Sample Student Research Review 2002 

"Ice Capades," by A. Alvarez

New York Review of Books, August 9, 2001, p. 14 - 17

Reviewer: Aaron Van Baalen

Discussion Notes Recorder: Samantha McDonald

February 12, 2002

1. Motivation for Polar Exploration:

"Ice Capades" is an article reviewing eight books related to polar exploration.  In this article Alvarez starts by offering several general and historical reason that have motivated polar exploration.  They range from the desire to fill the “many blank spaces on the globe”; to the glamour of far off and exotic places; to great vision of commerce – the Northwest Passage linking between Europe and China; to patriotic obsession comparable to the space race.

2. Public Interest:

a. Recent Books

The emergence of several recently written or reissued books on polar exploration are indicative of a public interest in the subject.  The remoteness and adventure produce an appealing subject.  This type of story is seen as part of the essential fabric of humanity.  The art of narrative developed from man’s need to tell of his adventures.  The risk associated with the adventure is essential – without it there is no real story to tell.

b. Exploration in the Romantic Period

Exploration of the poles has held the public interest since the romantic period of the early 1800’s because of the remoteness, harshness, and danger of the polar environment.  The poles provided a sublime world that stoked the imagination of the public in general and the explorers in particular.  The natural but unusual landscape provided inspiration for several works of Gothic romances – Poe’s Pym; Coleridge’s Kubla Khan and The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner; Shelley’s Frankenstein.  Polar exploration in this period also provided an escape from the oppressive society of the Augustan Age.

c. Modern Exploration

Alvarez asserts modern explorers are confronted with escape from the constriction of comfort.  The privation and danger of polar exploration provide glamour and risk generally missing or avoided in society today.  Similarly, these underlying motivations can be seen in the current appeal of extreme sports (e.g., hang gliding, bungee jumping, etc.).  The poles are among a handful of places (e.g., space exploration, offshore oil exploration, mountain climbing, etc.) that are devoid of most comforts.  The explorer of these worlds can leave nothing to chance or take anything for granted.  There is no room for error or miscalculation.  However, giving up the comforts of home is the price paid to satisfy curiosity and ambition.

3. Reasons to Explore the Poles:

a. Risk

The inability to mitigate the risks, dangers, harshness, and suffering is a driver of polar exploration.  Explorers do not go to avoid risk – it is what they seek.  It provides a stage for men to test their metal, while exhibiting Hemingway’s “grace under pressure”.  It is a world where despite their suffering, they attempt to remain blithe, and often appear to derive gratification from suffering – at least in outward appearance. 

b. Limited Success

The limited tales of successful polar expeditions are generally not what attracts others to such adventures. 

Rather it is the overwhelming accounts of failure that motivates others.   In fact, the Norwegian Amundsen credits his inspiration for becoming an explorer to the accounts of failure, suffering, and privation from Sir John Franklin unsuccessful expeditions.  It is ironic that the keys to Amundsen success lie in his faultless planning, timing, and preparation – not the type of mundane activities that capture the interest of the public or explorer types.

c. Heroic Failure

The British mentality of the “heroic failure” – bread of the code of fortitude pervasive in the military and public school system – is credited with 19^th century British national obsession with polar exploration.  The British civil servant John Barrow aimed to build his career through exploration, by exploiting the underused resources of Royal Navy officers.  Although there were successes, the charming but inept Sir John Franklin gained the most notoriety for his misadventures and eating his boots.   His subsequent disappearance provided a convenient reason for Barrow to continue to send expeditions in search of the North Pole under the guise of finding Franklin’s lost expedition.  Arguably the most singular example of heroic failure of polar exploration is the Scott expedition.   Not only did Amundsen beat him to the South Pole, but Scott also dies on the return trip.

d. British Cultural Influences

The arrogance of the British Navy, and their culture of doing things the hard way, was reflected in their resistance to adopt the ways of the natives and other inferiors – non-military types such as William Scoresby – who thrived in the polar regions.  The British were hard presses to adopt fur clothing and light dog sleds, instead resorting to “man hauling”.   This is in keeping with the notions of the heroic failure that “unrelenting hard labor and bone-weary exhaustion were badges of courage”, and is consistent with journal descriptions of polar expeditions.  The British went to the poles not because they understood about living in a polar environment, but because they understood hardship, suffering, fortitude, the “stiff upper lip” mentality, dogged perseverance, refusal to complain, and retention of good manners in horrid situations – all components of the British “moral fiber”.

e. Human Psychological Drives

Alvarez touches on several of the physiological motives of polar exploration.  The writings of Cherry-Garrard belay feelings of uneasiness with a comfortable and undemanding life of the British upper class.  This feeling of unworthiness pushed men to the polar extremes in an attempt to expose their inadequacies.  The organizers and promoters of such expeditions provide great scientific reason to secure and justify the necessary resources.  They are motivated by the personal gains of fame, wealth, and power.  As for the explorers, the only reason to go is to test oneself in the face the harshness to and to survive.  Only by facing death, do they really feel they understand and appreciate life. 

4. Conclusion

There is no one definitive reason why men explore, other than it is part of our essential curiosity  – to question the world around and within us.  The literature of exploration is an attempt to capture and understand this fundamental part of the human being.  Through exploration of the outside world, man comes to know himself.  Since man and his environment are inseparably linked, it not surprising the exploration of the exterior world provides a journey into the inner self.   An analogous situation occurred with the first exploration of the Moon, when we inadvertently “discovered” the Earth.

5. Questions 

A)    Would NASA (and space exploration) be viewed with more public interest - if we failed more often?  Dramatic failures provide glorious explosions of heroic figures and their mighty machine.  This is in contrast to the usual perception of the political and bureaucratic machination of “the government”.

B)    Why does there appear to be less literature devoted to the successes of Amundsen than to the failures of Scott?  There is something to be learned from both success and failure.

C)    Has our society lost the fortitude to stomach the risk of exploration?  Are we too comfortable?  Was 9/11 an assault on our comfort and in a strange way, are we better off because of it?

D)    Although several convincing reasons are provided that motivate polar exploration, taken individually, are they two one-dimensional?  People are extremely complex and continuously changing mixture of all the above - and more.

E)    Do “explorer types” really have a death wish?

Class Discussion (Special thanks to Samantha McDonald for filling in as contingency recorder):

James:  Manned interesting but expensive

Aaron:  Pathfinder – popular because failures?

Craig:  Pathfinder mobile – rover concept

James:  Interested in seeing Mars close up

John:  How landed, new idea, balloon landing

Craig:  After Challenger more focus, no one follows now

Aaron:  Apollo 13 – no national coverage until accident – only three flights to moon

John:  Station not inherently interesting, no clear objective now – going to Mars – building something

Kelly:  Not new to middle aged people – grew up with it – taken for granted by kid’s generation – kids no concept of war

Tara:  Market to 5 year olds

Craig:  Education monies increased at same time as space race

John E: Space exploration military reason – too expensive for all to participate in (upper middle class) – military commercial aspect only – Sputnik launch scared US and started national spirit

Tara:  50/60’s space for everyone, now only for elite – opening up more lately

Tara + Kelly + John E + James: Risk not appealing to explorers, what they would avoid at all cost, perception of risk vs. real risk

Craig:  Page 15 same attitude as Pym on seeking the hardship