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Martel's Writing Styles
Topics: Yann Martel incorporates a lot of deep topics within his writing like faith, religion, and survival. He exemplifies these topics in many of his pieces like The Life of Pi and Beatrice and Virgil. He treats religion as a matter of personal belief rather than logical belief. For example, religion plays a major factor in his book Life of Pi. The difference between science and religion in his novels is not only a technical difference, but a difference in understanding the world. His prioritization of big questions regarding religion or survival is what makes his writing so widely appreciated. While he doesn’t have a ton of work out there available, these themes are very prevalent in all of his work.
Plot: Martel doesn’t have entirely difficult to understand plots, but they do offer some thinking and depth to them. He takes a plot within a plot approach, often having multiple stories or story lines going on at the same time. Again, in Life of Pi, he develops the plot further by introducing the possibility that Pi may be experiencing multiple hallucinations or events at once. The reader then is forced to decide which one is real and which one is fake.
Characters: Finally, Yann Martel’c character’s are commonly described and known as deep and symbolic. He makes sure his characters have emotional impact on the story while also symbolizing a core theme of the story or belief in life. Combined with his depth of plot making, his stories are very interesting and intriguing to the reader. Pi in Life of Pi is a very well known character because of his evolution throughout the book and symbolic representation of survival and faith.
Emulation of Martel
Main Character: George (first person POV)
My intrigue brought me to the realization that things may not be what they seem. After traveling for days throughout the islands, I found myself in the same place over and over again. This can’t be possible. No way. All I wanted to do was reveal the myths told to me by my grandfather about these islands.
Ever since I was a kid, I had a great curiosity about discovering more of the world. I studied hard in the books as a teen and soon came adulthood. This marked the first time I could adventure the world on my own. The stories my grandfather told me about these islands seemed so far-fetched , and I grew to almost forget about them. My love for reading and writing led me to believe that it was not possible for islands to be caught in a loop. That isn’t how the world works. So when arriving at these islands, I full-heartedly believed that my grandfather was wrong and psycho.
One of the first islands I went to was a large, tropical island with many trees and beaches. I didn’t stay long, only stopping to gather some resources and food. There were 3 more islands on my list, so I had a lot of ground to make up. My job at home forced me to record something significant about each island, so I did. Island after island there were different signs to distinguish the islands from each other. I made it past the last island and thought to myself.
“I have to see if these stories are true.” as I decided to continue further in the usual straight line that the previous islands were in.
However, shock took over my body when I discovered a new, unmarked island in the distance. This island was not on my map and did not appear in my extensive research of these waters back home. As I approached the island, more fear swelled over me. The same trees and beaches in the first island were back. His stories were true. But there was no way the same islands could appear again, so I went to the other 3. Exactly the same. None of my work and knowledge could explain this phenomenon. My grandfather was always a believer in the abnormal, but I was just the complete opposite. Maybe the world is capable of hiding anomalies like this under our skin. From this point forward, I started believing in strange occurrences like this, and my grandfather, rather than my work, was my main source of trust.
Explanation of Emulation
Topics -
This story consists of a real vs fake esque theme. This is a common theme in a lot of Martel’s writing and it is a very good way to distinguish his writing style from others. Overall comparisons, like religion vs facts and survival vs civilization, exemplify his writing close to how this short story does as well. The connection between the main character trusting his basis of science and factual information at first rather than common beliefs compares to Pi in Martel’s novel Life of Pi.
Plot -
The plot carries a lot of weight and depth within the story. George is faced with an unbelievable circumstance that seemed unreal. The reader begins to question whether George is actually experiencing this, or if he is only doing this to “see if the stories are true.” This would provide his mind with a lot of clarity, which adds up after it is stated George is a curious and outgoing character.
Characters -
George aligns with many of Martel’s characters based on his depth and questions that arise with him. He evolves from a man who believes in science and his work into someone invested in the supernatural and unreal phenomena about the earth and ocean. Based on the events in the short story, he completely changed as a person and relied on his root thoughts from his grandfather rather than his new, personal beliefs. The reader is open to decide how they view George as well. Is he someone who chooses to believe what is easiest for him, or was it against his will that after working with factual science, he didn’t believe in the impossible?
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