The Protagonist and the Essential Question for "life of Pi"

The Protagonist and the Essential Question for "Life of Pi"

"Can an individual maintain his values in society?"

The main individual in this story is "Piscine Molitor Patel." He is a young boy living in India and learning about Zoology. The society that Pi is living in doesn't seem to give much respect to someone that is unique. His classmates make fun of his name. Pi lives in a society that revolves around two main religions, Hindu and Muslim. Pi practices both of these religions when he lives in India with his family. The society doesn't appreciate someone who practices both religions; they think that it should be one or the other. The individual has many different values in his life. Two main things that he values are his family and his religion. He goes threw a lot of changes in religion and huge changes in his life. A lot of people in their life usually only have one religion. Pi Patel goes threw three very different religions: Hinduism, Muslim and Christianity. When someone changes in what they believe in their values can change too. Pi's values are changing threw out the story. When Pi is shipwrecked and left on a lifeboat with the different animals, he values more to his own survival. To me Pi is a type of person who is more on an individual and can do things on his own and doesn't need someone to follow.

"The man on the phone asked, "Can I have your name?" I said, "I am who I am." Half an hour later two pizzas arrived for "Ian Hoolihan"."

This quote from the novel just shows how Pi is tired of helping people to understand how to pronounce his name that he just has some fun with it and makes up a name. This shows how Pi is annoyed with society.