"If there is no God", said Dostoevsky, "man would go raving mad killing each other. They need a meaning to their life and thus created God." Camus couldn't agree more, however, he doesn't accept Russian novelist's point of faith in an unseen deity.
Pi, a reader of both these great novelists, seemingly never judges their perennial philosophies. And even towards the climax, he asks Henry what he prefers; not what he chooses or believes. It was never for Pi to decide whether it was Dostoevsky or Camus he would choose for his reality, and he doesn't.
Moreover, there is a difference in choosing and preferring. But, this story shows that we choose what we prefer as better for us.
For Ang Lee, it goes like this play by Camus "The Possessed". It bega as a comedy (A very beautiful one), then becomes more dramatic and ends as a tragedy. For many, Life of Pi could be this blissful journey with no tragedy at all, well, we will come to that perception as well.
Pi, first encounters Lord Krishna, for whom it is said that the whole universe resides within him. He then encounters Islam and Christianity. He accepts none and rejects none. On the other hand, his skeptical and rational father explains him his belief of science. Pi also accounts his perception based on a incident where medicine cured him instead of blessings. It goes like Camus' character foils where people are mirror images of each other and Pi is just a universal observer with no judgement about right and wrong.
Let us suppose the second story of Pi being 'true' (for the sake of saying). The expounding question which keeps coming back is "Why Pi perceived the happening as the way it is shown?". We can approach this in a mathematical way as Pi is mathematics. If we were shown a story where a man kills another man and eats him. A woman is murdered in-front of his own son. Son has to eat his mother's flesh to stay alive, It becomes gruesome. People start being judgmental of which they have no right.
Instead, when animals are used to say the same story, our emotional being doesn't enter. It's quite believable that animal could kill one another when they are hungry. After the boat incident was over, Pi, never wanted to judge these people for their actions. Everyone is an animal at a basic level and hunger can make you do things you can't even imagine.
Thus, no person has a right to judge those people on that boat. For this, Pi had to tell this story the way it is told. We just choose what we prefer as better for us.
Pi, a reader of both these great novelists, seemingly never judges their perennial philosophies. And even towards the climax, he asks Henry what he prefers; not what he chooses or believes. It was never for Pi to decide whether it was Dostoevsky or Camus he would choose for his reality, and he doesn't.
Moreover, there is a difference in choosing and preferring. But, this story shows that we choose what we prefer as better for us.
Pi, first encounters Lord Krishna, for whom it is said that the whole universe resides within him. He then encounters Islam and Christianity. He accepts none and rejects none. On the other hand, his skeptical and rational father explains him his belief of science. Pi also accounts his perception based on a incident where medicine cured him instead of blessings. It goes like Camus' character foils where people are mirror images of each other and Pi is just a universal observer with no judgement about right and wrong.
Let us suppose the second story of Pi being 'true' (for the sake of saying). The expounding question which keeps coming back is "Why Pi perceived the happening as the way it is shown?". We can approach this in a mathematical way as Pi is mathematics. If we were shown a story where a man kills another man and eats him. A woman is murdered in-front of his own son. Son has to eat his mother's flesh to stay alive, It becomes gruesome. People start being judgmental of which they have no right.
Instead, when animals are used to say the same story, our emotional being doesn't enter. It's quite believable that animal could kill one another when they are hungry. After the boat incident was over, Pi, never wanted to judge these people for their actions. Everyone is an animal at a basic level and hunger can make you do things you can't even imagine.
Thus, no person has a right to judge those people on that boat. For this, Pi had to tell this story the way it is told. We just choose what we prefer as better for us.
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