Arthur Gordon Pym Analysis

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The will to survive is a significant theme in The Grapes of Wrath and The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. In both books, the main characters are fighting to survive and along the way, face many different struggles that leads to survival and finding hope. The shipwreck in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym causes Pym and what’s left of the crew members, with barely any food and a little supply of water. They face storms while out at sea, they face viches sharks, and they have to deal with each other and the sickness they feel. In The Grapes of Wrath, The Joads are constantly struggling with trying to find work to help keep them alive. They lose there home and have to move in with another family that barely has enough room. Then, the Joads travel …show more content…

Right after the taking over of the ship by Pym and a couple others including Augustus, a huge storm comes and wrecks the ship in half. Pym and Augustus are brutally injured. Augustus’s arm was wounded. Later on in the story, another stormy night comes so Pym and the other couple of men, tie themselves from the waste onto some leather from the boat. The storm causes the ship to flip upside down which causes the men to be severely injured on their ribs and hips. In chapter 9 Pym says, “My left arm had broken loose from its lashings, and was cut about the elbow; my right was entirely benumbed, and the hand and wrist swollen prodigiously by the pressure of the rope.” Yes there was serious injury on Pym, but it was the only way to survive.

Some people might say that sticking together through it all would outweigh the theme of will to survive, but that accusation would be wrong. The will to survive in the two stories definitely outweighs sticking together. If sticking together was a more important theme, then Noah in the Grapes of Wrath wouldn’t have left, and Peter wouldn’t have said one of us should die in order to keep the other two men alive in the Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. The will to survive definitely outweighs all of the other themes that could have been used to relate these stories

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