Alicia Bajana

English 2400

12/17/2020

The Redemption, Honor, and Empathy of Man

         ” Rear window” is a 1954 American mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and a film adaptation of “It had to be Murder”. Rear Window is a film based on a temporality disabled man named Jeff Jeffries who spies on his neighbors as his past time. On the other hand, “Life of Pi” is a 2012 adventure drama film directed by Ang Lee and a film adaptation of Yann Martel’s 2001 novel. The Life of Pi is a film based in India; a boy named Pi was moving to Canada with his family and zoo animals when a horrendous storm sank their ship, making him the only survivor on an emergency boat with a Bengal Tiger, Hyena, Zebra, and Chimpanzee. Both films introduce empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another; Honor, adherence to what is right or to a conventional standard of conduct and lastly, and finally Redemption, the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil.

            In “Life of Pi”, the main character, Pi, goes through so many challenges starting with the scene where he is on the emergency boat and rescued some animals on board. At that moment, Pi saw something floating but later realized it was Richard Parker, a Bengal Tiger. Pi’s first instinct was to push him away, but his guilt and morals would not let him. Therefore, Pi rescued Richard Parker and brought him on board. Richard Parker and Pi empathized with each other throughout the film, for example, when Richard Parker was seasick and Pi helped him feel better by giving him fresh water and hunting for fish even though Pi was vegetarian. Both Pi and Richard Parker realized they needed each other to stay alive. The empathy between the two was so strong, Pi broke his code of honor as a vegetarian and committing a killing just so Richard Parker can have something to eat due to the lack of food at sea. Pi is a vegetarian; vegetarians are people who don’t eat meat, and sometimes other animal products, especially for moral, religious, or health reasons. Therefore, when Pi knew that if he didn’t fish then they both would have starved to death. Even though Richard Parker was an animal, he understood that without Pi, he would not have survived at sea.

           In “Rear Window”, Jeff Jeffries was a photographer who used his skills to spy on neighbors as his pastime while he recovered from a broken leg. Even though he was invading people’s privacy, the spying leads to a criminal investigation which was Mrs. Thorwald’s death. The Thorwald’s were a couple who recently moved into the neighborhood. They were a quiet couple but rarely seen. This brought attention to Jeffries in many ways. Jeffries had sensed something was up when he stopped seeing Mrs. Thorwald. He knew that a woman in love would not go anywhere without her husband because of his experience with his love interest Lisa. Lisa was a crucial element to the investigation because she looked for hints that Jeffries looked over and also gave a women’s perspective. For example, Jeffries was looking at Thorwald’s apartment and saw he was packing up all of Mrs. Thorwald’s clothes. He also noticed that Mrs. Thorwald’s wedding ring was under his possession. Lisa’s woman intuition arose because a married woman always carries her ring on her finger. Lisa becomes more intrigued with the investigation that she risked her own life to get real proof of the murder. She also knew that the one way to spend more time with Jeffries was by helping him get more evidence about the investigation. Therefore, Lisa snuck into Mr. Thorward’s house and looked over his luggage to see what he was hiding without knowing she was putting her life at risk. Lisa did not realize Mr. Thorwald was on his way back to his apartment when she was scavenging over his belongings and discovered her. Jeffries did not want to put his loved ones at risk, because he was a guy of honor. His first instant was to find a distraction for Mr. Thorwald to derail from Lisa and make him go to him. However, he redeemed this feature of spying by catching the killer and bringing justice to Mrs. Thorwald.

          Both Pi and Jeffries are men of honor that would put others first before themselves. They both redeemed themselves during the story by saving someone else’s life before their own. Pi knew that Richard Parker would need someone to take care of him and feed him so he would look past his morals to keep Richard Parker safe and sound. Pi felt hurt when Richard Parker left and didn’t look back, but he knew deep down that Richard Parker was alive because of him. Even though Richard Parker did not verbally express his appreciation, Pi could feel the gratitude coming from Richard Parker. On the other hand, Jeffries felt guilty for putting Lisa in danger, that he put his life in danger instead when he answered the phone call without knowing that it was Mr. Thorwald, the killer. Jeffries knew that moment he could lose Lisa and that is something he never wants.

In conclusion, the films Life of Pi and Rear Window displayed acts of empathy, redemption, and honor. This could be seen through the actions of the characters  Pi, Richard Parker, and Jeffries and Lisa. Pi empathized with Richard Parker in the act of keeping him safe and alive while at sea. Jeffries redemption for his sinful spying was by catching the killer. These pieces of film are a great example of what honor, empathy, and redemption are.