Persona

The human body is a fascinating piece of engineering held together by millions of small particles. Organs fill each person, and are used for daily maintenance and upkeep. People however are not known for what is in them and how they are comprised, but rather by how they act. Eventually people develop individual characteristics unique to themselves. A persona is identified quickly and a person lives by this. Very rarely do people break from what they believe, unless they are in such a dire need to that they turn from everything. "I descended to a level of savagery I never imagined possible." (197) Pi was forced to do this in the novel. Breaking from his vegetarian diet was the first step, in other people it could be to simply stop attending church or just doing something completely out of the ordinary. Soon changes keep coming more rapidly and appears to be at a seemingly never ending pace. Most of the time a person does not realize it until it is to late. When they do see the error of their ways, it feels like a hopeless battle and they just succumb to what they have become.

For Pi he recognizes this fact, but in a situation of full on survivor mode, it doesn't matter to him. When a person has reached this state their morals and their typical behavior is thrown at the window. For Pi this is completely true, and he fights every day for his life. It made him grow up a little but lose what he knew and love. This concept goes back to conventions. People have conventions of their characteristics, certain molds they refuse to break from. That is until they see what the real world is like and how easy it is slip away from these and turn into a monster of themselves. This happens to many people, maybe not to the severity of Pi, but rather in small ways people conform to society, and break from their real identity.