The Analysis Of Life Of Pi From Environmental Ethics Perspective

Life of Pi is the representative work of Canadian novelist Yann Martel. It narrates a story that Pi and a tiger, whose name is Richard Parker, float on the Pacific Ocean in 227 days. But it is not just a legendary adventure novel; instead, it motivates readers‘ reflection on human nature and ethical view, which is exactly what this thesis is about. By analyzing the ethical view in novel deeply, this thesis raises it to the level of environmental ethic, probing into how this novel expresses the idea of environmental ethics.The theories used in this thesis are ethical literary criticism and environmental ethics. First of all, by analyzing the metaphors in novel, it can be seen that there are three levels of metaphors: the exterior metaphor between the people and animals, the ethical metaphor about Pi eating his mother, and most importantly, the environmental ethical metaphor – how Pi destroys nature. The third level of metaphor can be extended to all human beings. In addition, based on the discussion of metaphors, this thesis considers the development of Pi‘s ethical principle, and further analyzes how environmental ethical view is reflected in novel. Pi‘s ethical view goes through different stages: superficial understanding, gradual clarifying and final establishment. Pi‘s experience of believing in three kinds of religions makes the ―good‖ in his nature be predominant, and his growing up in his father‘s zoo leads to plain understanding of ecological harmony. But the marine peril on the Pacific Ocean changes his life. He has to feed on his own race and destroy nature due to his desire for life. The ―evil‖ in his nature appears gradually. But he knows his behavior is wrong, and in this process, his ethical principle gradually becomes clearer. Also, his behavior of damaging nature can be elevated to the level of all human. After Pi is rescued, the ―evil‖ in his nature is concealed, and the ―good‖ regains the control of his morality; his ethical view is finally established. And when human realize that their behavior of destroying nature is wrong, they turn to protect nature. This is the core idea Martel wants to express in Life of Pi.