colonize Asia, Europe, and virtually all the Old World during a period of hundreds of thousands of years.” (Cavalli-Sforza, p. 44).  The world was actually new to Homo erectus, and the term Old World is a reference where modern humans existed before they too branched out into what is referred to as the New World.  The Antarctic Circle is truly a new world, and it is within this New World that Poe writes; as the world was new and in its infancy for exploration by Homo erectus, so too was polar exploration for modern humans.  It has been widely accepted that the reason for the trek of Homo erectus out of Africa was the search for food; however, given that their brain size was over twice that of their ancestors, Australopithecus afarensis, and almost twice the brain size of Homo habilis, one can not help but entertain the idea that along with their increased brain size, that their sense of curiosity also grew, playing some role in their exploration of other lands.

            As the first modern humans looked upward toward the heavens, a feeling of awe, bewilderment, and a sense of belonging—as part of a huge tapestry—to what we now refer to as the universe, must have overcome them.  Ancient peoples built massive structures as a way of connecting themselves to the awesome world that spun above.  The builders of Stonehenge, for example, took on the backbreaking task of moving massive stones, weighing tons each, over great distances to their final resting place in what is now known as England.  Stonehenge was built about 4000 years ago, and although it is still debated as to the architect’s original plans for this structure, it has been widely accepted that Stonehenge was built to serve in the capacity of an astronomical device.  This type of undertaking was not an isolated one: According to Michael Seeds, “All around the world, ancient peoples oriented their sacred temples astronomically in recognition that they lived within a cosmos of order and beauty…” (Astronomy, p. 10).  This sense or need to belong is what has driven many of the ancient peoples in their own exploration into the reaches of space, although not by physical means, nonetheless, the simplest method of propelling the ultimate spacecraft for exploring was used—the mind.

            The sky was alive with a never-ending crusade of motions, and the ancient peoples longed for an understanding of these motions.  Their quests for knowledge led to a new understanding of nature; a new understanding of the world around them.  They were beginning to explore their own world in a whole new light, by peering off into space toward other worlds.

            These other worlds soon became of navigable interest to explorers that would enable them to travel—rather expertly—to far off lands, across thousands of miles of treacherous oceans.  Polar exploration is a prime example.  In a student’s article review by Aaron Van Baalen, it is suggested that “glamour and risk” are motivations for polar explorations; this is just not so, motivations for these expeditions are scientifically, politically, monetarily, or militarily rooted—to name a few (Baalen, par. 4).  Ice includes the motivation of scientific achievement for grueling one’s way through the frozen tundra, risking life and limb.  Taken from Cherry-Gerard’s version of a miserably failed expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott, “…we had within our grasp material which might prove of the utmost importance to science: we were turning theories into facts with every observation we made…” (Ice, p. 95).

Alvarez reviews eight books, providing a look into the world of Antarctic exploration, in his article, “Ice Capades.”  One of Alvarez’s main focuses is the motivation behind such arduous journeys.  For example, he contends, “Explorers are driven by the unappeasable need to peer over the next horizon” (p. 14).  His statement would suggest that explorers have an innate driving force of curiosity. However, Alvarez does write that humans have become restrained or sheltered from dangerous situations with the modern conveniences through technology. And in order to escape the swaddled life, one seeks out danger through means of bungee-jumping, or sky-diving.  He uses these examples to help explain possible reasons for humans to trod the frozen Earth, risking death at every turn.  Humans are naturalistically inclined to avert from dangerous situations, so one’s tendency to participate in extreme sports does not suggest that one is in dire need to become enthralled in dangerous situations.  It does, however, imply that one may seek out thrills—releasing adrenaline—to provide escapism from a coddled life.  Although there is an element of danger in extreme sports, the participant is still relying on modern technology to protect him or her from harm, hence, never fully escaping from the boring aspect to which comfort may enlist (Review, Davis, par. 2).

Poe’s characters in his fictional book …Pym allude to motivations as well.  Although the characters’ motivations are not as academically situated as science; nonetheless, they have their motivation—alcohol, in large quantities of consumption.  For example, the character Arthur Gordon Pym describes the condition of his friend Augustus Barnard, the son of a sea captain, after they embark from land on a small sailboat, Augustus “…was drunk—beastly drunk—he could no longer stand, speak, or see” (Poe, p. 6).  Moreover, Pym concludes that Augustus’ idea for adventure was seeded by a “…highly-concentrated state of intoxication” (Poe, p. 7).  Augustus gave the illusion of being sound until they were already on the water; this is when he collapsed into a drunken stupor.  Although Pym’s journey is quite fanciful, Poe does give another account of motivation—other than alcohol induced—for his character’s desire to explore:

…persevering….  So tempting an opportunity of solving the great problem in regard to the Antarctic continent had never yet been afforded to man, and I confess that I felt myself bursting with indignation at the timid and ill-timed suggestions of our commander….  …in opening to the eye of science one of the most intensely exciting secrets which has ever engrossed its attention. (p. 129-130)

It is with the above passage that Poe’s use of verisimilitude begins to ask the reader to make a leap of faith into the character of Pym.  According to a class handout, verisimilitude is defined as “The appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to be true.  Something that has the appearance of being true or real” (White).  Pym has suffered tremendously by this point in the book: he has been starved; attacked by a dog; sailed treacherous seas; partook in cannibalism; witnessed his friend Augustus suffer and die a most uneasy death.  If all of these horrid events had happened to Gerrard or Scott, or one of their men (most of these did), it would be suspect as to their chances for survival.  At the very least, they would have been so beaten down from those events that they would not be as all-fired up to solicit excitement from the journey as Pym professes. 

According to Francis Spufford, author of I May Be Some Time, Birdie Bowers, an explorer with the Scott expedition said, “…I can never forget in a flash that I did realize, in a flash, that nothing that happens to our bodies really matters” (Ice, p. 294).  Bowers was horrified at their situation, and he began to internalize, almost to the point of a deep philosophical point of view.  Alvarez claims, men wore their hardships like “badges of honor” (p. 16).  Perhaps when faced with death on a daily basis, one would take solace in such pains; the pains, the explorers own; the explorers, the land owns.  From one The Ice Master by Jennifer Niven, one of the books that Alvarez reviewed, explains, “None of you know what life is, nor will you ever know until you come as near losing it as we were” (p. 17).  A newfound appreciation for life can be a by-product of exploration.     

The passage also examples a way to “distinguish fiction from non-fiction: nonfiction—quantity of data impedes development of narrative; fiction—narrative overrides verisimilitude, details are blurred…easily processed” (Syllabus, obj. 2b, p. 4).  Of course, one might say that Pym is a character that has “…to follow knowledge like a sinking star” (Tennyson, 1:31).  According to Kelly Tumy’s midterm, “Characters of Exploration Literature: Products of the Environments, Engulfed in the Genre,” after Scott has endured similar hardships to those of Pym, “Scott exclaims ‘Great God!  This is an awful place’” (par. 7).  Pym also comes to a similar realization of his situation due to his “…many miserable hours of despondency…” (Poe, p. 29).  Both Scott and Pym realize how horrible their two situations have become; however, Scott continues to his very end to hate his situation, and Pym’s outlook changes dramatically as the story progresses; another example of a difference between fiction and nonfiction.  Moreover, Poe’s tale has a happy ending for Pym, yet Scott dies.  However, the truth can at times be stranger than fiction.  For instance, in “Six Came Back” from Ice Sergeant David L Brainard has been through horrendous ordeals, and is faced with the reality that death might take him at any given moment; nevertheless, he writes, “The mosses growing in damp ground are looking quite beautiful” (p. 247).  Brainard’s comment is remarkable, because he is faced with a bleakness and death all around but is still able to write about the beauty of the landscape.    

As long as there are heavens to look towards, there will always be humans to wonder at its splendor.  And like Gerrard and Scott, wherever there may be unexplored territory, then there will be explorers to take on the arduous tasks of exploration, and fictional accounts of exploration—like that of Poe’s—will continue to be written, because we humans are, by nature, explorers.