Arthur Gordon Pym
The young Nantucket stowaway who narrates the voyage and repeatedly struggles to understand what he experiences.
He wants to escape the life planned for him and experience the extraordinary voyages Augustus describes.
The book
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freePym is drawn to the dangers he imagines at sea. His account combines detailed observation with admissions of panic, faulty judgment, and exhausted perception.
How the book draws them
- Danger increases his desireIn Chapter II, Pym says the earlier sailing disaster has intensified his wish to travel. He imagines shipwreck and suffering as part of the future he wants.
- A reader impaired by confinementIn Chapter III, thirst and illness help explain why he examines only one side of Augustus's note. After tearing it up, he must recover the pieces and find a way to read the other side.
- Using another person's fearIn Chapters VII–VIII, Pym proposes impersonating the dead Rogers. He wears the sailor's shirt, pads his body, and accepts chalk and blood on his face to alarm the mutineers.
- Resistance gives way to participationIn Chapter XII, Pym argues against Parker's proposal to draw lots for a victim. When Peters and Augustus support it, he agrees to participate after securing a short delay.
- Imagination defeats his gripIn Chapter XXIV, he pictures falling while descending a cliff. The thought becomes an urge, his hands release their hold, and Peters catches him.
- Numbness near the final encounterIn Chapter XXV, the increasingly strange southern waters bring dreaminess rather than the alarm Pym thinks he ought to feel. His final observations never resolve what he sees.
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