Darwinian Theory and the ‘Life of Pi’ Essay

Darwinian system whitethorn be affaird to explain Yann Martels reinvigorated Life of Pi. public the wise is an aesthetic portrayal of spirituality, purity, and practicality, it is n unitytheless not immune to the issues of scientific validity, materiality, and determinism. In this paper, the author will explore the relationship of Darwinian Theory with the core concepts in the novel. These core concepts atomic number 18, in general, assumed to be in conflict with the principles of Darwinian Theory. However, this assumption may be relaxed as the author unwraps fit. young SummaryPiscine Pi Molitor Patel lives in Pondicherry, India a boy described as curious, jolly, and deep-s wipe outed with learn. His father is the owner of the Pondicherry Zoo. His m another(prenominal) is an devouring(a) reader of various literary works. Much of the protagonists learning experience came from school. Hi school is filled with amazing teachers many of whom became ad hominem mentors of Pi. Although he grew up as a Hindu, he discovered the Catholic faith at the age of 14 from a priest named founding father Martin. However, upon meeting Mr. Kumar, a Muslim, he changes his religious orientation by practicing Islam.Pi openly defies the custom of religious conservatism by advocating liberalism in idolize he regards Catholicism, Islam, and Hinduism as legitimate religions. At the age of 16, Pis father decides to abandon Prime Ministers Gandhi due to some(a) political and ethical issues. The family is forced to move to Toronto, Canada. The animals in the zoo are dispersed to various zoos in the United States. On their way to Canada, the gravy gravy holder unexpectedly sinks. Only Pi survives stuck with a dying hyena and a zebra. While struggling in the shark-infested water, he saves Richard Parker, a Bengal tiger.In the boat, ravening animals prey on herbivores and the carcasses of dead animals. For seven months, Pi hides on a raft behind the boat. He is able to tame Parker using a whistle. Parker sees to develop affection with Pi Parker be fuck offs the close partner of Pi. While at sea, Pi learns to eat from the sea. However, because the nutrition derived from the sea is insufficient to feed the two, both(prenominal) Pi and Parker become ill. As the health of both Pi and Parker deteriorate, the creator loses his voltaic pile. Then, they come across another blind man a mortal stranded in his lifeboat on the Pacific.The blind man in moves to kill and eat Pi. However, the tiger (Parker) attacks and eats the blind man. Pi, however, sheds tears for the blind man, clearing his sight as a consequence. For a long period of time, the two suffered from the scourges of the seas. Then, they come across an island made of algae and populated with the so-called Meerkats. Pi begins to eat algae and gradually regains his strength. Parker also regains his strength by eating Meerkats. For several(prenominal) weeks both Pi and Parker live on the islan d. Both are actually happy and al approximately optimistic of life.Eventually, Pi finds several sets of corroded charitable teeth wrapped in tree leaves. Pi is horrified. Pi realizes that during the wickedness the algae become acidic. The island becomes carnivorous i indicator of which is the sleeping clothing of the Meerkats. Meerkats sleep at night to avoid danger. His discovery sends shivers on his clay a feeling of hopelessness and despair run in his mind. The side by side(p) day, he leaves the island with Parker. After spending so much time in the ocean, Pi finally lands in Mexico. Parker runs off into the woods. Pi is eventually get by villagers who immediately take him to a nearby hospital.The shipping caller-out which owned the ship interviewed Pi. Pi narrates his story to the representatives of the company his 227-day journey on the boat and the fantastic tales of his experiences with Parker, the Bengal tiger, and of course, the dangerous island. The representativ es of the company do not recall Pis story and therefore ask Pi to name another story. Pi narrates a warrant story. In the story, the cook of the boat kills both his mother and a sailor with a broken leg. Pi kills the cook. The company representatives realize that Pis second story parallels the first.Pi asks the representatives which story they like the most. The representatives agree they like the first story and the one they will use in their report. Darwinian Theory in the Novel In the first part of the novel, Darwinian Theory seems to be antonymous with the core concepts of the story. The story advocates the concepts of spirituality, freedom of conscience, purity, and spiritual inception of munificence as the main determinants of mans journey in life. In the beginning, Pis life is governed by these principles, as evident by his constituted commitment to the precepts of spiritual living.Pi believes that the future of humanity depends on mans commitment to his spiritual orig in. Humanity is above materialism, prejudice, and the natural laws of pick, adaptation, and defend. Hence, humanity is defined not by the peculiarities of deterministic living hardly by choice and freedom. If one uses Darwinian Theory, one can clearly see the contradictions. Darwinian Theory suggests We urinate seen that man incessantly presents individual differences in all parts of his body and in his mental faculties.These differences or variations seem to be induced by the resembling general causes, and to obey the very(prenominal) laws as with the lower animals. In both cases similar laws of inheritance prevail. firearm tends to increase at a greater rate than his means of subsistence so he is insouciantly subjected to a severe seek for existence, and natural selection will have effected whatever lies within its scope (On the linage of Species, 147). In short, the future of humanity is governed by the principles of struggle, variation, and adaptation. To deny the mat erial origin of man is to deny his temperament.The peculiarities of mans existence, is therefore, clouded by lies which uphold in the human psyche. Darwinian Theory presents man in the most material form man originated from lower forms through a invariably long periods of time. In his hold back The Descent of Man, Darwin clearly defined the spirit of man. accord to Darwin, man is an ubiquitous species selected by temper to perpetuate in the world. His main tool for survival is knowledge or technological advancement. However, this prefer is not a departure from natural selection, struggle, or adaptation.Rather, it is part of nature ungoverned by either choice or freedom and instrumental to the logic of evolution. In short, man is related to other species in one way or another. In the novel, Pis ingenuous prognostication of problems and its eventual resolution are presented as natural and instinctual. With this, one is forced to refer again to Darwins assertion which stat es He who is not glut to look, like a savage, at the phenomena of nature as disconnected, cannot any lengthy believe that man is the work of a separate act of creation.He will be forced to admit that the close resemblance of the fertilized egg of man to that, for instance, of a dog- the construction of his skull, limbs and whole frame on the same plan with that of other mammals, independently of the uses to which the parts may be put- the occasional re-appearance of various structures, for instance of several muscles, which man does not normally possess, only if which are putting surface to the Quadrumana- and a crowd of analogous facts- all heighten in the plainest manner to the conclusion that man is the co-descendant with other mammals of a common progenitor (The Descent of Man, 74).Darwinian Theory begins to manifest itself in the second part of the novel. Pis struggles in the boat present three concrete principles of Darwinism struggle, adaptation, and competition. Pis st ruggles are generally linked with the actions of other forms of living organisms the zebras, hyena, the snake, and the orangutan. The boat represents a small world where the laws of Darwinism govern anything. According to Darwin, it is impossible for a human being to be separated from the diplomacy of nature, from the actions of other organisms, and the vagrant reality of materialism (On the Origin of Species, 59).The formal predominate of human existence is no more different from the formal regularise which governs nature. According to Darwin, struggle is the formal rule of existence As the missletoe is disseminated by birds, its existence depends on birds and it may metaphorically be said to struggle with other fruit-bearing plants, in regularise to tempt birds to devour and disseminate its seeds kind of than those of other plants.In these several sense, which pass into each other, I use for convenience sake the general term of struggle for existence. A struggle for existen ce inevitably follows from the high rate at which organic beings tend to increase for only struggle can ensure the survival of every living organism (On the Origin of Species, 32-33). In short, Pis struggles in the boat are not an isolated form of adaptation but a real manifestation of the laws of nature (which Darwin established in his book On the Origin of Species).Natural selection is likewise manifested in Pis adventures in the island. The sleeping habit of the Meerkats is congruent with the environment of the island. poster that during nighttime, the island becomes carnivorous and the algae turns into a colony of acidic organisms. In order for the Meerkats to thrive in the island, they must adapt to their environment. Their adaptation will act as a modal(a) for natural selection a species undefendable of reproducing.As Darwin noted But in the case of an island, or of a country partly surrounded by barriers, into which new and better(p) adapted forms could not freely ent er, we should then have places in the economy of nature which would assuredly be better filled up, if some of the original inhabitants were in some manner modified for, had the area been open to immigration, these same places would have been seized on by intruders.In such case, every slight modification, which in the course of ages chanced to arise, and which in any way favoured the individuals of any of the species, by better adapting them to their altered conditions, would tend to be preserved and natural selection would indeed have free scope for the work of improvement (On the Origin of Species, 42). note of hand the similarity of Darwins assertions to the plot of the story. The propensity of survival depends first and world-class on the ability of organisms to adapt to their environment. Adaptation serves as a medium for natural selection (as in the case of the Meerkats in the novel).Conclusion The novel can be analyzed through the lens of Darwinism. It is clear that the nov el contains elements of Darwinism. However, one should note that this form of interpretation is neither deterministic nor perpetual. another(prenominal) types of interpretation may be used to analyze the novel (such as realism, deconstructionism, structuralism, etc. ) Works Cited Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species. London London publication House, 1870/1992. Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man. New York MacMillan Publishing Company, 1882/2001. Martel, Yann. Life of Pi. New York Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2001.