Man’s activities such as the exploration of
the space and the oceans have been dangerous as they act as an attraction to
their deaths. Poe’s novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, gives its readers
an experience of how it is like for one to be on the open sea. One of the
dominant themes in this novel is the attraction of man to death. The open sea
is subject to terrible storms that may wreck ships and lead to the death of people.
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym by Poe is an illustration that man does a
number of things that makes him get attracted to death, something that still
exists in the contemporary world.
In the novel, the ship is heading for
Antarctica so as to find a route that is closest to the South Pole. The
attraction of man to death is evident when Jane Guy’s crew drives the ship far
beyond where no other Western ships have reached, which makes them to make
contact with welcoming primitives who later turn murderously treacherous. Pym
travels in a secret trap,
“This was on the twentieth of June. It will be
remembered that I had then been in the hold for three days; and, during this
period, there was so constant a bustle on board, and so much running to and
fro, especially in the cabin and staterooms, that he had had no chance of
visiting me without the risk of having the secret of the trap discoveredâ€
(Chapter 4).
Even though most of Pym’s shipmates are
slaughtered, he does everything so that he may stay alive as well as escape.
Death attracts the Pym and his fellow shipmates the moment they set on this
dangerous expedition as occurrences of the sea are dictated by nature and the
strong winds. In addition, violence and
terrible storms arise during this expedition leaving the crew members stranded
on the wreckage for a long time until Jane Guy comes to their rescue. All these
are a reflection of the fact that mankind have done many things that are
dangerous enough to cause deaths.
The exploration of nature by man is a major
activity that exposes man to death, for instance, mountain climbing. There is
an obvious madness that is identified with mountaineering, which has prompted
terrible events, for example, the 1996 Mount Everest catastrophe where lives
were lost. Into Thin Air is a record by Jon Krakauer that represents this
unfortunate occasion that was brought about by the proposition of a few
individuals to conquer Mount Everest. The risk of climbing the mountain is
tremendous, and through joining in, for example, endeavors, these aides,
famously known as the Sharpa are set in peril. Into Thin Air by Krakauer
portrays the downfall of a few climbers in an enterprise that was perhaps
regarded as sheltered by the Sherpa. According to Krakauer, “mountain climate
is not fit for the survival of human beings owing to low oxygen levels that
make the human’s brain be limited in terms of its functioning†(77).
The joining of people in the armed forces acts
as an attraction to death as they are going into the battle field to face an
enemy that would not hesitate to put a bullet into their head. Many soldiers
have lost their lives on the battlefield in the past few years. Unlike during
the World Wars where people were coerced to join the army, nowadays people
joining the army do it voluntarily which puts their lives on the line. The
attack against the Iraqi nation by the U.S. put the lives of those who went to
the war in danger. There are many U.S. soldiers who were deployed to go to
fight the insurgents in Iraq. As a result, many Americans lost their lives.
According to Chantiloupe, “President Bush made the decision to attack Iraq with
the blessing of Congress. They put the lives of more than 150,000 U.S. soldiers
at risk unnecessarily because the U.S. was not at work with Iraq and neither
was there any danger of being attacked with these purported weapons of mass
destruction†(352).
Poe is by all accounts proposing in the novel
that the creative energy can be an unsafe thing; this is especially perceptible
in the circumstance where Pym is sliding a rock from an extraordinary tallness
and stresses over tumbling to his demise. He starts to permit his creative
ability to assume control, really imagining the minute when he falls and hits
the ground. This gets to be so compelling, so genuine, that he really does
tumble off and is spared by Peters. The circumstance in the hold is telling
too, for Pym's conviction that he is covered, and that his puppy is an awful
animal, makes him unreasonable and pernicious to himself. This thought is
upheld by a quote from Ernest Hemingway: "Cowardice...is quite often
essentially an absence of capacity to suspend the working of the creative
energy.
“More than once he had resolved to acquaint
the mutineers with the secret of my being on board, but was restrained from so
doing, partly through recollection of the atrocities he had already beheld, and
partly through a hope of being able soon to bring me relief.â€
In conclusion, man is indeed attracted to death through some of the dangerous activites that he engages in. Poe was entranced by the ocean, and his first and final novel embraces huge numbers of the traditions of the extremely mainstream nineteenth century sort of investigation writing. He drew on the work (and for one situation, even level out utilized the work) of well known pilgrims like Morrell and Reynolds, and creators like Daniel Defoe. He impersonated their direct, perception situated tone and their wordy, lively style. There are numerous "logical" entries about different species and cruising themes, for example, stowage. He filled his novel with the majority of the tropes of the class - storms and wrecks, savage savages, human flesh consumption, revolt, and experimental investigation. Numerous commentators accept he was really caricaturing this sort of writing through the sheer abundance of fantastical occasions and experiences. Poe has taken a commonplace structure and misrepresented it certifiably. Despite the fact that Poe accepted this to be a "senseless" book, its study of a prevalent structure is truly shrewd.
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