Blog Post #3: The Frontier on Land and at Sea

In the beginning of the novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket excitement about Arthur’s adventure at sea is a main theme. This idea parallels the pioneering spirit of early American westward expansion in the 19^th century.  This maritime “frontier” is part of the “Atlantic Frontier” discussed in the presentation on the Frontier Thesis by Frederick Jackson Turner. This sea frontier was imbibed with the same spirit of adventure and the promise of a fortune as the farming, mining, trading and other “land based” frontier in 19^th century America. Poe describes Arthur’s feelings toward the sea even after being in a shipwreck as an “ardent longing for the wild adventures incident to the life of a navigator.” (pg. 18) This sentiment is shared by pioneers in early America as they moved west to places unknown. Expeditions, like that of Lewis and Clark, explored the new territory in the same way as nautical expeditions did.

            The promise of fortune linked with exploration of new territories was especially pertinent because of the whaling industry which offered romance and adventure at sea and grew into its golden age in the 1800’s (1).  In Cooper’s The Pioneers utilization of natural resources for monetary gain is a main theme. Using fish, silver ore, and lumber are all discussed and the financial gains associated with their procurement. The whaling tradition out of Nantucket that Poe’s narrative stems from was focused on the same procurement of natural resources from unexploited territory; namely whales.  The issue of wastefulness and greed that Leatherstocking speaks of in The Pioneers is a foreshadowing message for the land frontier but also the sea frontier; the whaling industry would eventually greatly deplete the whale stock by the 1860’s (1).

The frontier at sea is also similar to the Western frontier in that there is uncertainty of laws and rules. In Poe’s novel the whaling ship Grampus experiences a mutiny leading to the clash of normal nautical laws on a whaling ship and the new “rules” or lack thereof by the mutineers (Ch.4). After the mutiny governance is maintained through violence and killing off of dissenting individuals aboard the vessel. Laws on the high seas were often difficult to enforce because of the distance from judicial infrastructure that was located on shore. In The Pioneers, Marmaduke is able to punish Leatherstocking for brandishing a weapon against an officer of the law, on the Grampus there is no recourse for violence, or law-breaking (no court, judges, jury, or officers to enforce laws).

Work Cited:

1. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/whaling-intro/