hope and faith in humanism and human society
to the extent that he more readily attributed animal characteristics
to human beings than vice versa.
In the first part of the book the author uses flash backs
to convey the story of Pi’s childhood. It should be
pointed out that the boy did his best to get socialized and
be accepted by the society. It is worthy of noting that tends
to traditional humanistic values and attempt to find really
positive implications in human society. This is probably why,
being a boy, he cannot choose the religion which he prefers
the most or which is closer to his own vision of the world.
As a result, he equally sticks to Islam, Christianity and
Hinduism.
At this point, it is important to underline that it is probably
the first time in his life Pi faces the necessity to make
an uneasy choice since human society cannot accept such poly-religious
attitude to the human life and surrounding world. In such
a way, the society tends to impose certain boundaries on Pi
not only in physical terms but in spiritual as well. It should
be said that such diversity in his religious and philosophical
views are unwelcome in society. No wonder that his own father
skeptically remarks that “he seems to be attracting
religions the way the dog attracts fleas”. Thus, it
is obvious that if his own father cannot accept his views
than the society will not for sure and, in actuality, the
boy, being different from others, turns to be in a kind of
isolation from the society. He is not accepted by peers who
are mocking at his name and it seems as if Pi spends more
time with animals in the zoo than with people.
In this respect, it is necessary to underline that the author
skillfully depicts an allegoric image of a zoo which rather
resembles human society. It should be said that from the early
childhood the boy is taught about the predatory nature of
animals living in the zoo who are extremely violent if they
are not controlled or bound by some limits. It seems as if
the author compares animal and human nature and sees no substantial
difference. In fact, he directly compares animals to humans
when he compares the zoo to the hotel: “In many ways,
running a zoo is a hotelkeeper’s worst nightmare. Consider:
the guests never leave their rooms; they expect not only lodging
but full board; they receive a constant flow of visitors,
some of whom are noisy and unruly” (Martel).
In fact, the main character turns to be a strange dreamy boy
who is more interested in reading books than in communication
with his peers and other people. He seems to be alien in a
hostile world who, in spite of his early age, has already
learned that “the main battlefield for good is not the
open ground of the public arena but a small clearing of each
heart” (Martel). Naturally, the boy with such strange
views cannot be accepted in the society, though, in actuality,
Pie turns to be able to understand the predatory essence of
human beings and their social relationships where humanistic
ideals are only declarative while, in the real life, the world
of humans is full of evil.
Symbolically, it is the skeptical father of the boy who eventually
realizes that the life in India is unbearable for him and
his family and that the pressure of the Indian society forces
him to leave his motherland. At the same time, it seems as
if he has not yet fully understood the truth his sun has already
known, notably, that human society can hardly be different
in another country since human nature is unchangeable.
At this point the second and probably the most substantial
part of the book begins. The main characters set into the
journey to the new country but in the result of the disaster
all people aboard have died and he is the only human survivor
along with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and a huge Bengal
tiger, named Richard Parker. They share the same lifeboat
and this strange community seems to be an allegoric depiction
of human society where the stronger kills the weaker. At the
same time, it is important to underline that such relationships
inevitably affects even such a humanistic and independent
individual as Pi. It seems to be quite symbolic that, being
initially a vegetarian, the boy transforms in a being that
readily devours anything even remotely edible: “a chopped-up
mixture of heart, lungs, liver, flesh and cleaned-up intestines
sprinkled with fish parts, the whole soaked in a yolk-and-serum
gravy, made an unsurpassable, finger-licking thali”
(Martel). Eventually, all animals but the tiger are eaten
and, the tiger as the strongest and the most powerful survives
and threatens to the life of the boy. It is obvious that the
tiger, which is traditionally considered to be the king of
all animals in India, symbolizes the ruling classes of human
society which subordinate the rest of society to their own
will and force them serve to their interests. This exactly
what happened to Pi who was forced to feed the predator, and
take care about his health which was the guarantee of his
own survival. It is necessary to underline that the boy does
not like such a society and he tens to avoid it and this is
why he attempts to separate himself from the tiger not only
for the sake of survival but simply because he cannot bear
the predatory nature of the animal which symbolizes the ruling
classes of human society. In such a way, the author allegorically
demonstrates that despite a close link and interdependence
of an individual and the tiger, symbolizing the ruling part
of society, they still tend to create barriers, otherwise,
their neighborhood will be destructive.
On the other hand, despite the natural fear of the tiger,
Pi still is a human and, thus, a social being. Consequently,
he needs society and this is probably why he regrets when
the tiger has gone and this event overshadows his rescue.
At the same time, the author manages perfectly depict the
extent to which an individual may be misunderstood by a hypocritical
society. The boy has to invent two variants of the story since
people are unwilling to believe that he survived along with
animals, but when he replaced animals with human beings, which
was a direct comparison of human society and the animal world,
people more readily believes in the original story of the
boy.
In such a way, the main character fully realizes the extent
to which the society is hostile to himself and he is actually
alien in this world of humans which he would readily abandon
and, instead, he would rather prefer an interesting book without
end to the hostile and predatory human society whose rules
he cannot accept and neither the society can accept his humanistic
ideals.
Bibliography:
Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. New York: Random House, 2002.
“Reading in the Dark” by Seamus Deane
Seamus Deane is considered to be an Irish writer that continues
traditions of his predecessors. In this respect, his novel
“Reading in the Dark” seems to be particularly
noteworthy because the author skillfully depicts the narrator
growing up and revealing the secrets of his family. In fact,
the novel represents quite a kind of combination where the
events of the personal life of the main characters are closely
interlinked with the historical events. It should be said
that the author depicts quite a turbulent period in the life
of the main character and his country. At the same time, it
is really interesting to trace how the personality of the
narrator is shaped in the course of the novel under the impact
of his surrounding and the new facts he learns about his family’s
past. On the other hand, the narrator seems to be not just
a thoughtless recipient of the external influences but he
is rather an individual that tends to find his own way in
life and attempts to have his own point of view on every event
and every issue of the present as well as the past.
First of all, it should be said that the novel is build as
a narration of the boy who steadily grows up and learns more
and more about his own family and its past. In the mean time,
his own views are shaped and he attempts to evaluate all the
facts he learns as his relatives are not simply unwillingly
they strongly oppose to his desire to learn more about his
family and its past. This is why there exist a serious distance
between the narrator and other characters. For instance, it
is quite a symbolic episode when the narrator recalls the
episode from his early childhood when readers actually first
meet his mother who is on the landing in their house. When
the boy is on the tenth stair-step going up and says: “I
could have touched her” but his mother stops him saying:
“Don’t move… There’s something there
between us. A shadow. Don’t move” (Deane). It
should be said that this conversation is really important
because it perfectly characterizes the relationship between
the boy and his mother as well as other relatives. In fact,
the invisible shadow always exists between the narrator and
his relatives. This is a kind of unsurpassable barrier between
him and his social environment.
At the same time, it is only on reading a substantial part
of the book a reader can understand that this invisible barrier
is closely related to the past of the family and the secrets
the narrator’s relatives attempt to hide from him using
all possible means. It should be said that each part of the
book starting from ‘Father’ through ‘Mother’
to ‘Crazy Joe’ gradually reveals the secrets of
the family the boy so eagerly wants to disguise. It is also
quite important to underline that such a revealing of the
family secret occur very slowly but in the course of time
as the boy grows older and as he communicates more and more
he learns more facts concerning the past.
In this respect, it is worth of mention that in the part entitled
‘Father’ the boy learns the least and he actually
is unable to learn a lot because he cannot simply understand
and know what exactly is going on around him. Nevertheless,
he keeps struggling with the opposition of his family and
all the relatives. it should be pointed out that such unwillingness
from the part of the relatives to reveal the family secrets
create quite a gloomy, pressing ambiance of the book and it
is even quite difficult to adequately perceive all the slightest
details and nuances the narrator constantly catches while
communicating with his relatives or noticing all details,
even insignificant ones, in their conversations and behavior.
In fact, the boy just faces an invisible barrier that separates
him not only from his family past but also from all his relatives
who know the story of his family. Nonetheless, the boy demonstrates
his personal power and ability to overcome the existing barriers
imposed by his relative but, in actuality, he rather deals
not with a clear set of detail. In stark contrast, the narrator
is rather forced to deal with parts of a puzzle than with
a clear facts and evidences from the past of his family. On
paying attention to each word, hint, gesture, the boy eventually
manages to gather the entire picture of the past of his family
and reveal major secrets but it is necessary to underline
that he does it not due to the help of his relatives but rather
against their will.
In such a situation, it is quite symbolic that the more information
he receives from the person who seems to be less capable to
convey any really noteworthy information, i.e. Crazy Joe.
In fact, it is Crazy Joe who occasionally slips the details
which an attentive boy easily catches up and which help him
to create the clear picture of the past on the basis of information
he has already collected from other relatives.
At the same time, it should be said that such a permanent
opposition between the boy’s desire to learn more about
his family secrets and the unwillingness of his relatives
to reveal them affected dramatically his personality and behavior.
The boy gets used to think and rethink all the information
he learns from his environment. In this respect, it is worthy
of mention that, even while reading a book, he keeps to train
his mind and imagination as he lies under the cover and thinks
about the story he has just read talking to the characters
as he says: “I’d lie there, the book still open,
re-imagining all I had read, the various ways the plot might
unravel, the novel opening into endless possibilities in the
dark” (Deane). Symbolically, this is the way he actually
has to collect and unravel the book of his own family history.
As a result, the boy became quite different from his peers
that was particularly obvious in school. It is worthy of mention
the fact that, unlike his peers, he wrote a precocious essay
“full of long and strange words I had found in the dictionary”
(Deane), while his peers wrote in a trivial manner about simple
things they regularly saw in their everyday life.
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible
to conclude that Seamus Deane wrote quite noteworthy novel
“Reading in the Dark” which depicted the formation
of the personality of the main character in quite unusual
circumstances that naturally affected his environment. In
this respect, that the title is a perfect match to the description
of the formation of the main character because his growing
up resembles the reading in the dark when he has to learn
all the secrets of his family inconspicuously, hiding from
his relatives who oppose to his intentions as much as they
can. As a result, such strange relationship characterized
by the existence of an unsurpassable gap, or distance, between
the boy and his relatives and the permanent search of truth
resulted in the development of such treats of character as
suspiciousness, high level of attention, tend to analyze all
the information the boy receives, and disbelief to what people
surrounding the narrator said. As a result, it is possible
to estimate that, willingly or not, the relatives practically
defined the personality of the narrator but they had not managed
to tame the boy’s desire to find the truth.
Bibliography:
Deane, Seamus. Reading in the Dark. London: Routledge, 2004.
“The Remains of the Day” by Kazuo Ishiguro
Basically, the novel “The Remains of the Day”
by Kazuo Ishiguro depicts an unusual story of an individual
who finds himself in quite a strange situation when all his
ideals and beliefs are actually ruined and his entire life
seems to be wasted. Nevertheless, this novel has a number
of really disturbing themes and problems that the author attempts
to solve. In this respect, it should be said that the author
skillfully depicts the opposition or, to put it more precisely,
the interaction of society and individual in which the latter
turns to be in a disadvantageous position because the main
character is practically unable to resist to the social influences
from outside and his entire life was defined by the impact
of society and existing biases and stereotypes. Nevertheless,
the author manages to demonstrate the rebellious nature of
human beings.
On analyzing the novel, it is primarily necessary to point
out that the main character Stevens dedicates his entire life
to the loyal service of the Lord Darlington. It is should
be said that the service to his master was the main goal and
sense of the life of the main character. In actuality, he
has no alternative to the way he has chosen but, frankly speaking,
he did not even look for alternatives. Stevens, being a butler,
does not really attempt to change his life. It seems as if
he is totally satisfied with his lifestyle.
However, an attentive reader can easily notice that the main
character is not free in his life choices. In stark contrast,
his entire life was defined by the society, by the existing
stereotypes and it is even possible to estimate that all important
decisions he makes in his life are made under the impact of
outer forces, notably society. In fact, his devotedness to
the Lord Darlington is extremely exaggerated and absolutely
unreasonable. Stevens has practically lost his own personality
scarifying his life to his master and neglecting his own needs
and interests. At the same time, it is necessary to point
out that it is not his own choice but it is rather the social
pressure that forces him make such a choice.
In fact, the main character turns to be the victim of the
stereotypes and prejudices that exist in the society. He perceives
his role in society as it is without any reflections whether
such a state of things is justified or not. He perceives that
his low social position pointblank and is unable to change
it somehow. Under the impact of the existing stereotypes and
biases he is practically convinced that it is his destiny
and his major goal of his life to serve to his master only
because he is just a butler while his master is the Lord,
a respectable person whose views and ideas are unarguable
and who is always right just because he occupies the high
social position, he is believed intelligent and virtuous.
In this respect, it should be said that the main character
apparently idealized Lord Darlington but he did it, to a certain
extent, unconsciously being deceived by the public image and
public opinion of this person. In such a way, it is possible
to speak about the weakness of the main character, about his
inability to make an independent judgment and view his master
and the surrounding world objectively.
However, the author emphasize that he is not alone in his
weakness or inability to be independent of external social
impact and free of biases. It is worthy of mention that Miss
Kenton, a woman whom the main character really loves, also
is dramatically influenced by the society and cannot be independent
but rather prefers to obey to the circumstances and just go
straight forward avoiding radical turns on her life way.
In actuality, the situation is quite strange since both Stevens
and Miss Kent love each other though they do not demonstrate
openly, especially this is the characteristic of Miss Kent.
Instead, both characters prefer to keep their love, their
feelings in secret and obey to their destiny which, in actuality,
is shaped by their social environment. Obviously, both characters
scarify their happiness and their life for the sake of socially
accepted norms of behavior, ideals, and stereotypes. It is
evident that both characters have lost their lives for serving
to chimeras imposed by society. Their ideals, even though
they may be not totally wrong, are not the ideals of their
own. As a result, they live the life that is not the life
of their own.
Strangely enough, it takes them twenty years to understand
what a mistake they have done. At the same, it is really important
that they arrive to the realization of this fact. Obviously,
Miss Kenn fully realized her mistake and she probably regrets
that she has not managed to share her love with Stevens and
she is totally disappointed in her marriage. This is why in
the most difficult period in her life she appeals to probably
the only person she loved in her life and Stevens was probably
the only one, who really loved her too. In such a way, after
so many years of marriage she realizes her mistake and the
extent to which she was dependent on society. At the same
time, her insight and appeal to Stevens forced the latter
to reevaluate his entire life too. Naturally, he arrives to
the same conclusion as his beloved. He also turns to be disenchanted
and desperate about the life he leads or, to put it more precisely,
about the outcome of his entire life.
Symbolically, the author compares the life of the main character
with the day. Stevens realizes that his life approaches to
its natural end and that the evening is close. In such a situation,
it seems to be particularly tragic that he finally realizes
the extent to which he was deceived by the society. His devotedness
and loyal service to the Lord Darlington was actually useless
because Stevens finally realizes that his master is worthy
of nothing. Moreover, he is totally disappointed in Lord Darlington
because only at the end of his life he is able to see that
his master is far from perfect. In such a situation, his breakdown
at the end of the book is quite natural when he realizes that
his master, whom he dedicated his entire life, is just a moral
degenerate who blindly follows fascists, Nazi and anti-Semite
leaders.
Unfortunately, the main character understands his mistakes
but it seems to be too late to change anything because he
has been following social impacts all his life and, at the
present moment, it seems to be impossible to change anything.
Nevertheless, the author believes that his character is able
to change his life for better and he can tear the social bounds
that tied his personality, his own identity. In such a context,
the final breakdown of the main character resembles a kind
of rebellion against the society and its norms imposed to
Stevens as well as to Miss Kenn, and probably many other people.
Thus, it is possible to conclude that Kazuo Ishiguro manages
to depict the character who, being at the dawn of his life,
realizes that he was constantly misleading by wrong stereotypes,
ideas and beliefs, imposed by society, which, in actuality,
were not created by his own mind but rather borrowed from
the social environment without any critical evaluation. At
the same time, the author demonstrates that the main character
is not totally hopeless, instead there remains the evening
to live.
Bibliography:
Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Remains of the Day. New York: New Publishers,
2004.
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