Semantics and Pragmatics: How the Writers of The Lost Continent and Life of Pi Portray the Theme of Exploration Georgiana Scott College

Throughout both novels, The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson and Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the protagonists are on a constant journey, throughout which they make many and continuing explorations. Their paths are lexically, semantically and pragmatically intertwined as the author directs them to come to terms with and eventually utilise their physical surroundings in order to express personal emotions. The separate journeys of each author are linked in my mind by the fact that both come to new conclusions about their external settings and a novel internal psychoanalysis of themselves. Both protagonists utilise the approach of first person narration; although the mode of communication is formed through the travel writing genre in the first and, in the second, a fictional narrative with transformative paths (from omniscient, to flow of consciousness and finally to a more mature free-direct style – hence creating a subconscious journey within the reader’s mind that follows the protagonist, Pi). Thus, both protagonists take something away from their thematic emphasis on exploration; Bryson’s journey is voluntary - in relative safety, comfort and freedom, versus Martel’s journey of absolute survival.

Whilst each author diverges in...