![]() Pi comes to realise, especially as the ship sails past, that he must rely on himself to survive. “Idle” hope also means that he is depending upon other people and this can lead to disappointment which can be psychologically crushing in his circumstances. “Idle hope” is “tantamount to dreaming one’s life away”. Throughout his journey, Pi becomes aware of the difference between practical imagination and futile dreaming. It is the “better story” rather than the “dry yeastless factuality” that, according to the author, leads to “moral exaltation”. This relationship also lies at the core of the “better story” that, irrespective of how bleak and depressing his circumstances, ensures his emotional and psychological wellbeing. Pi’s precarious relationship with the Bengal tiger, Richard Parker, is critical to his ability to imagine his survival and to maintain hope. It is, therefore, this “inability to let go” or rather his “life-hungry stupidity” that ensures Pi triumphs against the odds. ![]() Furthermore, his imagination helps him overcome his fear and tame adversity. It feeds his will to live, nurtures his determination and props up his faith all of which prevent him from succumbing to the surrounding dangers. Without his imagination, Yann Martel suggests, it is unlikely that Pi would have survived his ordeal at sea. “I was alone and orphaned in the middle of the Pacific, hanging on to an oar, an adult tiger in front of me, sharks beneath me, a storm raging about me.” ( Life of Pi, 107) The role of the imagination in Pi’s epic journey by Dr Jennifer Minter
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