The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket · Chapter
II explained
Pym's passion for the sea is rekindled after the Ariel disaster, and he conspires with Augustus to stow away on the Grampus.
What happens
Pym's passion for the sea is rekindled after the Ariel disaster, and he conspires with Augustus to stow away on the Grampus. He endures a harrowing confinement in the hold, suffering from thirst, illness, and terrifying dreams, before attempting to escape.
Themes in this chapter
Obsession and Self-Destruction
Pym's irrational longing for perilous sea adventures, despite his near-death experience, illustrates his obsessive drive toward self-destructive pursuits.
Deception and Unreliable Narration
Pym admits to 'intense hypocrisy' in deceiving his family about his plans, and Augustus's stories are suspected to be 'sheer fabrications,' highlighting the theme of deception.
Liminality and Transformation
Pym's confinement in the dark, labyrinthine hold and his nightmarish visions represent a liminal state between consciousness and madness, foreshadowing transformation.
Characters to notice
- Arthur Gordon Pym
Narrator; recounts his renewed longing for sea adventures and his secret plan to join the Grampus voyage.
- Augustus Barnard
Pym's friend; encourages Pym's desire to travel and helps arrange the stowaway plan.
- Tiger
Pym's dog; accompanies him in the hold, providing some comfort.
- Grampus
The brig on which Pym stows away; described as an old hulk being fitted out for a whaling voyage.
- Mr. Barnard
Augustus's father; appointed commander of the Grampus.
Key passages
“In no affairs of mere prejudice, pro or con, do we deduce inferences with entire certainty, even from the most simple data.”
We can never be completely sure of our conclusions, even from the simplest facts, especially when bias is involved.
Pym reflects on the unreliability of human judgment.
“It might be supposed that a catastrophe such as I have just related would have effectually cooled my incipient passion for the sea. On the contrary, I never experienced a more ardent longing for the wild adventures incident to the life of a navigator than within a week after our miraculous deliverance.”
One would think that my recent disaster would have dampened my love for the sea, but instead it only intensified my desire for adventure.
Pym's paradoxical reaction to his near-death experience.
“My visions were of shipwreck and famine; of death or captivity among barbarian hordes; of a lifetime dragged out in sorrow and tears, upon some gray and desolate rock, in an ocean unapproachable and unknown.”
I dreamed of shipwrecks, starvation, and captivity among savages, or of a lonely life on a remote rock in an unknown sea.
Pym's romanticized and morbid fantasies of maritime disaster.
“The intense hypocrisy I made use of for the furtherance of my project—an hypocrisy pervading every word and action of my life for so long a period of time—could only have been rendered tolerable to myself by the wild and burning expectation with which I looked forward to the fulfilment of my long-cherished visions of travel.”
My thorough deception, which colored every aspect of my life for months, was only bearable because of my intense anticipation of realizing my travel dreams.
Pym acknowledges his sustained hypocrisy in pursuing his stowaway plan.
