"You can't prove which story is true and which is not. You must take my word for it.""I guess so."
"In both stories the ship sinks, my entire family dies, and I suffer."
"Yes, that's true."
"So tell me, since it makes no factual difference to you and you can't prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with the animals or the story without animals?"
Mr. Okamoto: "That's an interesting question..."
Mr. Chiba: "The story with animals."
Mr. Okamoto: "Yes. The story with animals is the better story."
Pi Patel: "Thank you. And so it goes with God." - The Life of Pi p352
Last night at book club, we discovered that none of us could understand what the first third of the book - when Pi converts to all three of the world's major religions - has to do with the rest of the book - shipwrecked, lost at sea with zoo animals (or not zoo animals) and all the happenings there.
But after talking about it a bit more today (we still didn't get it), and while driving home from the kids P.E., I think I had a eureka moment.
The better story.
That is the point we are supposed to be left with. Which is the better story. Each story Pi had to offer explained what had happened to him while he was at sea those 227 days. But the officials rejected the first story with the animals calling it "farfetched". But after they heard the second story, they much prefered the first, calling it the "better story".
In the beginning of the novel, Pi finds himself attracted to aspects of Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. He can't decide which is the "better story" because each has aspects that he feels draw him closer to God. In fact, when he is confronted with his "triple conversion" and the fact that most would find that impossible, he simply blurts out, "I just want to love God!"
So is that what the author is challenging us with? A "we're all going up the same mountain just different sides, but the Almighty we are seeking is the same at the top" moral? I think he is. By marrying Pi's religious quest with such a strange (and disturbing) train of events, he has left us to "choose the better story". Just like people should be left to "choose" the religious story they prefer. (The inference of the author.)
The problem is, that all of the world's religions are mutually exclusive. One cannot be a "good muslim" and also follow Christ. One cannot worship the many gods of Hinduism and still profess "the Lord our God, the Lord is One."
Martel leaves us to choose the "better story" of Pi - the one we "prefer". But we cannot be so flippant when it comes to life and faith. I choose Jesus, not because I prefer Him, but because His is the true story - the story of God condescending to man - to live the life man could not and thus pay the penalty man could not possibly have ever paid. His story gives hope, and a purpose for the world. His story tells us we were created with dignity - a marred dignity, yet a dignity that should be celebrated...and is worth saving. His is the "better story" - the story that gives life.
But don't take my word for it...take His. You can read it yourself in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the Bible. I highly recommend it.
3 comments:
I haven't read Life of Pi but my kids have. Your analysis feels "spot-on" based on what they have said. Indeed, there really IS a better story! Thanks, Heather
Hey Heather,
I’m a friend of Brian Franklin’s who enjoys both you and your husband’s blogs.
I enjoyed your thoughts on Life of Pi and I have included my own:
The character of Pi is idealistic – in fact I would say this is shown to be his greatest fault and greatest strength. His idealism leads him to see common ground for three of the world’s major religion. His idealism leads him to first see the island of the meerkats as an Eden. His idealism ultimately leads him to conjure a story of the surviving animals.
Behind every one of these situations is a brutal reality, a reality that his idealism cannot accept. There will never be peace among the religions, the island’s carnivorous nature, the death of his mom, and the murder by his own hands. So in one way you can look at Pi as an extremely deluded young man – a textbook example of an escapist mentality.
But as an idealist myself – I can see that there is also great strength in seeing the world as better than it actually is. If we can see a better story we can see the redemptive potential and ultimately start to see Christ’s very tangible work in the world. Pi wants his world to be better – and this is a desire that all Christians should have.
Well said Heather. I read about mr. pi for bookclub in November and waited to read your blog until I finished it. I completely agree with the read but never read again sentiment.
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