Restrictions can be liberating in many ways. If you know what your restrictions are then you have don't have to worry about as many things and you have less choices to make. In some cases choices can be tedious and hard, but if you have restrictions you have limited choices and solutions to choose from, and you are forced to pick the best one.
In Pi's case, the restrictions are drastic. He was in the middle of the pacific ocean, on a lifeboat with a huge tiger and limited supplies for more than 200 days. Because of Pi's restrictions, he had to liberate his mind of the struggles of society and focus on surviving. He didn't have people to tell him to choose a god. Pi had enough restrictions that he had the opportunity to be free. He could pray to whoever he wanted whenever he wanted with out society or a person clinging to his back and dragging him down all the time.
Pi had to find out a way to liberate himself from the restrictions of Richard Parker(the tiger). With the small amount of resources he had and his mind he started training the tiger and he also made a raft to liberate himself the dangers of the tiger. Being trapped on the lifeboat let Pi pray to whoever he wanted.Because of Pi's restrictions, he learned more about himself, about animals, and the ocean. Restrictions can be liberating, mentally and physically.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
In "The Life of Pi", restriction was very liberating. Being stuck on the life boat in the middle of the ocean with no one around except for Richard Parker was very stressful, but I think the stress of wild tiger, Richard Parker, saved Pi's life. Besides living with this constant threat, having the tiger on the boat with him gave Pi something to take care of, feed, and train. If Pi had been alone for all that time without something besides himself to take care of he might have lost his mind. The restriction of having to be so close to a wild animal for such a long time, actually kept Pi going. By living through the stress, Pi survived to live his life. Richard Parker was Pi's main lifeline.
I think that having the boundaries that Pi has is actually very helpful to him. By having the restrictions that he does, such as the very small boat and the ocean and Richard Parker it helps him to stay sane on his long journey. For example he uses R.P as a huge distraction for him self. He uses the training and taming of R.P and fishing and praying and such to help himself keep boundaries and work through it.
Being limited and restricted in the Life of Pi is actually helpful to Pi. I think that because Pi had the restriction of first of all being on a small life boat, and also Richard Parker being restriction it was easier for Pi to create his bounderies.Because he had these restrictions he is able to have an environment that it is easier to wrap his mind around and helps him to be able to concentrate on keeping himself sane. For example he uses Richard Parker as a huge distraction for himself with training R.P and keeping himself a live by fishing and praying and such.
Life of Pi
Restrictions in Life of Pi can be liberating because when Pi was in the boat with Richard parker he decided that he needed to stay away from him to stay alive, Because of this he built the other, smaller life boat and let it trail along behind the bigger life boat. This later came to save his life because it added anchor to the life boat making it so that it went the same direction as the waves. This restriction also allowed for Pi to look at Richard Parker from a distance, allowing him to later establish his territory and figure out ways to tame him.
The time Pi's father showed him the tiger being fed the goat also acted as another restriction to Pi. This added a greater sense of caution and fear when looking and interacting with the tiger later in the book made Pi liberated from the constant danger by being more cautious when taming Richard parker which then led him to surviving throughout the book.
Ristriction can be liberating in the life of Pi because his ristriction in the life boat teaches Pi that with every ristriction there is also an expansion. For example when Pi is ristricted on the life boat with Richard Parker he come up with some very creative ways of avoiding the tiger, and eventually teaching Richard Parker that he is the super alfa by makeing loud nouse. Also the fact that Pi starts out on the life boat very religous and when he ends he is not so religous.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Pi and Richard Parker
When Pi is out on sea he is stuck on the life boat with the Richard Parker. And Pi feels trapped so every day he prays one to three times a day. Praying helps pi forget his emotions about losing his family and having hope of surviving. I think even though Pi is scared of Richard Parker he feels that the tiger is helping him with his emotions and of being lonesome and trapped on the life boat. Pi having to spend time on the life boat gave him time to pray and helped him find a few moments to forget his worries and go to a place in his mind were he could be free.
How Can Restrictions be Liberating?
In my own personal opinion all restrictions can be liberating in a way, consciously or unconsciously, because they can take the question and the choices out of certain situations. At the zoo the animals may be in captivity, but the choices about food, housing, water, ect.. have been taken out of their lives which liberates them from those questions and/ or problems in their everyday life. This is, in my opinion, why the bear that escapes comes back to the zoo after a little while. The bear cannot survive regular life in the wild anymore because as a result of being liberated from those choices they have been forced to accept a certain life style.
Later in the book when Pi is on the lifeboat he has his own liberation. To sum it up quickly he is liberated from his religions. After an extended time on the lifeboat he decides that god has left him and he is suddenly liberated from all the beliefs and rules of religion. He no longer has to follow the specific and concrete guidelines and is open to believe what he wants to.
First, I think that restriction is something that we in our mind create for ourselves. There are many stories of animals allowed out of their cages (by doors being left open ex) but choose to stay in their cages because it is their home. The animals do not consider them selves restricted. We can choose to consider ourselves restricted or free. So in that way, one could say that pi was never really restricted. If he had considered the life boat as his home ( as he eventually does) he would not have thought he was caged in. However one can not argue with the fact that pi was physically limited to the life boat. This could be liberating mentally because he is finally given time to think. As an effect pi's beliefs do change.
Also, in pi's youth his parents did not allowed him near Richard Parker. It makes sense, what father would want his son near a 400-pound tiger. However, on the life boat pi is free to interact with Richard Parker as he pleased. One could argue that being forced with Richard Parker was just another restriction but i don't think pi viewed it that way. In fact, pi says that he would not have survived with out Richard Parker. Witch brings me back to my earlier point that restriction and freedom change based on how one looks at it.
When Pi was growing up he had lots of freedom to roam around the zoo but he also had restrictions, like his dad showed him with the tiger and the goat. When Pi is trapped on the boat he realizes that he isn't the only one trapped in a cage, he is trapped just like all the animals in the zoo. When he is trapped on the boat he is restricted in the way that he cant leave, but he has the liberty to think and relax. he doesnt have anyone bothering him or telling him what to do. he has the freedom to just sit and do nothing. Also on the boat Pi was able to be all the religions he wanted, as to before he was restricted to his practicing's back home.
Life Of Pi
Although as a young child Pi was always introverted, his mental prospect in life was affected and produced by his upbringing. Pi's father, Santosh, knew little of Pi's personal aspects of life, he did, however, give Pi lessons at the zoo which affected him greatly. These lessons were coveted by Pi and shaped his thinking as he grew older. Pi grew up with the idea that animals were better off in the zoo than at the mercy of nature. He believed that within a territory supplied with all of the survival props that an animal will be content and will feel liberated from the task of survival despite the obvious restrictions. By carrying these ideas back from Pondicherry and onto the boat he was able to find liberty. Although it took him a while to fully appreciate the things that liberated him within the boat, he soon realized that within it he did posses liberty. However, his experience was quite unlike that of the zoo animals. He had no people to care for him, he had no instant gratification of hunger and in order to survive it was necessary for him to take on numerous amount of survival chores. Nevertheless he had a full supply of fresh meat within the ocean with complete economic freedom, he had the freedom from societal constraints and the freedom of religion.
The life of Pi - Restrictions
When Pi was a young child he was able to learn from the zoo that his father owned. He learned that animals had their own boundairies and he learned not to go over an animals comfort zone.
That knowledge helped him survive many months on a boat with a Bengal tiger. Pi was able to leave Richard Parker alone and keep out of the ferocious beast's way, that allowed Richard Parker to get used to Pi's presence. Once the tiger got used to a human, Pi made lots of noise and big gestures to show Richard Parker that he was the dominant male. Because Pi had worked with restriction of animals he was able to understand Richard Parker's boundaries.
Pi also faces many hard challenges when he is forced to go against his nature to survive. He must eat meat even though he is a vegetarian. However, being alone on this small ship made him free to question life, death and religion. Pi no longer had any restrictions, even though he was physically captive in a small area he was able to let his mind wonder over the vast seas.
Pi learned that to know your restrictions helps you learn and observe your freedom.
That knowledge helped him survive many months on a boat with a Bengal tiger. Pi was able to leave Richard Parker alone and keep out of the ferocious beast's way, that allowed Richard Parker to get used to Pi's presence. Once the tiger got used to a human, Pi made lots of noise and big gestures to show Richard Parker that he was the dominant male. Because Pi had worked with restriction of animals he was able to understand Richard Parker's boundaries.
Pi also faces many hard challenges when he is forced to go against his nature to survive. He must eat meat even though he is a vegetarian. However, being alone on this small ship made him free to question life, death and religion. Pi no longer had any restrictions, even though he was physically captive in a small area he was able to let his mind wonder over the vast seas.
Pi learned that to know your restrictions helps you learn and observe your freedom.
Life of Pi
While Pi was restricted in the lifeboat, he was liberated to be who he wanted to be. He was told that he couldn't be more than his religion, but while he was trapped on the boat, he was able to follow and religion he wanted, even multiple religions. It also liberated him to do whatever he wanted. As long as he didn't enter Richard Parker's territory, and didn't get Richard Parker angry, he could do anything he wanted without having any parents to tell him off.
The fact that Pi was able to survive for close to 2 years is absolutely amazing. But he wouldn't have been able to live that long, if it wasn't for Richard Parker,the fact that Pi lived on this lifeboat with a 400-pound bengal tiger is simply incredible. Pi was able to survive simply by his ability to think about how to create a survival tent and to create tools out the items that he could find in the lifeboat and sea.
Pi created a life raft so that way he could have more freedom,because while he was on the lifeboat he had about 12-15 feet of space because the rest of it was Richard Parker's area. And to increase the size of his space he made the raft. But eventually he started thinking "well if I'm going to share the same area with this tiger, then i may as well show him that I'm the alpha male. Then maybe I'll get some more space." So Pi took the whistle he found in the locker that he found, in an attempt to increase his restriction on the raft and boat. So eventually by doing this enough he train Richard Parker to allow him to stay and move a bit more around the boat without growling as much at Pi for intruding on his already small space.
The only way that Pi had made it so that he could have more space with the whistle trick is that he had remembered while he was at the zoo he had helped his father train these animals and he had lived with them. And while in the zoo the animals felt secure and not as frightened of what was going to happen to them or frightened of the outside world. But once outside demonstrated by all of the animals, they started doing things that they had been born to be.
So it shows us that the more restriction that we have, the better we feel, the less we have, the more insecure we start feeling about actual life, or a life that involves us living otuside of our parents care.
Pi created a life raft so that way he could have more freedom,because while he was on the lifeboat he had about 12-15 feet of space because the rest of it was Richard Parker's area. And to increase the size of his space he made the raft. But eventually he started thinking "well if I'm going to share the same area with this tiger, then i may as well show him that I'm the alpha male. Then maybe I'll get some more space." So Pi took the whistle he found in the locker that he found, in an attempt to increase his restriction on the raft and boat. So eventually by doing this enough he train Richard Parker to allow him to stay and move a bit more around the boat without growling as much at Pi for intruding on his already small space.
The only way that Pi had made it so that he could have more space with the whistle trick is that he had remembered while he was at the zoo he had helped his father train these animals and he had lived with them. And while in the zoo the animals felt secure and not as frightened of what was going to happen to them or frightened of the outside world. But once outside demonstrated by all of the animals, they started doing things that they had been born to be.
So it shows us that the more restriction that we have, the better we feel, the less we have, the more insecure we start feeling about actual life, or a life that involves us living otuside of our parents care.
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