Religion and the Nature of Fiction in "Life of Pi"

"Life of Pi" (Vintage, 2001) by Jann Martel is often used as proof that not only God exists, but that we need God in our lives. However, underneath the surface, a reader can see that "Life of Pi" proves just the opposite - that God does not exist except in fiction. The reader becomes God.

Fiction or Fact?

Best selling novelist Stephen King often claims that writers are liars, because all fiction is a lie. But it is in this lie that makes fiction so powerful. The better the lie, the more the reader is willing to get caught up in the fictional world of the novel and thoroughly enjoy it.

Martel is an excellent storyteller, using just enough bizarre details and mimicry of journalistic styles to make a reader easily suspend disbelief. "Life of Pi" reads like a non-fiction book. Martel begins by how he stumbled upon the amazing Piscene "Pi" Patel, who survived 227 days in a lifeboat with a full grown male tiger as his only companion. The tiger would serve as a symbol for God.

After reading the book, it is hard not to wonder if any of it is true. Martel makes no pretense - "Life of Pi" is entirely a work of fiction.

Modern Parable

There are many books today taken as fact even though they are arguably fiction. All of the great religious books or myths of the world fall into this category. There is no way to prove that the Bible, the Koran, the Vedas or whatever can be verified as fact or fiction because the events are purported to occur long before modern fact-checking tools like science or written language came about.

"Life of Pi" takes place in the twentieth century, where the story's events can be easily checked as true or false. Martel even lists specific places like the Pondicherry Botanical Garden or a lost Japanese boat called the Tsimtsum. But how many readers actually bothered to look and discover the facts (or lack thereof) for themselves?

The Point

The penultimate scene in the book is when Pi is finally rescued just after his tiger companion disappears into the foliage. As he is recuperating in hospital, he is confronted by two workers of the Japanese company that owned the Tsimstum. They want to know what happened to the ship. Pi tells them his story.

They do not believe it because there is a tiger in it. So Pi tells a different story, only this time without the tiger. The Japanese gentlemen then say that of the two stories, they prefer the one with the tiger in it. Pi says, "Thank you."

And that is how people prefer to go through life - with a tiger in it, even when they know better. Because they like the tiger, or God, in a story, God then only exists in stories and not in real life outside of the story.