Life of Pi- Final Essay

   In Yann Martel's Life of Pi, the reader's main Character, Pi Patel, is an unusual person. He practices many different religions all at the same time and does all kinds of other strange things. Many people would consider Pi crazy, or mad, and would say he belongs in some type of mental institution; however, I would have to disagree. 
   Pi tells us a story of a shipwreck and about its survivors, or lack there of any. In one version of the story Pi uses animals. Pi says there's a zebra, an orangutan, a Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker, and some other animals. Yet, when the validity of his story is questioned, Pi changes his story. All of the animals are replaced with people. Yes, these same animals who have killed and eaten each other have been replaced by human beings. If Pi's animal story had been true, one might not think anything of a tiger killing a hyena, but one would most certainly question the sanity of a young boy killing another human.
  At the close of the novel after Pi has told the reader both versions of the story, many are lead to believe the Richard Parker the tiger is supposed to "represent" Pi. However, Richard Parker isn't all of Pi, just the violent side of Pi, the side of Pi who is willing to do whatever he has to do to survive.
   At one point in the novel Pi tells us this: "I had to tame him (Richard Parker). It was at that moment that I realized this necessity. It was not a question of him or me, but of him and me. Most likely the worst would happen: the simple passage of time, in which his animal toughness would easily outlast my human frailty." Once the reader compares the animal story against the "replacement" story with humans, this statement means so much more to the credibility of Pi's NOT-insane-ness. The quesiton wasn't if Pi OR Richard Parker could survive, it was both, Pi and his will to survive named Richard Parker. Martel leaves the reader to decide if Pi truly is crazy and has a wild imagination or if he is just a grieving boy trying to cope with the loss of his family. Regardless, Pi is not mad. Pi is simply... A survivor. Pi did what he had to do to survive and if making up a tall tale to help ease the pain of searing loss is what he had to do to move on in life, that is what Pi Martel did. Pi may have made up both stories, the reader will never know.