FREEDOM?……… An extract from ” Life of Pi” by Yann martel

In the book “Life of Pi” written by Yann Martel, I came across this passage. And I want to share it with you all. 
  
  
“Well meaning but misinfromed people think animal in the wild are “happy” because they are “free”. These people usually have a large, handsome predator in mind, a lion or a cheetah( the life of a gnu or of an aardvark is rarely exalted) They imagine this wild animal roaming about the savannah on digestive walks after eating a prey that accepted his lot piously, or going on the callisthenic runs to stay slim after overindulging. They imagine this animal overseeing its offsprings proudly and tenderly, the whole family watching the setting of the sun from the limbs of trees with sighs of pleasure. The life of the wild animal is simple, noble and meaningful. they imagine. Then it is captured by the wicked men and thrown into tiny jails. its happiness is dashed. It yearns mightily for “Freedom” and does all it can to escape. Being denied its freedom for too long, the animal becomes a shadow of itself, its spirit broken. So some people imagine This is not the way it is. Animals in the wild lead lives of compulsion and necessity within an unforgiving social heirarchy in an environment where the supply of fear is high and the supply of food is lowand where territory must constantly be defended and parasites forevr endured. What is the meaning of freedom in such a context. animals in the wild are, in practice, are free neither in time nor in space and nor in personal relations. In theory-that is, as a simple physical possibility- an animal could pick up and go, flaunting all the social conventions and boundaries proper to its species. (But it doesn’t)………