Ethnic Studies Texts - The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe (1838)

Edgar Allan Poe's novel is an adventure tale filled with shipwreck and mutiny. Arthur Gordon Pym, the hero of the novel, suffers through a lot.

  1. This is a novel by a white author, but ethnic identity is central to the text. How does the novel's symbolism suggest issues of race and ethnicity?
  2. How does Poe represent the interaction between white characters and non-white characters? What kind of racial and ethnic hierarchies can you find in the novel?