The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket · Chapter
XIV explained
The chapter recounts the voyage of the Jane Guy after the rescue, detailing the ship's passage through the Southern Indian Ocean, encounters with storms, and arrival at Kerguelen's Land (Desolation Island).
What happens
The chapter recounts the voyage of the Jane Guy after the rescue, detailing the ship's passage through the Southern Indian Ocean, encounters with storms, and arrival at Kerguelen's Land (Desolation Island). Pym describes the island's barren landscape, the hunting of seals and sea elephants, and the remarkable rookeries of penguins and albatrosses, whose organized nesting habits evoke astonishment. Captain Guy and his nephew explore the interior, leaving a sealed letter on a peak, while Pym and Peters join the mate's boat in a three-week seal hunt with limited success.
Themes in this chapter
Survival and Moral Decay
The crew's struggle against violent storms and the harsh, barren environment of Kerguelen's Land underscores the theme of survival in extreme conditions.
The Sublime and Antipodal World
The description of the penguin and albatross rookeries as a mathematically precise, self-organized society evokes a sense of the sublime and the alien nature of the antipodal world.
Characters to notice
- Arthur Gordon Pym
Narrator and observer of the voyage, seal hunt, and rookeries.
- Dirk Peters
Accompanies Pym in the mate's boat during the seal hunt around Kerguelen's Land.
- Captain Guy
Commands the Jane Guy; explores the interior of Kerguelen's Land and leaves a sealed letter on a peak.
- Jane Guy
The schooner on which the crew travels; anchors at Christmas Harbour.
- Wilson Allen
Captain Guy's young relation who accompanies him on the interior expedition.
Key passages
“We continued our voyage for some weeks without any incidents of greater moment than the occasional meeting with whaling-ships, and more frequently with the black or right whale, so called in contradistinction to the spermaceti.”
For several weeks the journey was uneventful, marked only by occasional encounters with whaling vessels and frequent sightings of right whales, as opposed to sperm whales.
Highlights the routine nature of the voyage and the distinction between whale species.
“A perfect hurricane will be blowing at one moment from the northward or northeast, and in the next not a breath of wind will be felt in that direction, while from the southwest it will come out all at once with a violence almost inconceivable.”
A full hurricane from the north or northeast can suddenly cease, only to be replaced by an incredibly violent wind from the southwest.
Describes the dangerous and abrupt wind shifts typical of storms near the Cape of Good Hope.
“The birds take especial care never to leave their nests unoccupied for an instant during the period of incubation, or, indeed, until the young progeny are sufficiently strong to take care of themselves.”
The birds are meticulous about always having one parent guard the nest during incubation and until the chicks are self-sufficient.
Emphasizes the cooperative and vigilant behavior of the penguins and albatrosses.