II : L - LII The Importance of Being On the Road – Harold, Kino, and Pi

Underneath the canopy of the witnesses of history, you can't help but think about the world in an entirely different longitude. A young lord's idle journey across the ocean and continents, similar versions of which has been performed by aspiring youth everywhere trying to find themselves in the unfamiliar wilderness of foreign countries, found him a new understanding of the world as an entity, a living, breathing organization rather than an instrument that we exploit and excavate.

It's a dangerous occupation going on the road, truly going on the road, that is. A little tour in gap years on the cruise line, a merry-on-round with the comfort of luxurious inns and fancy entourages, those don't count. The act of putting oneself out and exposed to the world calls for courage and a lot of endurance. Many of those individuals are timelessly and universally admired, for they fulfilled a buried dream of most of us: to become more in tune with the world around us, to see more, to expand our lives and jump out of the mundane case we live in every day.

It's also a privileged occupation going on the road. How fortunate it would be to explore, whether you're put on the journey by choice or by chance. 

"There world is not beautiful," said Kino on her scooter, "therefor it is." I can't prove it, you just have to see it for yourself.

 

Harold, and Kino, and Pi. The three of them are of all different nationalities and beliefs, coming from idiosyncratic backgrounds and are put on the road by fate. Such is a new kind of monomyth: a hero's singular journey in pursuit of self-discovery. Harold saw mostly the ruins and skeletons of the past; his gear was a wealth of history, with which he discovered the similarities and conflicts between worlds, and understood the truth about what human destruction can do to civilizations.

Kino, on the other hand, was exiled from her hometown as a defiant. Determined to see the world instead of being confined in the reclusive village she grew up in, refusing to comply with traditions, she had to go on a path less trotted, hiding her identity. In the story, Kino only stays three days, two nights in each city she passes so that she wouldn't get attached. It's a giant sacrifice not having attachment in life. Harold, disillusioned with his previous situation and aspirations, made similar convictions. In comparison to Harold's relatively easy journey, with entourage and what not, Kino's journey involves with more solitude and calls for independent decisions, and of course, a lot of will power to keep going. 

"The world isn't beautiful, therefor it is. " This sums up what Kino found from her journey. What she found is the imperfection of the world: the evil side of human nature, the conflict-prone societies, the never-ending crimes and vices; yet there's also the angelic side of humanity. This turned out to be a philosophical enlightenment. The peculiar customs and strange encounters Kino had on the road, metaphorically indicates the different cultures in the world. There's no way we can understand them all, but we should still try to accept them. Like the different instruments in a symphony making different sounds individually. They would only create harmony when everyone involved realizes, and honour the diversity amongst themselves.

 

The third solitary hero we have here is Pi, the young Indian child who spent mouths alone in the ocean, battling with his fear and struggling to find ways to co-exist with Richard Parker the tiger.  The tiger is the primal force of destruction. Pi had to be constantly alert so that he doesn't get pull into despair. Harold's journey is more about the past, the natural history of human's interaction with nature; Kino is making an anthropological discovery along the road, going from one fantastical town to another, revealing the raw portraits of an ensemble of the ugly and the cruel. Pi is met with a different kind of challenge. He's making connection with the entire universe through his journey, the only purpose of which was actually to survive! 

 

Yann Martel's novel was more about the strength of spirituality than a real journey in which the hero experience different areas of the world. Although the physical dangers Pi encountered had been incredibly realistic, his journey is the most inward one amongst all three.

Harold, as the literary avatar of Lord Byron, believed in the Greek Muses, sought after the truth of history through poetry. Kino, deprived of her innocence by reality, believed her own will and chased after the freedom of carrying out her own destiny. Pi, prays in all languages believed in the diversity of religions – for him, God is more of a state of mind, an attitude rather than a physical being. The solitary journeys they lead bend time and dimension, connecting those three characters. It's a temping business going on the path of self-discovery. Dangerous, mentally draining and might still eventually leave you completely unfulfilled, yet, its siren song still attracts pilgrims everywhere.

It takes a lot of courage to go on, but the importance of being on the road makes the vices seem ridiculously trivial.