The Identity

Piscine “Pi” Molitor Patel constantly displays animalistic behavior in Life of Pi but there is one thing that keeps him human: an identity. A defined identity does not exist in animals. An animal may have a personality—preferences for certain foods, a distaste for particular noises—but they do not have the defined identity found in man. With this identity comes a distinctly human characteristic: a search for what exactly that identity is. The exploration into one’s identity is unique to humanity and discoveries can only be made through struggle.

The first sign of Piscine’s search for his identity regards his name. Piscine expresses love and admiration for the man who gave him the name: an old family friend nicknamed Mamaji by Piscine. Mamaji, being a champion swimmer in his youth, is the one who instills in Piscine a love of swimming. Piscine is named after Mamaji’s favorite swimming pool, which Mamaji claims “was a pool the gods would have delighted to swim in” (Martel 11). To be named after such a great joy of his idol is not disagreeable to such a young boy. However, upon reaching secondary school in Pondicherry, Pi has acquired a cruel nickname: “Pissing Patel.” His new school provides a fresh start for change—beginning with his name, a fundamental element of his identity. Should he reject the name bestowed on him by his idol for one that would eliminate teasing and further his social acceptance? Piscine admits that he “would have taken any name over ‘Pissing’” and thus makes the leap into a new boy (Martel 22). Piscine’s jump to Pi represents a distinct desire to turn away from being a boy named after a pool, a part of his identity.

The greatest example of a search for his identity lies in Pi’s religious beliefs. Pi is Hindu, Christian, and Islamic, three very opposing belief systems. Pi’s belief system is unique to him and is a very defining feature of his identity. His conversion to Christianity and Islam is accidental; he approached both faiths with great hesitation and doubt. When he stumbles onto a church, he describes it as “a fortress” and notes that Christianity “had a reputation for few gods and great violence,” a reputation Pi buys into until he met the priest inside (Martel 51). His Hindu identity challenges the Christian god who accepted death out of mere love. Eventually, the god grows on him and Pi, against his current identity, adjusts who he is to include Christianity with initial apprehension. His conversion to Islam happens much the same way. Pi realizes after great reluctance that his identity must include Islam. When confronted by the holy men of his three faiths in front of his parents, Pi struggles with his religious identity again. In the end, he chooses to remain true to his three faiths, saying that he “just [wants] to love God” (Martel 69). Pi discovers, through struggle, that his identity is to love God, and the three faiths are just tools in his embracing his identity.

Pi struggles once more to understand his identity in his survival story itself. Throughout all of Life of Pi, until the very end, Pi only tells the incredible animal survival story. It is unknown that he has another story to tell. However, the Japanese owners of his sunken ship pressure him to tell a story that “reflects reality,” calling his current tale “laughable” (Martel 302, 297). Pi struggles to relay the story they want, but does so, replacing the animals with actual people. Pi is then faced with a tough decision regarding his identity: is he the boy who survived for 227 days on a boat with a tiger or the boy who survived 227 days on a boat with a man who killed his mother, ate other passengers, and whose heart and liver Pi himself ate? At the end of Life of Pi, Pi is still struggling to discover which story is the true part of his identity, and only more discernment will reveal the authentic Pi.

Humans will always struggle to discern their true identities. This struggle is not perceived in other creatures. Pi’s identity is revealed to him only as he makes tough decisions about his name, belief system, and history. Pi’s essentially human characteristic is his exploration of his identity through conflict, a characteristic absent in the other characters of the story. (632)