In the novel The Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the protagonist, Pi Patel struggles with survival but manages to maintain a balanced view of his situation. He does not lose faith in God, whatever form it takes, even if physically he begins to lose hope. He is able to remain rational while believing in the irrational. He maintains his humanity throughout the novel and, as a result, is able to survive both physically and emotionally and ultimately be reintegrated into society and normal life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay When a person's physical body collapses, their mind automatically turns to survival and survival only. This change in mentality has led people throughout history to make choices in a time of difficulty that they otherwise would never have even considered. The body and mind cater to the most basic needs: food, water and shelter. Basically, anything other than these three essentials for survival loses precedent in terms of overall priorities in one's existence. There have been many historical cases where a boat sank and people were stranded and turned to cannibalism to survive. One such case was that of Richard Parker, a cabin boy who was eaten by two other crew members after they were stranded together in a lifeboat. That case became famous after the crew members were tried and convicted of murder, and the cabin boy is the partial namesake of the tiger Richard Parker in Life of Pi. Pi has many "tactics" that he uses during his time at sea to maintain his sanity, morals, and humanity. He constantly occupies his brain with a wide range of thoughts, from God to new fishing methods. He begins to believe in the irrational, but instead of allowing it to interpret his perception of reality, he uses it as a portal to escape from his current existence and as a way to occupy his brain with thoughts other than the barbaric survival thoughts he is seeking to avoid. According to Pi himself, “Only fear can defeat life,” and so he uses these irrational thoughts and ideas, as well as his love and faith in God, to avoid fear and occupy his days (Martel 161). It is possible that his entire journey was a case of him believing the irrational, as he presents a new tiger-less story after reaching Mexico. Since he is an introvert and has the ability to deal only with his thoughts, he is able to survive and maintain a stable mental state throughout the ordeal. There are times, as there would be with any human, when Pi's faith wavers and he struggles to uphold his morals. The difference between him and people on other doomed journeys who reverted to things like cannibalism was that he was able to recognize and immediately put an end to these moments of barbaric behavior. At one point he recognizes that his eating habits are becoming animalistic and states: “For me it was an unmistakable indication of how low I had fallen the day I noticed, with a pang in my heart, that I ate like an animal, that was just how Richard Parker ate” (Martel 225). It is said that the first, and most important, step in solving a problem is to recognize it, and Pi is able to recognize this problem of becoming animalistic and take steps to solve it. One of his methods for solving this problem is to make sure that whenever he is forced to eat an animal, he always says a prayer for it before eating it. This helps him accept that he is eating a creature.