Racial and Cultural Anxieties in Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym

Author Information

Alyssa M. Amaral, Bridgewater State UniversityFollow

Abstract/Description

This essay considers the cultural fears and anxieties that are portrayed in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. Drawing upon Tsalal’s natural hesitancy for nature to intermingle with itself, in addition to the tragically brutal clashing of white and black cultures, Poe highlights 19th-century United States’ desire for segregation between North and South, while also depicting southern slave owners’ looming fear of slave uprisings.

Note on the Author

Alyssa Amaral is a senior majoring in English and minoring in history. Her honors project was completed in the fall of 2014 under the mentorship of Dr. Ann Brunjes (English) and made possible with funding provided by Bridgewater State University’s Office of Undergraduate Research.

Recommended Citation

Amaral, Alyssa M. (2015). Racial and Cultural Anxieties in Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. Undergraduate Review, 11, 17-25.
Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/undergrad_rev/vol11/iss1/5

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Articles published in The Undergraduate Review are the property of the individual contributors and may not be reprinted, reformatted, repurposed or duplicated, without the contributor’s consent.