"It is circumstance that enables us to reinvent ourselves and the world around us" Discuss in relation to 'Life of Pi' and three related texts of your choice.

Essay by threesqueezesHigh School, 11th gradeA, August 2006

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Reinvention is the reaction that we, as humans, have in response to the constant change of circumstances we endure as a result of consequence. Humans strive for acceptance and justification of self, which can be provided by reinvention and thus it can be said that it is circumstance which enables change within self and perception of the world around us. Reinvention can be experienced on a personal and wider scale and involves the alteration of an individual's conceptual views concerning themselves and their place in the world.

Circumstance is the fuel for reinvention as it is only with comparison that the human mind is able to identify and adapt. This message is portrayed through Life of Pi (Yann Martel), Images of Madonna, Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuk), and Hermann Junger's designs (jewellery). These composers depict their portrayal of life and the world and it is clear that these concepts are a result of circumstance.

Pi reinvents his story and therefore his sense of identity to satisfy the Japanese reporters and their preference for "yeastless factuality" rather than Pi's interpretation of events. Martel uses juxtaposition of the two separate stories by presenting contrasting stories, one realist and one imaginative - "I know what you want. You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently". Martel presents parallel stories whilst retaining relevancy and connections between the two and presenting to his audience the idea that although people experience the same reality, it is a consequence of this reality which determines our perception and manipulation of experience and thus makes individual's journeys different. Pi, as a consequence of the circumstances in which he is placed, reinvents his story by using a parallel metaphor which allows the...