Pi's Struggle for Survival: An Existential Study of Yann Martel's Life of Pi

Abstract

This paper investigates and illustrates the existential study of Yann Martel's Life of Pi. The novel touches on a story in which the main character, Piscine Molitor Patel, who is shortly known as Pi, survives after being stranded in the middle of nowhere. The presented research paper examines the concept of existence, anxiety, and survival, and finds the ongoing struggle of a young boy Pi in the Pacific Ocean on his lifeboat with a Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker for 277 days. My study seeks to answer the cause of his existential crisis, what is the existential theme in the novel, and how the theme is presented throughout the protagonist. Therefore, the focus of this dissertation is on the analysis of existential theories. Mainly, Jean- Paul Sartre's analysis has been applied in the novel Life of Pi. I have tried to prove how the protagonist selects the choices for his living as suggested by Sartre in his notions. On the other hand, it is stretched to describe that how people are struggling in the postmodern era like the fictional character Pi. Indeed, Pi's story is an analogy to real life. This study concludes that the events Pi experienced on the boat give him scope to explore his freedom to shape the essence of his existence in the alien world.