Effect of Setting on Characters and Story for "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

Life of Pi by Yann Martel is a fictional account of a boy, Pi Patel, and his travels throughout the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with a tiger after the boat he was taking to Canada sunk. The setting, the Pacific Ocean, has a great effect on the characters and the storyline.

The setting greatly influences character by affecting his state of mind, and how he feels. For example, the author wrote that Pi thought "Sometimes my heart was sinking so fast with anger, desolation, and weariness..." This shows he was in a bad state of mind. The author shows the Setting's effect on his state of mind when he writes about Pi's hope for finding a ship to save him: "Always the bitter emotion of hope raised and dashed... What chance was there that a ship crossing the whole great big Pacific would cut into such a tiny circle [The horizon he could see]?... No, humanity and its unreliable ways could not be counted upon." This shows that he lost hope in finding any ships because of the sheer size of the ocean, one way the setting affected him. Another, more benificial, way the setting influenced him is when Pi says "I looked around at the horizon. Didn't I have here a perfect circus ring, inescapeably round, without a single corner for him [the tiger] to hide in? I looked down at the sea. Wasn't this an ideal source of treats with which to condition him to obey? ... My panic was gone. My fear was dominated. Survival was at hand." This shows how the setting made him more hopeful and makes him feel a lot better. The setting influences the character in both negative and positive ways, but always makes him feel a certain way.

The setting influences the plot of the story, by creating the overall plot and how the characters learn in the story. For instance, when the boat sank, the author has Pi think "We left Manila and entered the Pacific. On our fourth day out, midway to Midway, we sank. The ship vanished into a pinprick hole on my map." This shows the setting influencing the plot, because obviously, without the ship sinking, the whole middle of the story would be non-existant. The setting influences how characters learn, for example when Pi thinks "At first, looking out for a ship was somethig I did all the time... but after a few weeks, five or six, I stopped doing it nearly entirely. I did not count the days or the weeks or the months. Time is an illusion which only makes us pant. I survived because I forgot even the very notion of time. What I remember are events and encounters and routines... My memories come in a jumble". This shows that Pi learned a lesson, at least for himeslf and how he was going to survive, becuase of the setting and its effect. Overall, the setting made him learn things for himself and affected the plot of the story.

All in all, the setting had a huge effect on Pi, the lessons he learned, and the story itself. It greatly influences the character, which influences you. The Setting is more than just why Pi is trapped, it's also why he is saved. In this way, the setting is very important to the story.