Imagination is irrational. It is dreaming of the ‘impossible’ and the ‘unknown,’ and has unlimited possibilities, continuing to any place that a person comprehends it to be. With this imagination, an individual can embrace any idea or prospect that they dream of, or want to achieve. The possibilities only stop at a place that a person wants it to end. As the idea or state of mind of possibilities increases, uncertainty increases, which leads to the saying that imagination can also increase an individual’s willingness to embrace an uncertain future. Oftentimes, it can be of best interest to embrace uncertainty through imagination and reject reality, as it can help lead individuals to achieve what is best for them. Yann Martel’s novel, Life of Pi, follows the story of Piscine Patel, who is a young boy that has to survive on a ship for 227 days, following a shipwreck on his way to Canada. Even though he has almost nothing at stake, his imagination is what propels him through surviving in the sea. Through Pi’s survival, Martel presents the idea that those who have imagination may be more willing to accept an uncertain future. A person’s imagination determines the extent of uncertain future they are willing to embrace. Pi embodies this idea by maintaining his sense of imagination, which is the ability that allows him to survive at sea. This is shown through Pi’s character development throughout his journey at sea, and his determination to reach Canada.
From his childhood, Piscine Patel’s imagination was seen to reach no end. This starts out with his name which was nicknamed as Pi, a letter of the Greek alphabet used to represent the irrational number found from the ratio of diameter to circumference of a circle. Like his name suggests, Pi was a person with an infinite and irrational sense of imagination. Growing up in a zoo, he felt a connection to animals, and imagined them in various sizes, shapes, and forms. His imagination was so vivid that he “may have anthropomorphized the animals till they spoke fluent English.” Pi could imagine an uncertain future, one that knew no bounds, with him, the animals, and the world he had created. This imaginative sense of Pi also came from him practising three different separate religions Hinduism, Catholicism, and Islam. When faced with the prospect of choosing between the three religions, Pi begins to assert that “all religions are true.” With this saying, Pi shows that his imagination allows him to accept all religions, even if there are people mocking it or reprimanding against it; it allows him to accept the idea of an uncertain future which he envisioned. The idea of animals and religions he indulges in allows Pi to have this sense of imagination that begins to lead him into a future of uncertain possibilities and ideas.
The premise of reality faces Pi, after he is stranded in a lifeboat at sea, suffering the loss of his family and beloved zoo animals. From here forth, he tries to avoid reality through this imagination he developed of animals and religion. After the shipwreck of Tsimtsum, Pi had lost all his family members, and was stranded alone in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, with violent ‘zoo animals’ and “impending death” looming over him. In this situation, his future in Canada is uncertain, there is nothing or no one to see him there, or no prospect of any rescue. However, his imagination comes to save him, providing an ability to survive in these tough circumstances, and pursue an uncertain life in Canada. The imagination that he uses mainly resides in his zoo animals and religions that he held onto from his childhood. He said “I felt like the sage Markandeya, who fell out of Vishnu’s mouth while Vishnu was sleeping and so beheld the entire universe.” Through this comparison, Pi transcends himself to a spiritual level, and this imagination allows him to put his surroundings into perspective, among the universe. While this is unsettling, the imagination of religion allows Pi into the willingness to survive in such an environment. In addition to this, Pi’s appreciation and imagination of his surroundings allows him to keep occupied out of his routine life at the ocean. He describes the ocean underneath him as “highways, boulevards, streets, and roundabouts, bustling with submarine traffic.” The commotion given to him by this view allows him companionship, and some sort of will to survive. He explains these emotions through the words of “lucky in some way,” showing that the animal background in the ocean is another element in his willingness to survive, no matter where his future may lie. The imagination of animals and religion does not fail Pi during his tiresome journey through the Pacific Ocean, and keeping on to it, allows him to continue the will to live.
The strength of imagination in propelling one to embrace an uncertain future, even at some points by rejecting reality is shown by Pi in his determination to survive. At the end of the book, during an interview with Japanese investigators, when asked for a more realistic story, something which Pi describes as a “dry, yeastless faculty,” we find out that there are two versions of the story Pi can tell. In the more “realistic” and “rational” form, it is discovered that the animals in Pi’s journey were zoomorphized humans, with Pi representing the Bengal Tiger, Richard Parker, himself. The connections in the book to Richard Parker and Pi are very evident on the second read; Pi was using his imagination of animals to make up a story that he preferred. It gave him the outlet to separate his cannibalistic animal behaviour (which Pi described as a “[descent] to a level of savagery no one imagined possible,”) and his humane form. The works and acts that he had to do at sea, were better characteristics of an animal like Richard Parker. Earlier in the book, Pi was seen saying, “stories are highly recommended,” during his time at the boat, which represents exactly what Pi was doing, not only to pass time, but also to survive. Essentially, this indicates that Pi was able to come to terms with what he had to do for survival as Richard Parker, as he even mentions, “If I had the will to live, it was thanks to Richard Parker.” By this particular quote, Martel makes the direct reference that imagination gave Pi the willingness to survive and embrace his upcoming future. As Pi did not lose his sense of imagination, he was able to continue in the prospect of his uncertain journey, and ultimately survive, without comprising his moral values, and essentially accomplishing the impossible.
In Life of Pi, Yann Martel uses the main character to convey that imagination gives a person the willingness to embrace an uncertain future. He depicts this by showing how imagination can be vital in giving a person the will to be able to accept situations, and see what is waiting for them in the future, even though it may be uncertain. In Pi’s case, he was able to survive the desperate circumstances he faced at sea through his use of imagination in religion and animals, and continue in the prospect of living. In times where his Pi is faced with a harsh reality, the more certain option of dying came across multiple times throughout his journey. However, his imagination leads him into the uncertainty of an nearly impossible survival and exciting future in Canada. Allowing his imagination to guide him enabled him to embrace uncertain future. It is Pi’s irrationality that allows him to survive in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for 227 days and leads him to a happy ending.
While reality may be rational, sometimes people need to pursue the uncertain future hidden in the irrationality of imagination to be able to achieve what’s best for them.
