The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket

“Yet, as the reader has seen, both Augustus and myself were rescued; and our deliverance seems to have been brought about by two of those almost inconceivable pieces of good fortune which are attributed by the wise and pious to the special interference of Providence.”

Pym describes the conditions under which he and Augustus are saved from the wreckage of the Ariel. Notably, he references “Providence” here, and throughout the novel, he will discuss the role of fate and destiny in similar ways. He also suggests that the reader is already familiar with the rest of his story, implying in a meta-narrative way that the entire tale is already available to anyone who wishes to engage with it.

“For the bright side of the painting I had a limited sympathy. My visions were of shipwreck and famine; of death or captivity among barbarian hordes; of a lifetime dragged out in sorrow and tears, among some gray and desolate rock, in an ocean unapproachable and unknown. Such visions or desires—they amounted to desires—are common, I have since been assured, to the whole numerous race of the melancholy among men.”

In this passage, Pym emphasizes his own identification as a “melancholy” man who craves disaster, strife, violence, and even death. He, thus, aligns himself with many of Poe’s protagonists: someone with self-destructive impulses, perhaps living on the fringes of society, who is struggling to accept his own dark desires.

“My sensations were those of extreme horror and dismay. In vain I attempted to reason on the probable cause of my being thus entombed. I could summon up no connected chain of reflection, and, sinking on the floor, gave way, unresistingly, to the most gloomy imaginings, in which the dreadful deaths of thirst, famine, suffocation, and premature interment, crowded upon me as the prominent disasters to be encountered.”

In this run-on sentence, Pym reflects on his fate while stuck in the hold of the Grampus. He ultimately realizes that irrational situations cannot be explained by traditional logic. This passage also references many of Poe’s other literary protagonists who struggle with psychological terrors when trapped or buried.

“I have been thus particular in speaking of Dirk Peters, because, ferocious as he appeared, he proved the main instrument in preserving the life of Augustus, and because I shall have frequent occasion to mention him hereafter in the course of my narrative—a narrative, let me here say, which, in its latter portions, will be found to include incidents of a nature so entirely out of the range of human experience, and for this reason so far beyond the limits of human credulity, that I proceed in utter hopelessness of obtaining credence for all that I shall tell, yet confidently trusting in time and progressing science to verify some of the most important and most improbable of my statements.”

In another run-on sentence, Pym discusses the important role Peters plays in saving both him and Augustus. By bringing up the things in his narrative that are “out of the range of human experience,” he connects Peters to the illogical or unexplainable. Despite the fact that he expresses faith in scientific progress, he seems detached from its potential.

“Overcome now by his feelings, he threw himself among the lumber in despair, and wept like a child. It was at this period that he heard the crash occasioned by the bottle which I had thrown. Fortune, indeed, it was that this incident occurred—for, upon this incident, trivial as it appears, the thread of my destiny depended. Many years elapsed, however, before I was aware of this fact. A natural shame and regret for his weakness and indecision prevented Augustus from confiding to me at once what a more intimate and unreserved communion afterward induced him to reveal.”

In this passage, Pym refers to the bottle he smashed in the hold that alerted Augustus that he was still alive. He again mentions “Fortune”—fate or destiny—when reflecting on the narrative of his life. However, this passage also contains one of the novel’s most notable inconsistencies: Pym says that it was only “many years” later that he learned about Augustus’s temptation to abandon him in the hold, but Augustus dies of gangrene a number of weeks later on the wreckage of the Grampus. This passage indicates that Poe originally intended for the narrative to end differently than it does. Augustus may have been meant to survive.

“Rogers had died about eleven in the forenoon, in violent convulsions, and the corpse presented in the few minutes after death one of the most horrid and loathsome spectacles I ever remember to have seen.”

This passage draws attention to the unnatural speed of decay that bodies—along with food and water—seem to experience throughout the novel. It is also an example of hyperbolic language, with Pym insisting it is the “most” horrifying sight he has ever seen.

“At this period I was excessively agitated, the more so as I could see that neither Augustus nor Peters could determine how to act. I made up my mind, however, to sell my life as dearly as possible, and not to suffer myself to be overcome by any feelings of trepidation.”

In this moment, Pym experiences a split from his compatriots as they all try to figure out how Pym should mimic the dead Rogers. The necessity of both performance and self-sacrifice is emphasized here, two important themes throughout the novel.

“Shortly after this period I fell into a state of partial insensibility, during which the most pleasing images floated in my imagination; such as green trees, waving meadows of ripe grain, processions of dancing girls, troops of cavalry, and other phantasies. I now remember that, in all which passed before my mind’s eye, motion was a predominant idea.”

After the destruction of the Grampus, while the four survivors are strapped to the wreckage, Pym drifts off into his imaginative world. The fact that motion plays a role in all these dreams (or daydreams) reflects the fact that he is floating on moving water; this further speaks to the fact that the novel sees the world as unstable, chaotic, and always changing. Finally, the details of his fantasy connect him more closely with the everyday world, but he is quick to confirm that all his visions are fantastical. In other words, he wants the reader to see him as connected with the world of sailing.

“Shortly afterward an incident occurred which I am induced to look upon as more intensely productive of emotion, as far more replete with the extreme first of delight and then of horror, than even any of the thousand chances which afterward befell me in nine long years, crowded with events of the most startling, and, in many cases, of the most unconceived and unconceivable character.”

Pym is preparing to describe his encounter with the Dutch ghost ship and wants to emphasize in an absolute way the singular nature of that encounter. His hyperbolic language foreshadows the intense strangeness of the ship’s presence but also reminds the reader that Pym is particularly fond of hyperbole. Moreover, the reference to “nine long years” is unclear. Pym dies soon after returning from his travels, and this is certainly before the passage of nine years. This seems to be another indication that Poe had different plans for his narrative than those he eventually carried out.

“I remonstrated with them on the heartlessness of their conduct, when Augustus burst into tears. The other two endeavored to laugh the matter off as a joke, but I hope never again to behold laughter of such a species: the distortion of countenance was absolutely frightful.”

After seeing that the other three survivors secretly drank all the Port wine he managed to recover from the waterlogged cabin, Pym scolds them for not sharing. This passage explores the relationship among all four men and further develops Augustus as an emotionally sensitive character who regrets his thoughtless behavior. Poe also draws attention to the terrifying appearance of two of the men as they find themselves on the brink of a violent death.

“[And] now, whether I should live or die, the chances were no more than precisely even. At this moment all the fierceness of the tiger possessed my bosom, and I felt towards my poor fellow-creature, Parker, the most intense, the most diabolical hatred.”

As the men draw lots to see which shall be killed and eaten, Pym compares his emotions to those of a wild animal; in this sense, he is reaching beyond his current surroundings and relocating himself in a very different geography. This echoes his mindset when he was trapped in the box on the Grampus. Additionally, by using the word “diabolical” to describe his feelings about Parker, he aligns himself with a kind of demonic evil that is present in the text only when people of color are being described.

“We now became alarmed, for we could hardly imagine it possible that she did not observe us, and were apprehensive that she meant to leave us to perish as we were—an act of fiendish barbarity, which, however incredible it may appear, has been repeatedly perpetuated at sea, under circumstances very nearly similar, and by beings who were regarded as belonging to the human species.”

As Pym and Peters watch the Jane Guy approach, they become convinced that she has seen them but will not actually rescue them. Poe uses a footnote to reference cases in which this has actually happened. This passage also emphasizes the fact that Pym doesn’t see all humans as “civilized” and reserves a special classification for those who are “fiendish” or “barbarous,” a concept that is rooted in racist attitudes toward non-white people and will deeply inform the second half of the text.

“Captain Guy was a gentleman of great urbanity of manner, and of considerable experience in the southern traffic, to which he had devoted a great portion of his life. He was deficient, however, in energy, and, consequently, in that spirit of enterprise which is here so absolutely requisite.”

In this passage, Pym contrasts Captain Guy with other figures who seem to embody his ideal vision of masculinity. It is particularly notable that he mentions Captain Guy’s lack of a “spirit of enterprise,” as commodification and consumption for the sake of profit will become important issues for the Jane Guy crew once they land on Tsalal.

“[I] warmly pressed upon him the expediency of persevering, at least for a few days longer, in the direction we were now holding. So tempting an opportunity of solving the great problem in regard to an Antarctic continent had never yet been afforded to man, and I confess that I felt myself bursting with indignation at the timid and ill-timed suggestions of our commander.”

This is the first moment in which the relationship between Pym and Captain Guy is fully articulated, and Pym clearly has power and influence over Guy. This is a reversal or subversion of the typical dynamic between captain and sailor. Additionally, this is the point at which the text introduces the existence of an Antarctic continent as a significant “problem,” and this seems to drive Pym for much of the rest of the novel.

“They believed the Jane to be a living creature, and seemed to be afraid of hurting it with the points of their spears, carefully turning them up.”

Pym describes the first time the people of Tsalal board the Jane Guy, observing that they see the ship as a living being with feelings. He finds this especially worthy of commentary and emphasizes that what the villagers see as “living” and what the white sailors see as “living” are fundamentally different.

“Upon passing the blade of a knife athwart the veins, the water closed over it immediately, as with us, and also, in withdrawing, all traces of the passage of the knife were instantly obliterated. If, however, the blade was passed down accurately between the two veins, a perfect separation was effected, which the power of cohesion did not immediately rectify. The phenomena of this water formed the first definite link in that vast chain of apparent miracles with which I was destined to be at length encircled.”

Here, Pym describes the strange water he and the rest of the Jane Guy crew encounter when going inland toward the village on Tsalal. Not only does it materially misbehave, suggesting that they are in an alien place, but it represents in a larger sense the odd sociopolitical circumstances in which the explorers find themselves.

“When the monarch had made an end of his meal, we commenced a series of cross-questioning in every ingenious manner we could devise, with a view of discovering what were the chief productions of the country, and whether any of them might be turned to profit.”

Rather than relax and dine with Too-wit, the explorers try to figure out how to monetize any given commodity on Tsalal. This passage highlights the different attitudes the white visitors have in comparison to those of the inhabitants of the island. One group is motivated by exploitation and profit, while the other seeks a peaceful maintenance of the status quo.

“[I] was suddenly aware of a concussion resembling nothing I had ever before experienced, and which impressed me with a vague conception, if indeed I then thought of anything, that the whole foundations of the solid globe were suddenly rent asunder, and that the day of universal dissolution was at hand.”

Pym describes the moment when the villagers stimulated the artificial avalanche that killed everyone but him and Peters. Using exaggerated, hyperbolic language, he compares the collapse of the gorge to the destruction of the universe. The use of the word “concussion” is also significant in that it implies the landscape itself is a human body capable of the same kinds of injury as those to which a human is vulnerable.

“We alone had escaped from the tempest of overwhelming destruction. We were the only living white men on the island.”

The word “tempest” implies a natural storm, but what destroyed the gorge was humanmade. This draws attention to the lack of referential consistency in some of Pym’s word choices. His declaration that he and Peters are the only “white men” on the island is equally confusing, given that Peters’s Indigenous heritage was highlighted in Pym’s original description of him.

“We were forced, therefore, however unwillingly, to remain in our place of concealment, mere spectators of the conflict which presently ensued.”

The word “spectators” is an echo of Pym’s description of the Dutch ghost ship: “Shall I ever forget the triple horror of that spectacle?” (69). In this instance, he and Peters have to watch a similar showcase of death as they observe the destruction of the Jane Guy.

“After throwing down the musket found in the chasm, I fastened the rope to the bushes, and let myself down rapidly, striving, by the vigour of my movements, to banish the trepidation which I could overcome in no other manner. This answered sufficiently well for the first four or five steps; but presently I found my imagination growing terribly excited by thoughts of the vast depths yet to be descended, and the precarious nature of the pegs and soapstone holes which were my only support.”

Pym and Peters carefully descend the mountain, but Pym finds himself overwhelmed by his own imaginative figuration of the worst possible thing that could happen to him. He is attempting to rely on the physical, objective reality of the world but finds himself obsessed with his fantastical vision of it. This seems to promise nothing but destruction and violence, yet he cannot help himself.

“For one moment my fingers clutched convulsively upon their hold, while, with the movement, the faintest possible idea of ultimate escape wandered, like a shadow, through my mind—in the next my whole soul was pervaded with a longing to fall; a desire, a yearning, a passion utterly uncontrollable.”

Here, the novel engages with an idea common to Poe’s fiction: the self-destructive, brilliant protagonist forever withdrawing from the outside world. Pym feels an inexplicable desire to let himself die and, thus, erase his irrational, paradoxical obsession with the material world.

“Today, by repeated questioning of our captive, we came to the knowledge of many particulars in regard to the island of the massacre, its inhabitants, and customs—but with these how can I now detain the reader?”

Pym learns more about Tsalal after he and Peters escape, but in a moment of meta-narrative reflection, he wonders if there is any point in providing the reader with these new details. However, he shares new facts about the island chain, suggesting that while this fictional narrative might want to point to its own fictionality, it is still devoted to its duty of providing information about the pseudo-fictional world it created.