Arthur knows (or thinks he knows) a little bit about every subject, and sometimes the book reads like an encyclopedia because Poe will spend two pages describing history, nesting habits, or the setting. His knowledge about ships inevitably leads him on tangents about how some aspect of the ship is inadequate or unsafe. An example of a tangent includes where he goes into great depth about penguins when the Jane Guy visits Kerguelen’s Islands. The crew is there to hunt seal, but he starts talking about penguins and albatross’ nesting habits for two pages. Another example of Poe’s attention to detailed background information is his description of Galapagos turtles after the men find one in the storeroom. After eating Parker and then discovering a logical way to find normal food, Arthur is excited at the prospect of a turtle. He goes on to talk about its walking habits, its build, and the meaning of it’s name. Instead of a logical a-ha moment of “Oops! We shouldn’t have eaten Parker”, the history of a turtle makes more sense. Poe writes like the reader wants to know every minute background detail of a place or creature. While explanations and references are helpful at times, other times I am struck by how random or unneeded some pages seem to be.
Ok - I think this is right that I just post my comment here?
ReplyDeleteI think that in the same vein of “Arthur knows all” – or thinks he does, is the fact that he is always the best, or most well informed in whatever he and everyone else is doing. Like we were saying in class today, when they were stranded onboard the ship, he didn’t go crazy and drink all the wine and he was the only one defying the others in their desire to eat someone. In fact the only time when Arthur shows the least bit of weakness is in his delirium -“intellect bordering on idiocy” (page 23)- in the hold of the boat at the beginning. And in this situation he is the only one around and it is only his painful struggle, with no one but Tiger who actually does become more insane than Pym.
However I think that Poe’s in-depth lay outs of seemingly meaningless details (Albatross etc) actually in some ways develop Arthur’s character as the know it all. Beyond Pym’s descriptions of his own always correct smart choices, the long-winded descriptions of animals, longitudes and histories of sea-explorers expand the character of Pym into the shape of the early 19th century, upper class, educated young man who he is. The details, although perhaps long winded, would most likely have been included in a young man’s narrative who was trying extremely hard to show you how smart he is. Thus although I agree that these passages were way too long and long-winded, they do serve the purpose of further proving Arthur as the tangential know it all.
I agree that Poe’s novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket may not be the finest or the most intriguing work I have ever read. Yes, it can be passed off as only a money making endeavor for Poe which would explain the long drawn out descriptions of sea turtles or nautical directions as page fillers. However, I believe it is its ability to spark discussion and the multiple theories explaining its absurdity that can be concluded which allow it to be an important work in American literature that continues to be studied and analyzed.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the novel seems to be made up of multiple short stories glued together, I believe a common theme can be seen throughout where survival for the characters leads to the inversion of social values. In order for the characters to survive, they breakdown norms of social behavior, which inevitably leads to deception, violence, and even cannibalism. Many question the Pym’s ability to eat Parker and then move on like it is no big deal. When faced with starvation and delirium cannibalism may seem to be a rational solution. Psychologically in this situation they may not have to mental capacity to come up with other solutions like retrieving the olives, ham, and wine from storage. Or if they did know subconsciously they were still thinking about survival considering with one less they would have more to ration for themselves. Also Pym’s lack of remorse or conversation about the actual act may be a coping mechanism for dealing with the fact he ate another human being.
Emma and Martha Lee,
ReplyDeleteThese are both excellent comments! Reading them in succession makes me wonder if the two issues---Pym the know-it-all and the inversion of social values in the struggle for survival---are related. Perhaps Pym strives to maintain control of the situation through language (coming off like a know-it-all) because he can't control it in reality.
Kelly