A little excerpt
Posted on March 6th, 2003From Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. The story is narrated by Piscine, son of a zookeeper:
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Catholics have a reputation for severity, for judgment that comes down heavily. My experience with Father Martin was not at all like that. He was very kind. He served me tea and biscuits in a tea set that tinkled and rattled at every touch; he treated me like a grown-up; and he told me a story. Or rather, since Christians are so fond of capital letters, a Story.
And what a story. The first thing that drew me in was disbelief. What? Humanity sins but it’s God’s Son who pays the price? I tried to imagine Father saying to me, “Piscine, a lion slipped into the llama pen today and killed two llamas. Yesterday another one killed a black buck. Last week two of them ate the camel. The week before it was painted storks and grey herons. And who’s to say for sure who snacked on our golden agouti? The situation has become very intolerable. Something must be done. I have decided that the only way the lions can atone for their sins is if I feed you to them.”
“Yes, Father, that would be the right and logical thing to do. Give me a moment to wash up.”
“Hallelujah, my son.”
“Hallelujah, Father.”
What a downright weird story. What a peculiar psychology.
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Now if that didn’t make you laugh, it must have made you think. I sure made me think. How lucky I am, to have God give up so much out of love! A little later on, Martel writes:
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The death of the Son must be real. Father Martin assured me that it was. But once a dead God, always a dead God, even resurrected. The Son must have the taste of death forever in His mouth. The Trinity must be tainted by it; there must be a certain stench at the right hand of God the Father. The horror must be real. Why would God wish that upon Himself? Why not leave death to the mortals? Why make dirty what is beautiful, spoil what is perfect?
Love. That was Father Martin’s answer.
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How absolutely beautiful. It nearly brought me to tears. The back of the book says that this novel will “make you believe in God.” If I didn’t believe already, I don’t doubt that I would be challenged to do so at the end. But I don’t doubt that my belief in Him will be far more profound than ever before when I’m through with this book.
Anyhow, I thought that I’d share these two wonderful passages with you, and I hope that they’ve affected you somehow. And now I’m off to read. How absolutely beautiful.
