Peter and Naomi's Outline for Discussion on 9/24/14

Looking forward to tomorrows discussion!

1.     Poe’s portrayal of African American and Native American characters (Dirk Peters and Richard Parker).

a.     Is racism present? Examples?

b.     What do we think of the theory of Poe as a racist mocking the middle passage?

2.     The mutineers:         

a.     What are their goals, whose side are the characters on, and what are the parties involved?

b.     How does drunkenness and violence play a role in the takeover of the Grampus? Morality?

3.     What is the relationship between Arthur and Augustus?           

a.     How do the characters influence each other?

b.     Do the characters change/develop throughout the book?

4.     Adventures at sea.

a.     Why are Augustus and Arthur drawn to life at sea?

b.     How are sailors affected by superstition in the novel? Especially the ghost ship?

5.     How does Poe establish/or not establish credibility to Arthur’s narrative?

6.     What is Poe’s writing style?

a.     How is language used? Foreshadowing/metaphor and superstition?  

b.     What does the ghost ship represent?

Niesha's post on The Narrative of AGP

Superstition seems to have a huge role in this novel. Starting on page 68 we see Pym create a plan using superstition in order to defeat some of the mutineers, “By good fortune I at length hit upon the idea of working upon the superstitious terrors and guilty conscience of the mate.” In other words, Pym created a plan to dress up as Rogers (one of the mutineers who died, and body was still on board) and pretend to be a spirit who has awakened. Dirk, Augustus and Pym were desperate and were in need of a plan to try to kill off some of the men, so Pym decided to undress Roger, paint some blood over his face and stuff his body resembling Roger’s corpse. At first I laughed at this plan they had devised because I wondered to myself, who in their right mind would ever believe such a thing but then as I continued to read it was clear that these mutineers were all so crazy. Pym’s plan worked in his favor, killing off the mate, “The mate sprang up from the mattress on which he was lying, and without uttering a syllable, fell back, stone dead, upon the cabin floor, and was hurled to the leeward like a log by a heavy roll of the brig” (75).

Doing a little research of my own, I found that the mutineers seem to believe in superstition and that it comes naturally to sailors because they live in a world where they are isolated and are “at the mercy of nature and tormented psychologically by guilt” (Kathy, 2) which is clearly shown through the mate. His sudden death, and quick belief that Pym was actually Roger, proves that they don’t put meaning into seemingly meaningless things in life. They just go with the flow, believe every and anything, which benefits and helps Dirk, Augustus and Pym cut off an extra body to throw over-board.  

Nautical Superstitions - David Miller's blog post

            Something that was particularly striking in this second reading was the way in which Pym, Augustus, and Peters manage to get the drop on the Grampus’ crewmembers who sided with the first mate: By having Pym disguises himself as the corpse of a recently-deceased crewmember (Hartman Rogers, who appears to have been poisoned by the crewmembers loyal to the first mate). Poe’s obsessions with all things macabre aside (which this part of the novel unapologetically plays on), the fact that this fairly outlandish plan manages to work is a fairly accurate reflection of the very paranoid and superstitious demeanor of many sailors at the time (honest or not). During a time when traveling by sea was pretty heavily dependent on then-unpredictable factors such as weather and the structural integrity of materials like wood and twine, it was common for sailors to focus heavily on perceived “omens” that were capable of bringing good or bad fortune that could be the difference between a successful voyage and a disastrous one. A famous example of something that would bring “bad luck” upon a ship was an Albatross, especially if one kills it (as shown in the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner). An example of a “good luck” omen was having a cat aboard a ship. In the story, Pym describes the crewmembers as having “superstitious terrors” and “guilty consciences” (line 77), and unsurprisingly, the plan works so well that not only do the crew believe that they are indeed seeing Rogers’ ghost, but the mate himself dies of fright at the sight of the “ghost.”

Post #3 Ghost Ship, Pym's Change

On pages 100-104 Poe uses language in order to paint this intense picture of this "ghost dead ship". The words he chose add to the morbid appearance of the people aboard the ship coming their way adds intense drama. At first the ship was a lifeline, but once it arrived near them they saw it was a death trap. One of the most compelling sentences I felt was, "Of a sudden, and all at once, there came wafted over the ocean from the strange vessel a smell, a stench, such as the while world has no name for--no conception of--hellish--utterly suffocating-- insufferable, inconceivable" (101). The language in this quote just allows the reader to be right next to Pym during this situation. In reading this section the reader can almost smell the death radiating from the boat as well as visualize the tearing of skin from bodies. We as readers almost become fearful not for Poe but for ourselves as readers during this section. Poe does an excellent job of connecting the reader to his characters with his language.

As well as Poe's excellent use of language to engage the reader, his use of character development helps the reader grow a close bond with the characters. In this case, Pym has a large change from the beginning of the novel to now. Pym in the beginning seemed as if he was easily swayed to be talked into things. He felt like a weak character. For example, when Augustus wants to take out the boat when he is drunk, Pym is overcome with the excitement of Augustus that he wasn't not thinking clearly. Pym states, "I can hardly tell what possessed me, but the words were no sooner out of his mouth than I felt a thrill of the greatest excitement and pleasure, and thought his mad idea one of the most delightful and most reasonable things in the world"(8). Pym knew this was a bad idea but he was easily swayed to participate with Augustus due to his weak personality. As the story progresses we see Pym becoming more of a leader. He exhausts himself to try and get into the stateroom to acquire food (109). He even sees a change in the others for the worst that he was not expecting. He says, "Their countenances ere totally changed in character, so that i could not bring myself to believe them really the same individuals with whom I had been in company but a few days before" (109). As Pym becomes stronger he loses faith in Augustus and the other men on board because he seems them becoming weak. Pym gaining strength personally adds to our interest in him.

Pym Necessary For Their Survival

As the narrative begins Poe introduces Augustus and Pym. In the beginning we get the idea that Augustus is someone to whom Pym looks highly upon. He admires every story that Augusts tells him and in a way wants to be like him, he wants to be just as adventurous. After making the decision to join Augustus at sea, Pym depends on Augustus to survive during his imprisonment. But in the second half of the narrative we begin to get a different idea in regards to who is truly the more important and stronger character. After the ship is taken over Pym, Peter, Parker, and Augustus have to fight for their life in attempts to reach land. It is then that we can see how not only Augustus, but also Peters and Parker need Pym in order to survive.

Descriptions of the men are given, specifically that of Augustus and Peters who he says were unrecognizable. Pym on the other hand although not in the greatest shape is still the one who is better in both physical and mental state. One of the instances in which we see this is during the attempts that are made to reach the cabin. After Pym finally is able to obtain the bottle of wine he describes the effect that it has on the men which instead of being a positive one is rather negative.

“There seemed now to be no longer any room for hope, and I could perceive in the countenances of my companions that they had made up their minds to perish.” (Poe 106)

This hopelessness is what possibly had the men is the condition that they were currently in. If it were not for the hope and several attempts of survival made by Pym the men would more then likely have perished.

Credibility in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym

In The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket the idea of credibility and truth are main focuses. Readers are first introduced to Pym’s overwhelming doubt in the preface of the book. In the preface, Arthur talks about the truth so much that readers begin not to believe him. I believe that the preface leads readers to doubt and that without the preface this story would appear to be a typical travel narrative. Later in the book we see narrative doubt once again, in the middle of Chapter 4. “A narrative, let me here say, 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....” (Poe 50). This quote demonstrates,  similarly to the beginning, the weaknesses of the narrator. Pym doesn’t believe that anyone will believe his story and that he could only publish it by pretending it was fiction. Pym offers this explanation because he realizes how outrageous his story sounds. This story leaves readers on their toes, wondering what will come next, and if it will be believable or not. On the larger scale, this quote speaks to readers at the time who might have believed this travel narrative to be true.

Mocking vs Understanding and Survival - Post by Deanna Farber

While there is evidence to support that the novel is mocking the middle passage I think in a way it is trying to make the reader understand what it was like. While the African Americans waited in the dark with little food and water for months in poor conditions, after Arthur, Augustus and the other members of the crew, cant handle the lack of food after they have killed the other men on the ship. They have control over the ship and still cannot deal with the lack of resources or provide the resources for themselves. 
However, ultimately I feel this novel is more about human nature. You really see what they go through as they realize they don’t have the resources. While Arthur tries to make everyone think about the decision, they do decide to kill one of the men on board the ship in order to sustain themselves. While we may be shocked to hear about this, it is a very real situation and a definite outcome. They all probably would’ve died if they didn’t make that decision. While Arthur could’ve have just simply gone along with this being that he might’ve been more malnourished considering they drank all the wine, he tried to object. I think he probably has the most moral character of all the men. You really begin to understand how starvation can turn someone away from what they were completely when survival is at stake.