Life of Pi: Week 4, Post A

Cultural Differences....Well, today I'm going to talk more about religious differences, because religion is a huge part of culture in the United States and an even bigger part in the rest of world. In the story, Pi gives a very down-to-earth view of religion, giving examples of beliefs with easy and yet striking simplicity. For example, he describes how Christianity is like if a lion killed two of you llamas, but to make up for it, you had to be fed to the lions. Pi goes on to say how, regardless of the question, the answer to anything relating to God is "love." Simple, yet brilliant. He also discusses religions we don't think about much, such as Islam. He describes how the prayer for Islams is so simple, and people can do it whereever they are. He says "Why, Islam is nothing but an easy sort of exercise, I thought. Hot weather yoga for the Bedouins. Asanas without sweat, heaven without strain" (60). This, in a few words, is Pi's thinking, as well as an insider's look at an outsider's religion. In the U.S., we either a) completely ignore it, or b) look on it badly. In some countries, people hate Islam. Overall, in other parts of the word, Islam is looked upon very differently, whether for better or worse.