Abstract
In contemporary society, people have become more rationalized, downplaying or ignoring faith. In a few hundred years, science has taken people farther in understanding the universe than the religion has in ten thousand years. However, more and more people suffer from spiritual emptiness while enjoying ample subsistence. Science can teach us more about the outside world, but not paying enough attention to the inner world. Therefore, faith is gradually paid more attention to. The theme of the film Life of Pi is “to make you believe in God”, which sparks widespread interest among people. People begin to re-examine the relationship between reason and faith, so as to find spiritual solace.
Life of Pi contains a great deal of metaphors, which are significant in understanding the film. This thesis aims at giving a detailed introduction and analysis of them. It adopts text analysis as research method, and employs Freud’s theories of dream interpretation, personality, Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of needs and the relationship between reason and faith as theoretical foundations. In the end, it provides some suggestions on the philosophy of life, stressing the importance of the integration of reason and faith in the completeness of personality, of hierarchy of needs, of outside world and inner world. The author hopes to draw people’s attention to faith through this thesis. However, the introduction and analysis might be partly subjective; meanwhile, due to lack of knowledge as a second-major student, the analysis of metaphors might not be deep enough.
Key words: metaphor, reason, faith, personality, hierarchy of needs
摘        要
在现代社会，人们逐渐趋于理性，而不重视或忽视了信仰。在短短几百年内，科学引领我们了解宇宙的深度，超过了上万年历史的宗教。但在物质充裕的同时，越来越多的人感到精神空虚。科学能帮助我们更加了解外在世界，而未能对我们的内在心灵提供足够的关注。人们因而逐渐注意到了信仰。电影《少年派的奇幻漂流》的主题是“让你相信上帝”，引发了观者的强烈兴趣。人们开始重新审视理性和信仰的关系，以找回心灵的慰藉。
《少年派的奇幻漂流》包含了大量的隐喻，对于理解电影非常重要，本文意在对这些隐喻进行详细介绍和分析。本文以文本分析为研究方法，以弗洛伊德的梦的解析、人格论,马斯洛的需求层次理论和理性与信仰的关系为理论依据，对电影中的隐喻进行详细介绍和分析。文章在最后提出了处世哲学方面的建议，强调了将理性与信仰结合在保持人格的完整、需求层次的完整和外在世界与内在心灵的完整上的重要性，希望能引起人们信仰的重视。然而笔者的介绍和分析可能部分限于自己的主观认识，同时由于笔者作为二专学生的知识背景的局限，对隐喻的理论研究可能不够深入。
关键词：隐喻，理性，信仰，人格论，需求层次理论