Yes of course, Life of Pi is indeed a work of magical realism. The
definition of magical realism is a book or story that has booth realistic and
unrealistic features. The story of Life of Pi has both of these features
throughout the story.
•
Unrealistic: the island in which Pi gratefully landed and spent a day
in. Most things on the island seemed unrealistic, but like the definition
states, as long as it is real to the characters, it is considered magical
realism.
•
Realistic: The sinking of the ship was very realistic, since this
tragedy was true, not just according to Piscine.
The novel itself is serious or fantasy, depending on whose point of view
it is. To Piscine, this is a serious story, since it was his own experiences
that he was describing. To the reader, however, this story might have seemed to
unrealistic to seem true. To Martel, it might have been a little bit of both.
He incorporated a serious and fantasy novel that in the end would get his
message through. In the end, that is what the point of every novel should be: to
get a messaged drilled into our brain.
Life of Pi is told from Piscine's point of view, so we can assume some
things might be biased. This can include his real desire to stay on the island
or any other things. This makes it harder for the reader to reveal the truth
and decide whether or not the story was indeed a work of magical realism.
I agree with you that Life of Pi is a work of magical realism and most of the points that you brought up are valid. I especially like how you stated that the point of every novel is to “get a message drilled into our brains” because I believe that is true, even though many people don’t bother to find a message sometimes. However, I have to disagree with you that Life of Pi was only told in Piscine’s point of view because the story also provided point of views from that one interviewer guy and the two Japanese men.
ReplyDelete