The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket - Analysis

Analysis

One of Poe's least accessible works, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket has defied a universally accepted interpretation. Poe scholar Scott Peeples wrote that it is "at once a mock nonfictional exploration narrative, adventure saga, bildungsroman, hoax, largely plagiarized travelogue, and spiritual allegory" and "one of the most elusive major texts of American literature". Biographer James M. Hutchisson writes that the plot both "soars to new heights of fictional ingenuity and descends to new lows of silliness and absurdity". One reason for the confusion comes from many continuity errors throughout the novel. For example, Pym notes that breaking a bottle while trapped in the hold saved his life because the sound alerted Augustus to his presence while searching. However, Pym notes Augustus did not tell him this until "many years elapsed", even though Augustus is dead eight chapters later. Nevertheless, much of the novel is carefully plotted. Novelist John Barth notes, for example, that the midway point of the novel occurs when Pym reaches the equator, the midway point of the globe.

Poe deciphers hieroglyphics in the novel and scholar Shawn Rosenheim believes this element in the novel served as a precursor to Poe's interest in cryptography. The pictographs themselves were likely inspired by The Kentuckies in New-York (1834) by William Alexander Caruthers, where similar writing is the work of a black slave.

Unlike previous sea-voyage tales that Poe wrote (e.g., "MS. Found in a Bottle"), Pym is undertaking this trip on purpose. It has been suggested that the journey is about establishing a national American identity as well as discovering a personal identity. In the novel, Poe interprets the effects of alcohol on people. The opening episode, for example, shows that intoxicated people can sometimes seem entirely sober and then, suddenly, the effects of alcohol show through. Such a depiction is a small version of a larger focus in the novel on contradictory chaos and order. Even nature seems unnatural. Water, for example, is very different at the end of the novel, appearing either colorful or "unnaturally clear". The sun by the end shines "with a sickly yellow lustre emitting no decisive light" before seemingly extinguishing.