Name : Ridhoni Akbar (1810117210927)

Class : Extensive Reading

1. Please write the title and the writer of the novel you have read. Please
describe how the writer begins and ends the story.

THE NARRATIVE OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM OF NANTUCKET

By : Edgar Allan Poe

The story begins the narrator Arthur Gordon Pym start his tale by noting his
respectable upbringing. As a young man he goes away to school in New
Bedford, there he meets his closest friend Augustus Barnard, the son of a sea
captain. Augustus spurs a love for the sea in Pym and the two spend time sailing.
One evening they are almost killed during a storm but are thankfully rescued by a
whaling ship.
Pym is not deterred from his growing desire to go to sea by this misadventure; to
the contrary, he thrills more and more at Augustus’s harrowing tales. Augustus
tells Pym that his father Captain Barnard is set to command an expedition on the
Grampus and that he and Pym ought to go. Facing disapproval from his family,
Pym is hidden onboard the ship for three days before it departs with the intention
of revealing himself to the captain and crew once they were safely at sea.
Pym is relatively comfortable in the hold for a few days but becomes
disconcerted at his propensity to sleep long hours and his confusion that
Augustus has not visited him. His provisions begin to run out and the noxious
fumes in the hold distort his thinking. At one point he thinks he is being attacked
by a malevolent creature, but it turns out to be his dog Tiger who somehow
managed to get onboard. Tiger has a note attached to him, and after much
travail, Pym is able to make out a few ominous words from Augustus.
After more terrible time passes in his interment in the hold, Augustus finally
makes his way down to Pym. He tells his friend about a mutiny that happened
not long after the ship set sail. Most men, excluding himself, were killed or set
adrift. Augustus himself was spared but tied up for some time until the mate, who
orchestrated the attack against the captain, decided he could roam about. The
only good mutineer on the Grampus seems to be a half-Native American brute of
a man named Dirk Peters; he is kind to Augustus and does not want the ship to
venture into piracy. Pym listens to this tale in wonder and it is agreed he will
continue to hide out so he will not be harmed.

After time passes, Dirk Peters confides in Augustus that he wishes to take back
the ship and hopes the young man will help. Augustus readily agrees and tells
Peters of Pym’s presence. The three concoct a plan to take over the ship and are
successful. They spare the life of one mutineer, Richard Parker, when he begs
for mercy.
Unfortunately, their victory happens during a massive storm that nearly destroys
the ship. When it subsides they are injured (Augustus’s arm is wounded) and
bereft of food and water. Day after day they suffer of thirst and starvation on the
battered hulk of their ship, vacillating between hope and despair. They try diving
into the water-filled storeroom to find provisions but are only occasionally
successful.
Their time on the Grampus becomes more distressing. Once they espy another
ship coming towards them and believe themselves to be rescued, but to their
utter horror it is a ship manned only by dead, stinking, rotting corpses. Not long
after this Parker proposes drawing straws so one man can give his life to feed
the others. Pym recoils at this plan but it proceeds anyway. Parker draws the
short straw and the other three devour him.
Augustus dies from his wounds, but to the great joy of Pym and Peters, another
ship, the Jane Guy, finds them and rescues them. This ship is captained by
Captain Guy, an intelligent but rather weak man. The two men recover quite fully
and enjoy their time onboard this ship as it sails from island to island, exploring
and finding interesting cargo. It is decided that the ship will proceed further south
toward the South Pole.
Their journey through uncharted waters fascinates Pym; there are massive
icebergs, a strange white carcass of an animal, small snowy squalls, and other
interesting animals such as great bears and thousands of birds. Pym counsels
that they should turn back soon because they are running low on fuel and some
of the men show signs of scurvy, but Guy agrees that a few more days could be
beneficial.
The ship eventually comes to a number of large, densely forested islands.
Lingering in the reef near one of them, the crew is startled to see several canoes
carrying black-skinned natives coming toward them. While they are carrying
clubs, they do not seem violent or antagonistic, and the meeting between the
natives, led by their chief Too-wit, and the white men is harmonious. The natives
find the white men’s skin a bit unnerving but are excited about other things on the
ship. Too-wit invites the crew to visit their village in the interior of the island. As
no suspicion of the natives’ ill intentions is discernible, the men agree.
The trip to the village is uneventful. Discussion between Captain Guy and Too-wit
yields an agreement for the crew of the ship to stay for about a week to harvest
sea cucumber. The relationship between the two parties remains pleasant. When
it is time to depart, Too-Wit graciously asks if the men would like to come back to
the village for a leave-taking feast. The Captain assents and all of the crew
excepting a handful left on the ship proceed back to the village.

Along the journey through a narrow gorge led by the natives, Pym’s curiosity is
caught by a geological wonder. He is followed by Peters and another man. As
they prepare to turn back to rejoin their crew, a massive disruption of the earth
occurs and their entire party is buried in a million tons of earth and stone. Pym
and Peters are alive thanks to their exploration, but they appear entombed in a
cavern. A means of escape is located, but they are filled with horror that the
natives orchestrated this terrible avalanche in a deeply-laid plot to utterly destroy
the white men who came to their island.
From their high vantage point, Pym and Peters watch the natives head down to
the shore, get in their canoes, and attack the remaining men onboard the Jane
Guy. To their delight, the natives receive a comeuppance when the ship
explodes and over a thousand perish. The two men suffer for days with limited
food and water and finally decide to explore their surroundings and find a way to
escape.
After a few unsuccessful expeditions, Pym and Peters boldly decide to escape
their chasm and head toward the shore. They are ambushed by a few natives but
kill all save one, making him their captive. They arrive at the beach and are
noticed by the other savages. A mad race to two canoes on the beach yields
victory for Pym, Peters, and their captive, who take one canoe and blow holes in
the other with a musket. They paddle away furiously, leaving the island forever.
At sea, Pym and Peters decide to proceed south to hopefully find land. Their
captive is docile and offers the name of the island they left Tsalal and his own Nu
Nu. He appears frightened of anything white, such as a linen handkerchief of
Pym’s.
In the ends the story is the further the canoe travels toward the South Pole the
more whiteness plays a role. The water grows exceedingly warm and milky
white. White ash rains from the sky. A large cataract looms before them and
disturbances occur beneath the surface. Nu-Nu dies of fright at these odd
circumstances. It is an entirely dreamlike sensation floating in this eerie placid
sea. The canoe heads toward the looming cataract and Pym and Peters see a
large white figure rise up before them.

2. What do you think of it?

After I finished reading this novel, I think this story is really interesting for readers
who like the lost world / fantasy genre. Because this tells the story of Arthur
Gordon Pym adventure in another world, namely in a different sea on earth in
general because it has a peculiarity that makes Pym's journey into a tragedy.
Although this is a fictional story that has been clarified by Allan Poe himself, but
readers including me consider this a true story. Things like that make the story in
this novel attract the attention of readers. That is all what I think of the story in the
novel The Narrative of The Ghost Gordon of Nephucets, Thank you