Life of Pi
discussion
What's the idea behind the island?
David wrote: "Enjoying the comments here, everyone. I read the book a few years ago then shared it among my family. I thought the movie was well done, though we have to remember that Ang Lee's message may well b..."That's pretty close to my reading of it too David.
one of the best aspects of the book is it's accommodation of subjective understanding; it bears up well to discussion precisely because there isn't just one way of understanding / interpreting it.
That's clever writing, isn't it?!
I think the story of the conflict on the boat and the journey with the tiger is really Pi's attempt to cope with the reality of his murdering the chef who killed and cannibalized the crewman and also murdered Pi's Mother. At the end, Pi talks to the visiting writer, describing his telling of an alternate story of his journey to the individuals investigating the sinking of the ship. The visiting writer makes the leap of identifying the zebra as the injured crewman, the orangutan as Pi's Mother, and the tiger as Pi. Essentially, Pi must come to terms with totally violating his deep belief in non-violence. The tiger then is the violent part of Pi's nature and the boat journey represents Pi’s efforts to sort through having a violent nature and committing a violent act..I think the island was also hallucination. However viewed in more symbolic terms, the island may also represent Pi's feelings around his Mother. The island does have a feminine form. The island provides nurturance (as did Pi's Mother), but ultimately there is a realization that Pi's Mother is gone, and that he cannot dwell in his past connection with her. To continue living in the past would be toxic, as demonstrated by the toxic secretions of the island. The tooth found in the fruit or bud of the plant may represent the shedding of a baby tooth, indicating attaining maturity.
I believe that that the true story is the awful one with the cook, the crew member and his mother, as he has used his religion and belief to paper over reality and instead tell the story we all read. With this in mind, and the fact Pi was on the verge of death when he found the island, I also think the island was in fact a delirious dream/hallucination. For me it may represent God – a salvation of sorts, but one that can give life and also take it away. Many people question if God is so good, how can he be so cruel – this for me represents the island in Pi's mind at that point in his journey, as he has been personally submitted to the cruelty of his God/s.
Pete wrote: "David wrote: "Enjoying the comments here, everyone. I read the book a few years ago then shared it among my family. I thought the movie was well done, though we have to remember that Ang Lee's mess..."Claire wrote: "I believe that that the true story is the awful one with the cook, the crew member and his mother, as he has used his religion and belief to paper over reality and instead tell the story we all rea..."
The rationalist story at the end, the one 'we can believe' is lonely, dark, painful and full of tragedy. It is stripped of all romance, poetry and consequentially has little resonance. Nobody wins, the loss and suffering hold no meaning.
The other version however, is full of resonances. Purpose and resilience are found in the suffering as well as an unlikely empathy with life. We are more than material and intellect
Symbolism used for the afterlife, regardless of what the belief is was the point behind it.
I haven't read the book and have only watched the movie. But I think that the island does play a significant role in Pi's journey. I don't think it is so much as why was the island there but instead what Pi did at the island.He (kinda) relaxed.
When I think about it, in that scene it seems that at that moment on his struggle in the middle of the ocean, he was at that point where he wanted to give up. The island itself is really just a metaphor.
Also the tooth he found in that plant (which was really weird) I thought that what are teeth usually used for? To eat. And I thought that the island was eating away his will to live, his want to return to civilization as he was at first perfectly content with staying at the island or giving up or living.
The tooth may also have made Pi realise that there have been men before him who have stranded on the ocean and given up and all that remaind are the bones in the ocean.
Forgive me for my grammar, but this is my thoughts about the meaning of the island.
Oh Juan! I didn't see your review until now. That's when I thought a bit too but I didn't think it was about his mother as well.Nice! :D
Todd wrote: "Paola is working HARD to find the symbolism behind the island and Rachel and Jessica guess at the author's intent. But a story works or it doesn't outside symbolism and intent, no? Do you folks t..."Todd wrote: "Paola is working HARD to find the symbolism behind the island and Rachel and Jessica guess at the author's intent. But a story works or it doesn't outside symbolism and intent, no? Do you folks t..."
Katie wrote: "here's something I just thought of, so forgive if it takes a minute to form coherent sentences.
What IF... the story really is not true, it was in his head... if that is the case could the island ..."
Katie, that makes sense - the island represents him losing his grip on reality, and it is after forcing himself to leave the island that he finally reaches land
The island was Pi actually a dead body or many dead bodies on another boat. Pi found sustenance by eating the meat of those bodies until he realized that the body from which he was eating had already eaten another man. He found a tooth in meat. The meerkats were maggots, he used them as bait like you use worms as bait for fish.
The dead bodies which could have lasted a long time was decaying(what was nourishing was also killing him) so he packed up the good meat and sailed off. The meat then made him sick.The meerkat bones on the ship were maggot remains from the previous members of the boat.
In the more realistic story, Pi killed the French cook from the ship and chopped him to pieces to fish with. This leads him to have a mental breakdown : The Island. He created a Garden of Eden in his mind for him to get his strenght back. Pi repeatedly explains how he turns to religion when he is desperate. It's only logical that he would create a sort of heaven in his mind after killing the cook. the whole waashing and cleaning of the ship is really a sort of purification. Finding the teeth like that was a his mind's way of snapping him back to reality.This would be when he became practical in his survival. “This was the terrible cost of Richard Parker. He gave me a life of my own, but at the expense of taking one” (p.283) -- RP is a PART of Pi.
This would be the first true appearance of Richard Parker in Pi’s adventure. Richard Parker , a.k.a. Pi's survival instinct, was freed from some deeply repressed cage in Pi’s mind because of his breakdown (otherwise known as "the island"). RP's rampant killings of meerkats are his way of removing anything that could be a detriment to Pi’s survival.
“A lifetime of peaceful vegetarianism stood between me and the wilful beheading of a fish” (p.202)
The Whole book told the story of only the first seven days of Pi's journey. I guess he was kind of dazed and animalistic in his survival for the rest and his mind blocked it all and the event of the first week with a story
Mike wrote: "I think the director (I only saw the movie) try to use two stories with flaws to tell a real story. Most of the 2nd story should be true with the missing connection. The connection is the island. ..."I'm sorry. I don't understand the link between gastric acid and his mother. are you saying Pi actually ATE his mother? because I read the book, talked about it for weeks in class and went to see the movie and that never came up! you would think so if it had happened considering how big a step in Pi's mental deterioration it waas to simply kill a hidden FISH
Juan wrote: "Based on a theory from a friend, I believe the island meant "giving up and meeting his mother again".At his worse time, Pi encounters the floating woman shaped island, plagued with meerkats, like..."
I would like to point out that the womanly shape of the island was only in the movie. Just so we understand each other. I don't want to try confusing the movie and the book because both have small but significant diferences
The Island represents to me the fight for lifePi is pretty sure he is about to give up on life, and even the tiger in him is failing to keep his will to survive alive
if he sleeps then it will be the eternal sleep that devours him and he will be rotting/digesting.
if he takes stock and carries on fighting and get back in the boat the will to survive and keep on fighting will carry on.
to summarise I would say the island is his will to survive against the will to give up and slip into a comfortable eternal sleep.
I mulled over the island as his madness or a respite from his life at sea, however the tooth indicated to me it was the life that would spring up from his rotting body.
Surely the whole point here is that neither are provable . Neither story can be discounted so you as the reader choose to believe just like religion you can choose to believe a fantastical story of hope the island signifying taking a leap of faith to the fantastical that our rational minds try to dismiss with skepticism or we can choose to believe that there is no humanness to the world and some of us will turn on each other to survive. Its about deciding for yourself the path you want to follow that we are more than animals even if we have to take a leap of faith to get there?
Here's a possible explanation of the island from someone who hasn't read the book or seen the film. Based on what I've read on the story, the island seems to be the key to decide which story is true. The first story is closer to truth in allegorical sense, while the second one is closer to truth in physical sense. First of all, there was no island, there was just the small boat. Pi finds someone's tooth: it wouldn't be possible to discover something that had been hidden for a long time in a boat you've been living a long time. The tooth must be a recent addition to the scene. And it must belong to someone who had been on the boat with Pi.
Meerkats not defending themselves: the tiger kills and eats the meerkats and they don't defend themselves.
At this point, it must be clear that Pi is Richard Parker. He was alive in the boat with someone up to that time, and he couldn't resist anymore to his hunger and killed and ate that person. Here's the question: who wouldn't defend themselves if Pi wanted to kill and eat them in a situation in which there was no other chance of survival?
Yes, that's right, Pi's mother. Seeing no other way out she let Pi kill her to give him the chance to survive. Pi transformed that event in his mind into the island sequence. Do you think that was a long shot? Maybe there's something in the book, or in the film, to support this theory.
Edit: I've just realized Mike above has already come to a similar conclusion, with less words.
I just skimmed thru the reviews so forgive me if someone has already written a similar interpretation. It seems to be the author wants the reader to ponder the different versions as we do different versions of religion but ultimately find that the story is the same; only the characters differ. The island is the only fantasy part of the story. Important to the story because fantasy is also crucial to human endurance and survival. We can't stay in a fantasy world. The island turning carnivorous is Pi's way of carrying on with the reality of life after resting his mind (his father's realism influence is also needed for survival). I didn't read the book I watched the movie.
I loved the book and the film exactly as they are. My interpretation of the island is that Pi was at that point in his journey very close to death. It has been reported by many people who have survived near death experiences that there is a point when the body stops fighting and feels at rest. It would be very easy to succumb to this feeling and just drift off. But somehow Pi realizes that this is a false sense of wellness and if he stayed there, something terrible would happen. So he packs up his last bit of reserved inner strength and pushes on leading to his miraculous survival. When I first read the book I did not know what to make of the island but after having seen the movie, there was a long shot of it and the island looked like a woman lying on her back. It was a symbol of Pi's mother who had already succumbed to her death but who's spirit continued to drive Pi to survival and give him the strength he needed. Beautiful.
Reading the book, and seeing the movie all these years later--it is truly fascinating to read everyone's opinion regarding the symbolism, & the debate over which part of the story is "true"--it took seeing the movie for me to get it clarified. The Voice-over in the movie says"...and most importantly, keep telling stories to entertain & keep your sanity!"...as much as I wanted to believe in the animals, I think the people part is true--but too horrific to dwell on, so we stay with the animals instead! Great discussion, everyone!
Pi had survived on fish and then had to resort to eating human flesh. The island was shaped as a woman, and Pi ate from the island. Stopping at a human tooth. The meercats represent maggots.
Sarah wrote: "I found that I liked Life of Pi as a story and I feel like I understood some of the symbolism used, but I became angry at the end when we learn this adventure/horror might not be true. I felt lik..."But that's the point! That's exactly how Pi felt when Richard Parker left without looking back.
What baffles me is why Martel chose meerkats as the creatures on the island. The symbolic significance of it is obvious to me, but do meerkats specifically mean something? Why did he choose them instead of mice or kangaroos or anything else?
Today I watched LIFE OF PI. I never watched a movie that touched me as this movie did. I saw the story of my life through this movie this is why I decided to write about it. I simply felt that I am Pi….The first thing that grabbed my attention was the sea. Can we be in somewhere where water is surrounding us but we still die of thirst? In the same way, God is actually all around us, and still, so many of us are unable to receive the blessings of heaven.
Pi suffers from the sea and waves, and the bad creatures that lives in it, the sea even took his family away but at the same time, the sea gave him his life back, It rains flying fish upon him, it grows a magical garden of algae, and simply it gave him life, and this happened only when he surrender to God….
Even after all the difficulties he faced in the sea he reached an Island, an island that gave him what he was striving for. Food, water and relaxing easy life (somehow this island reminded me of Dubai where i used to live before deciding to come back to Sydney) but he noticed that if he stays in this island his life would be lost. Living in this island is so easy but it gives you everything in the morning and takes away everything from you by night. And this is what will simply happen to us if we surrender to the easy and lazy style of living. By time we will notice that this easy lazy life is stopping us from reaching and fulfilling our dreams…
At the end Pi decides to leave this island and to keep sailing and risking his life again till he reach what he want and only then his fears (The Tiger) gone and he survived…
I haven't read the novel yet, but the movie was very clear that the story with the animals was completely allegorical, created by Pi as a way to accept the necessary brutal facet of his nature to survive a life at sea, as a way to cope with his having to do many things that give him cognitive dissonance just to survive. These things include, eating meat, killing, and eventually, cannibalism. This was the symbolism of the island. He LITERALLY ate the island, which was shaped like a human. And for a brief moment, it seemed perfect! Eating a human would satisfy all his needs at the time. Being primitive and brutal would let him live happily, but he knew "he could not "stay there on the island." It was a necessary stop, but just long enough for him to get healthy and replenish his supplies long enough to make it to the mainland shore. It was necessary that Pi embrace the brutal side of human nature and eat the cook's corpse, but only so long that he needed to embrace it to survive. Once he was healthy, he knew he must leave that mindset behind, and once again realize what terrible deeds cannibalism and killing are.
But I don't understand the symbolism of the meerkats. Perhaps this animal was chosen because they are just a generic, plentiful food-source for a tiger that would fit into the allegory of "stocking up on food" nicely, since meerkats are small and readily quantifiable, and so could be stacked in the boat.
Sarah wrote: "I... I became angry at the end when we learn this adventure/horror might not be true...."It may not have been literal, but it certainly was true.
Has anyone thought about the Genesis and the Eden?, everything was perfect, everything, flora and fauna, was in peace and harmony until Pi had the idea to go to the only fruit tree that was in the paradise and try one of the fruits.I have a vague idea of what was all in real, but I think everyone here has already written all what I wanted to say.
Julz wrote: "I haven't read the novel yet, but the movie was very clear that the story with the animals was completely allegorical, created by Pi as a way to accept the necessary brutal facet of his nature to s..."Wow. Ok your explanation opened a few doors for me. I really like the idea that that's what the island symbolized! But I don't think that the island being human-shaped was ever mentioned in the book. (That part was ridic to me while watching the movie but hey, you gave it some sense).
But for me, it's not about what the island /meant/. I think the island was put there to add another dose of doubt in the story. If you believed Pi's story about the animals, then you HAVE to believe existence of the acidic island.
The thought of accepting the existence of the island is what made me doubt Pi's animal story. But then again, why would Pi even bother making that one up?
I think the island was put there so you'd have doubts about the animal story. It puts a nice weight against the cannibalism one.
I'm just saying, that at the end of the book you're made to accept one of the stories. Because he won't pick for you. On one hand, you have one that is absolutely traumatic. On the other, you have a living island with a lot of meerkats. And a tiger.
Think of the entire story as a theological allegory. Then the island becomes a "concept" of heaven/nirvana.The ship wreck, the ocean, may be seen as life, the tiger as the unknown challenges, good and bad, destructive and necessary. I have not fully developed my thinking, but I do strongly feel we are in the realm of philosophical theology.
I think your reasoning here is good, though I tend to prefer the fanciful story even though I don't pretend to really understand it yet. When I read the book I tended to believe that the fantastic story was the "true" story. I put "true" in quotations because I was not sure if it was true factual, or true as in myth. To me myth means something truer than mere facts, which is why it is used to explain the sacred and parts of human existence that transcend the mundane.
The business people were only interested in the mundane and would never be able to understand "truth" with a capitol "T."
When I watched the movie, it felt as though his story were some sort of psychological coping mechanism for the horrible things he had experienced. Thus the account he gave the business people would have been the "true" account.
Katie wrote: "here's something I just thought of, so forgive if it takes a minute to form coherent sentences.
What IF... the story really is not true, it was in his head... if that is the case could the island ..."
I think the island symbolizes Pi's first attempt at being back on land with all the horrifying things that have actually transpired on the boat... Cannibalism and his mothers murder. He realizes that to return to the real world with this having happened would be like that of the world and memories of theses events actually consuming him and devouring him as a person. This is when he knows that his mind must believe the more pleasant and palatable reality involving the incredible story about the animals in order to truly be able to return to life on real land.
I just saw the movie yesterday and read a few dozen of the foregoing reviews. I just have two questions for now. 1) Is there any definitive and objective (yes, I know this whole thing is a story!) affirmation that there were mercat bones in the boat? By objective, I mean "not Pi." 2) The fact that Pi tied his friendship bracelet to the island seems not to have been addressed in the posts that I read. So what gives there? Thanks.
If I recall Pi asked the men from the shipping company about the meerkat bones they would have noticed in the boat, they didn't seem to confim or un-confirm they were there (and the right size etc). However they did not believe the first story when it was told....As for the friendship bracelet - this was not part of the book, so this must be an interpretation from Ang Lee but I have read someones theory as follows:
"I didn't understand the significance of this until the adult Pi talked about how he thought he was going to spend the rest of his life on the island. My friend and I think that the girl was there to represent his ties to "the rest of the world" and his leaving the bracelet on the tree is symbolic for cutting his ties with everything else. This is, of course, before he realizes that the island eats things."
First off both stories are True. depending on your pretext. also both stories are made up by the auther. correct?(why the name Pi? and in the end his wife is the woman from the beginning, that Pi is the auther/story teller) the two versions explain life from our human two points of view. remember the point of the story? the title has to be read, back to front to give the pretext, in understanding the meaning of life."Circle of Life" (two ways to look at it (hence two stories) now you tell me what the island is? (hint, your on it.)
For me Pi's story is invented to allow him to cope with the trauma he's gone through. If we believe that Pi was actually the tiger as well as himself in the story (two sides of the same person) then Pi ate the cook and the oriental sailor. Therein the island is representative of having eaten meat in order to survive. Plants are not supposed to eat meat and Pi does not eat meat. The plant island did so in order to survive, so too did Pi. Breaking from the island was therefore Pi breaking away from the madness of what he had to do in order to survive (coming to terms with what he had done).
Some of the discussion here is based on what appeared in the film, not what was written in the book. in the book, the island was not shaped like a woman, and Pi did no eat his mothers flesh (Pi's mother had told him to retreat to the raft and she would follow to escape the cook. Pi made it to the raft, but the cook killed and beheaded the mother before she had a chance to escape. The cook threw the mothers head at Pi, which he watched sink in the water, then her body was thrown into the water and also sank)The island is a mystery, perhaps it is reflecting the pitfalls of complacency. Pi and Richard Parker where becoming too relaxed in totally enchanting environment; fresh water in abundance, fish they did not have to kill or catch, miraculous algae which restored Pi to health, and Richard Parker had Meerkat a plenty almost begging to be eaten. Luckily Pi and Richard Parker did not succumb to the enchantment, thanks to Pi finding the teeth in the fruit of the tree and surmising the nocturnal dangers the island held. "All that glitters is not gold"
David wrote: "For me Pi's story is invented to allow him to cope with the trauma he's gone through. If we believe that Pi was actually the tiger as well as himself in the story (two sides of the same person) the..."Yes we need to tame the tiger in ourselves not kill it.
for we need the dark side not only to survive but also to motivate us in this world and gain the knowledge from what not to do.
Am I the only one (from the movie) that see's the Island as mother earth, meerkat's as the people, tiger as the dark energy lacking empathy, and pi as the meek (from the book) hiding behind a wall represented by the boat, he can not leave the world without everything about himself and upon crossing over, the dark force leaving him alone to face whatever awaits next. check out "Proof of heaven" for the rest of the story.
Ones interpretation is subjective, everyone will see some difference or see a complete different in meaningI've not seen the film but going by comments on here, Ang Lee has his interpretation which he has portrayed in the film. Definitely in the book Pi did not eat his mothers flesh, as for the shape of the island it is up to individual imaginings
It is quite clear in the second story of the ship wreck & survival that Pi is Richard Parker, the seaman is the zebra, the cook the hyena , and Pi's mother the orangutan. In the first story Richard Parker kills the orangutan, but in the second it is the cook who kills Pi's mother (no one eats her flesh, not even the cook)?
Perhaps Pi was on the lifeboat alone and the other three, whether animal or human, were part of imaginings while ship wrecked at sea, his way of coming to terms with his loss, vulnerability and failing moral, as well as his spirituality?
Long distance solo sailors are often visited on their voyage by known or unknown persons, perhaps this is Pi's version of such visits
in my opinion island signify hope. Hope to live and when he found that tooth in the plant, hope to find much better ahead.
To be honest, I have read the whole story as real, that it happened, that he found an island, that he met a French man along the way. I thought little of symbolism until I opened this thread.I realized that the boat is a symbol of our lives, and the tiger is really inside of us, that our destruction lies within us, and our survival depends on us mastering the tiger. The island, in turn, seems to be a representation of all the things, as others have said, that are good at the moment but deadly killers in the long term, think of smoking or bad friends. I am not sure about the French man in the boat. He is just another lost soul on his own journey. The key to the French man symbolism would be that he was eaten by the tiger, the monster inside of us.
Dan Theanswerman wrote: "...he can not leave the world without everything about himself and upon crossing over, the dark force leaving him alone to face whatever awaits next. check out "Proof of Heaven" for the rest of the story. Did Yann Martel also write this book? I cannot find reference to it. If it is written by another author, who? And what is it's connection to this story?
Mutasem wrote: "To be honest, I have read the whole story as real, that it happened, that he found an island, that he met a French man along the way. I thought little of symbolism until I opened this thread.I rea..."
The Frenchman was the cook. Be this from his memory or weather he was somehow still alive at the time (doubtful). He was in a state of dispair by this point, and could have been hallucinating from the memory of killing the cook/hyena....
I think maybe the island represents temptation for Pi-the boat being religion. From the sinking of the ship to the end of his journey, the lifeboat carried Pi through all the storms and struggles of the sea. All of the sudden a mystical island appears, promising false joy and safety. At first Pi ignores it, saying it is only an illusion, but finally decides to take a step onto it and see what it has to offer. He leaves the path God has set for him in order to satisfy his worldly needs. When he realizes the true danger this island posesses he quickly climbs back in his boat and continues on his journey with faith.
Little wrote: "So then maybe the island exists as proof that your interpretation of the story is the correct one. If you believe the first story, the meercat bones "prove" to you that all of the fantastical seem..."I think this is a brilliant interpretation - I completely agree!
I loved this part and here is my opinion on the island :Summary :-
Pi - Human
Richard Parker - His inner self
Floating Island - Religion/s
The boat - Faith (Belief in God)
Survival Manual Book - Kitab
Sea & Sun - Harsh Realities
Trees - Clergy , Rabbis, Imam, Priests, etc.
The main carnivorous tree with the tooth - Highest Pope , Imam, etc
Meerkats - Followers of the Religion
To stay on the Island - To give up on finding the meaning of life and just cling to religion.
To leave the island - To find something to answer those questions and be closer to God.
In the open sea, Pi found an island, the island offered food and shelter, it gave comfort. On the island, along with the trees, there are thousands of meerkats. At night they cling to the trees to save their life from the acidic land, in daylight they come down and continue living. After a while Pi found out that the island is carnivorous, it eats the living that stayed on the island. If he choose to stay and forget civilization, he will eventually be eaten by the island. If he leaves the island, he will need to fight for his life to survive. But he chose to leave.
Message :
That's how it is. When Human faces a spiritual crisis in life, religion seems so comforting, a claim that it makes us closer to God. While practicing everything that the religion teaches us, we somehow forgot to understand the meaning of it. We let some questions unanswered. Although religion can lead us to God, can nourish us spiritually, it doesn't give us the main answer to our spiritual questions. Staying forlorn in a religion can kill us slowly from the inside, we will then left feeling empty. Because we can't understand the reason of everything.
The main message is to set on a journey and find God, to have faith and to learn to understand in much deeper risky ways instead of just following the path.
More : http://www.azreenchan.com/2013/02/boo...
My guess: The island is symbolic of sins, sins that are enjoyable and make life easy but decay your soul (tooth)? It could describe a sinful life with no after life (after the island?) The book is a journey through all religious trains of thought? Whoot! Whoot!
So deep…..
Juan wrote: "Based on a theory from a friend, I believe the island meant "giving up and meeting his mother again".At his worse time, Pi encounters the floating woman shaped island, plagued with meerkats, like..."
I don't remember the island being shaped like a woman in the book, but I think your analogy is a good one.
It's very likely that the island was just something Pi's hallucinating mind cooked up. Remember, he was eating nothing but raw fish.
The island, it's acidic water, the teeth wrapped in the leaves and the nourishing algae reminded me of his mum, her decaying body, cannibalism and the guilt linked to that. He felt happy in this place and then was so horrified to see its true nature, it brought on images of his mums head in his hands, those strips of meat in the sun, and the fish he ate caught with bait of his own kin.
I thought that the island was odd and confusing. As to the end story. When I was done with the book I believed that the original story was true. But, since the "officials" did not believe him, he made up a second story that they could believe. I have not seen the movie, but from what I hear, it appears that the second story is the truth. I do not buy that. I thought that the beginning of the book was interesting, but there should have been some follow up at the end with the original interviewer.
I found some parallels. The island is pi. They are both afloat and stranded. Pi is vegetarian forced to eat meat. Island shouldn't be carnivorous but has to be in order to survive. The lotus flower with the tooth, does this lotus flower have anything to do with the girl at the start saying the lotus flower hides in the forest?
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It also serves a metaphorical need. My reading is that the diurnal cycle of the island reflects the cycle of the Universe in many Eastern religions. The cycle of destruction and construction, expansion and contraction. In the day, there is life: you can literally eat the ground you walk on. At night there is destruction as the entire island becomes a place of deconstruction, decay, and death. This is the natural cycle and, in at least two of the religions specifically mentioned in the book, the cycle of the Cosmos as well.
I was a bit surprised not to see a nod to karma in the island symbolism, but perhaps I missed it, or I'm just wrong in my analysis.