[中学教育]Life of pi Book Review Wenjo

[中学教育]Life of pi Book Review Wenjo -1- Before the story starts It is not an easy thing to stay alive. Henry David Thoreau said most famously, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." The African-American pianist Fats Waller was a talented jazz player, he used to shout out a sentence when he was playing. This was it: “Somebody shoot me while I’m happy”… The notes were Fats’ cure of agony and religion might also be it for another huge group of people. I could almost hear a quote from “the old science fiction writer” Kilgore Trout, “being alive is a crock of sh*t.” 227days sailing across the sea, Pi stroy became a legend. It’s harder to stay alive than dying. When he was alone, who helped him out? -2- The truth I’d say the book would lose at least half of its splendidness without the twist at the end of the book. Which is true? Was Pi’s journey filled with wonders far beyond the furthest bourns of our horizon? Or was Pi’s miracle established on top of the nasty truth of flesh and blood? The story reaches the apex, the most exciting moment. Only scanning through the story, what we see is a simple boy after experiences a series of conflicts finally completed his trail and perfected his believe in God. However, while giving it a second thought, a chill ran through my back, and as the mists scatters, the truth hidden behind couldn’t be clearer at any point of life. The night I finished the book, I had a strange dream, details surrounding me shouting moaning restlessly forming a tumult. It was till then that I suddenly understood Pi’s devoutness to religion. Alone, young Pi sailed across the ocean, helplessly trembling in the cold with only the companion of hunger and beheaded flesh cut in pieces. Beside him, lies his mother’s body which had already started to fester and decay. 200 days had already broken down the boy’s spirit, drowning him in the depths of his despair. He had already eaten the cook and the sailor, the only supply he had left is his mother. The brutality of reality was just too much for a kid, to avoid collapsing, another Pi was created, his name is, Richard Parker. Yes, Richard Parker ate the cook and sailor, what’s more, Richard Parker ate his mother. Again and Again he convinced himself of the appearance of the other. Richard Parker was the scapegoat of such degeneration, and the truth was also wrapped up with wonders. Pi weaved a cozy story for himself, a story about his friendship with a tiger. Numerous times he repeated it till finally one moment, he believes it himself. And at last, he let the tiger to disappear in the deep forests, and buried the truth deep inside his heart, where he cannot find it. -3- Of Religion, my argument Pi, the thirteenth letter on the alphabet, symbolizes a circle, reason and civilization man has created. It is ironic that what Pi relied on through his drift was his spiritual powers. The basic foundation of religion is our imagination. Pi’s belief in God helped him finish his journey. He may be a coward, afraid to face the truth, yet without his faith, his self-deception, he won’t even have a chance surviving in the dark and empty world. As Pi said, “The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar.” The two Japanese chose to believe the first story, so did the author. They agreed that the first story was more interesting. They both believed in kindness, to cover the fifthly truth hidden behind the story. All the four of them decided to give up the insistence of truth and turned to the glimmers of hope in their heart. They decided to carry the story on, in the versions of kindness to enlighten others. Pi, similar to Job, lost everything. Job bared storms of baptisms of distress, struggled between the lines of life and death. He complained to God, argued with God, kept questioning God and even cursed his own life. But at last, all he said was, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job:42:5-6). So which version of the story should be true, would you believe in thing that you cannot see nor understand? The answer to this question lies deeply in your heart, where a lotus flower is blooming coexisting with tiger side-by-side. Perhaps the author has already answered it for us: the story is ours now.