Jamie Davis

May 6, 2004

The Explorer and the Explored:

Motivations, Problems, and Effects, of the Journey

            Motivations, problems, and personal maturation each play an integral role in a journey of exploration.  Whether the journey is true or one of fiction, when examining the characters, one may safely take liberties and treat fictional and non-fictional characters as the same in order to provide cohesiveness when venturing into the self.  As expeditions venture from one place to another, the motivations and problems of the journey may differ, but the explorer will undergo changes in character, effect, and be affected by, the world around him or her.

            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.  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; these would enable them to travel—rather expertly—to far-off lands, across thousands of miles of treacherous oceans, until, eventually, explorers would make the trek into outer-space.  One such explorer, Christopher Columbus, while sailing for the East Indies, he unknowingly discovered the Western Hemisphere.  Not unlike, Columbus, Jamie Waterman, from Ben Bova’s Mars and Return to Mars, makes a journey to a far-off land, and he also makes a discovery that is unclear to him.  After Columbus’ landfall in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492, which created “…a bond as significant as the Bering land bridge had once been,” he made three subsequent voyages, seeking a passage into the Indian Ocean (Crosby 3).  Waterman is also afforded the opportunity to make a subsequent voyage in search of discovery.  Although Columbus’ journeys read—in some history books—like a fairy tale, they are far from the realm of innocent discovery of strange lands and its natives by a well-deserving persona of herofication.  The characters’ journey in Bova’s tales are forced to present to the public a false image—similar to way Columbus’ image is falsified—an image that everything, and everyone, are prospering according to plan.  

Although Columbus is revered as an explorer, the motivations for his journeys were not wholly in the name of exploration.  The reasons behind the first Mars mission are true of explorations sake than the second mission, as it is told in Return to Mars.  Columbus sought spices and gold in attempts to further his wealth.  The second mission to Mars is also to generate wealth, corporate investors sponsor it and they want to receive a profit on their investment.  Columbus even falsified his journals in hopes that it would confuse or deflect others from discovering his routes.  Although not to evade others’ attempts at reaching Mars—which would be quite impossible, since it hangs in the night sky for all to see—reports are, nonetheless, either falsified, or lacking the whole truth, in order to cover-up the situation on Mars.  Greed might well have been a motivating factor, if not the factor, for taking to the seas; nonetheless, Columbus was able to convince Europe’s leading rulers, Ferdinand and Isabella, to approve and fund his bold plan.  Various governments fund the first trip to Mars, but in Return to Mars, Darryl C. Trumball, father of one of the mission astronauts, is able to convince the world’s business leaders to fund his bold plan as well—not so different tactics than Columbus’s reasoning held.  A few years after the discovery of the America’s, Columbus, believing he was going to die and in an attempt to shield his title as a discoverer, he writes:

Everyone to whom the enterprise was mentioned treated it as ridiculous; but now there is not a man, down to the very tailors, who does not beg to be allowed to become a discoverer (Spain in the Americas).

Columbus’ comments ring true of the mindset of many of the people of Earth in Bova’s novels.  For example, in Mars the governments, and the general public, think the entire Mars mission to be a waste of time and money, but in Return to Mars, after it is shown that a profit can be made from those missions, everyone wants a piece of the pie.

            Columbus and his crew may not have encountered any great tempests during their travels; they were, however, not without problems.  As commander of the voyages, Columbus was forced to deal with dissentions—mutiny, according to National Geographic.  Upon further investigation, one finds that the problems that arose concerning the crew were more often ill feelings: “They were all getting on each other’s nerves, as happens even nowadays” (Loewen 59).  This quote does not come from Columbus, but rather from Samuel Eliot Morison, his biographer.  The Mars missions are also calm, but not without problems too.  As did Columbus’ crew, the Mars crews also get on each other’s nerves.  Some of the reasons behind such annoying behaviors of the Mars crews, was due to ill feelings.  For instance, a rift continues between Cosmonaut Vosnesensky and Astronaut Ilona Malater: “She is a Jewish bitch who hates all Russians.  I know that.  She has made it very clear to me,” Vosnesensky comments to Jamie Waterman in Mars.  Malater is holding a grudge toward Vosnesensky, for an injustice that was caused to her grandparents by the Russian Government before she and Vosnesensky were even born (Bova, Mars 192).

            Death and disease befell during Columbus’ journeys, as does in many stories, in addition to Mars and Return to Mars, such as Ice: Stories of Survival from Polar Explorations, and A Princess of Mars.  Columbus’ people were not only the recipients of such dread, but they were also being layers in similar pains and sufferings, as a result of their insalubrious and tyrannical ways.  In 1493, after Columbus left the colony of Navidad with provisions for growing European plants, “…those citizens were massacred by the Arawaks” (Crosby 67).  The colonies’ demise may sound terrible; but it is worthy to take note that the entire Arawak peoples were wiped out by the Spanish, over 8,000,000 people within about sixty years—genocide, to be more accurate.

            Although death does not come in hoards of mass-extinction, it does, nonetheless, rear its ugly head in Ice in a most chilling way—no pun intended.  To quote one student, “I had to stop and put on a sweater.”  It is apparent that this particular student was so fascinated with Ice that he became, not just another armchair explorer, but was, at least for a moment, amid the frozen tundra.  Ashley Cherry-Garrard describes this unforgiving world:

The Trouble really began in your sleeping bag, for it was far too cold to keep a hole open through which to breathe.  So all night long our breath froze into the skins, and our respiration became quicker and quicker as the air in our bags got fouler and fouler…my clothing had frozen hard as I stood…these big blisters, which rose all down my fingers with only a skin between them, was frozen into ice (Willis 66,69).

This type of living situation the people from The Worst Journey in the World, as told in Ice, endured, causes a significant revelation in their perceptions of one another.  For example, Garrard becomes deeply aware of his companions in a way that would not have been afforded in civilization: “They were gold, pure, shining, unalloyed.  Words cannot express how good their friendship was” (Willis 74).  Garrard not only changes his views of the civilized world, but he also revels in a maturity that few will ever experience—he is changed for life.  

Garrard went in the name of science in search of Emperor Penguin eggs.  He writes, “we had in our grasp material which might prove of the utmost importance to science: we were turning theories into facts with every observation we made…” (Willis 95).  In Edgar Allan Poe’s The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, Pym expresses his interest in science:

So attempting an opportunity of solving the great problem in regard to an Antarctic continent…I must still be allowed to feel some degree of gratification…in opening the eye of science one of the most intensely exciting secrets which has ever engrossed its attention (Poe 129-130).

According to an endnote in Pym, “engrossed its attention” is a projection of the “account of the massacre on Tsalal;” perhaps it is alluding to Pym’s naturalistic side to explore in the name of science, for science’s sake, and not necessarily a hidden message (Poe 289).  Had Garrard not found the penguins’ rookery, all would not have seemed lost for the explorers, because they realized that the greater benefit was gained in small increments along the way, and not one large find at the end. 

When Columbus, however, was unable to obtain his large find, the amount of gold that he thought he should have, or was expected to find for Spain, he turned to taking up the financial slack by being instrumental in the creation of the transcontinental slave trade.  Rape was commonplace.  In 1493, “Columbus was rewarding his lieutenants with native women to rape.”  In 1500, Columbus wrote, “…those from nine to ten are now in demand” (Loewen 65).  One can only wonder, as did Garrard about the Emperor Penguins’ “struggle for existence,” whether the lives Columbus and his men lived lead “to happiness or satisfaction” (Willis 95). Viewed by many to be less than human, the cruel and inhumane treatment of the native peoples as some sort of beasts of burden—only their burden was not only physically enduring, but also psychologically destructive—seemed justified.  Families were decimated, entire villages destroyed, and millions eradicated—all in the name of exploration, or discovery as Columbus would say.

According to John Carter, in A Princess of Mars, “I could take a human life, if necessary, with far less compunction than that of a poor, unreasoning, irresponsible brute” (Burroughs 58).  The very dogs that the Spaniards used were treated with such a higher regard than the human natives.  Oddly enough, Isabella, who approved and funded Columbus’ ventures, was against the slave trade.  Despite her feelings about the slave trade though, the trade flourished for several hundred years.

Certain acts of tyranny are afoot in Poe’s novel, although, by far, not as vile as the rape of children, but they are grisly.  For example, a mutiny ensues; whereby, it is “a scene of the most horrible butchery…the cook stood with an axe, striking each victim on the head as he was forced over the side of the vessel…twenty-two perished” (Poe 37).  Eventually, the mutineers are overcome during a small insurrection led by Dirk Peters, with Pym trailing.

There is no evidence of pre-Columbian European literature on syphilis, so, given to that fact, it is safe to assume that Columbus is, at the very least, instrumental in the disease’s initial contact with the people of Europe (Crosby 124).  For example, as quoted in Alfred Crosby’s book, The Columbian Exchange, “In the yere of Chryst 1493 or there about…this most foule and most grievous disease beganne to sprede amonge the people.”  This is commonly referred to as the Columbian theory, when explaining the rise or origin of syphilis (Crosby 123).  Not unlike syphilis, in the sense of virility, is the yellow fever, mentioned in Pym.  After thinking that they were rescued at sea, Pym and his stranded mates soon realized that the ship they thought to be their savior turned out to be a ship of death, “the whole of her company had perished by the yellow fever” (Poe 83).  Pym is quite shaken by the sight of the many dead aboard the ship; he refers to it as “the most appalling and unfathomable mystery” (Poe 83). 

No one was quite sure, at the time, were syphilis originated from, each country was blaming the diseases’ onslaught on a neighboring country; it was commonly called the French disease by most of the English.  Although debated as to its accuracy, “The first mention of Europeans with syphilis in the New World is found in the biography of Columbus’ son, Ferdinand” (Crosby 137).  Regardless as to the validity of the statement by Ferdinand, being questionable as a result of not having an original Spanish version available to historians, it makes for interesting historical text.

About three hundred years after Columbus’ adventurous, yet humanitarianly questionable, explorations of land and sea, another group of people took on the arduous task of exploration.  Meriwether Lewis and William Clark blazed uncharted lands and traversed torrential rivers in an attempt to find an all water route to the Pacific Coast from the east, with what one author describes as Undaunted Courage.  President Thomas Jefferson was a scientist, a politician, and a visionary, among other titles that could be equally bestowed upon him, and he recognized the importance of sending a team of explorers to map the rivers, discover new flora and fauna, and encourage native cooperation while providing tactical information about the tribes.   Lewis was not, however, Jefferson’s first choice, nor his second, to lead the expedition; Jefferson considered Lewis to be “…too young and insufficiently trained” (Ambrose 70).  He passed up young Lewis for, unbeknownst to him, a French spy by the name of André Michaux.  Michaux had a background in the sciences, and this appealed to Jefferson; Michaux was eventually exposed, and sent back to France several years before the expedition got underway.  Lewis was a true explorer at heart, and after two years of proper training under the encouragement of Jefferson, Lewis was primed to lead the expedition:

…Jefferson…had made Lewis into exactly what Jefferson had hope for in an explorer—a botanist with a good sense of what was known and what was unknown, a working vocabulary for description of flora and fauna, a mapmaker who could use celestial instruments properly, a scientist with keen powers of observation, all combined in a woodsman and an officer who could lead a party to the Pacific (Ambrose 126).

            Motivations for this undertaking of true exploration were varied, to say the least: science, political agendas, money, and fear fueled the desires for the journey.  According to A. Alvarez, in his article “Ice Capades,” “Explorers are driven by the unappeasable need to peer over the next horizon” (14).  This innate driving force of curiosity is what guided Lewis throughout his arduous journey.  The American Philosophical Society, which Jefferson was a member, was mainly interested in the layout of the land.  They offered a sum of money to the first explorer who could reach the Pacific and make it back with a full report on his findings; they “wanted to tie the two coasts together” (Ambrose 70,71).  Lewis would have gone even without this monetary offer.  Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s actual expedition beyond civilization got underway in May 1804.    

             Jefferson saw the scientific value in an exploration of the west.  With the specimens of flora that he received from Lewis, he used them for agricultural and medicinal purposes.  Jefferson was filled with excitement and anticipation at the discovery of new specimens of flora and fauna, not to mention the American Philosophical Society’s gain.  Jefferson’s excitement is paralleled with Jamie Waterman’s quixotic reverence in his search for what he believes to be the remains of an ancient Martian civilization among the cliffs on Mars.  Like Lewis, Waterman is willing to risk his own life at the shear possibility of discovery.  In Return to Mars, Waterman resigns as mission director on the surface of Mars in order to explore the Martian cliff-sides.

Although Jefferson may have been a scientist at heart, he was also forced to concede to political reasons for the expedition, similar to the way in which Waterman caved in under political pressure until he discovered a new way, with the help of his fellow astronaut Dex Trumball, to fund future missions to Mars.  In order to maintain financial and political support for the expedition, Jefferson also needed to show his constituency the importance of the Louisiana Purchase.  Lewis and Clark were able to show a “young United States the wonders of its Louisiana Purchase,” this undoubtedly pleased Jefferson, as well as others who were supportive of the purchase (Millennium in Maps).  Again, with reference to Bova’s Return to Mars, Waterman, along with Dex Trumball, are able to convince an entire business sector on Earth to agree to fund future trips to the red planet without the dictatorship of Dex’s overbearing father.

Money was a main factor in the questionability of the Louisiana Purchase, yet it was money that provided a motivating factor for the exploration of the west by Lewis and Clark.  This motivating factor also leads into another—fear.  By bringing together the East with the West, the Country would truly be united, and be able to be established as the dominant force in the fur trade; this would bring tremendous wealth to the American government, as well as further its global status.  Waterman initiates his own global status, not on Earth, but, rather, on Mars, by staying behind on the red planet with his newfound love, Vijay Shektar.  Waterman claims Mars for the Navaho Nation according to the United Nation’s Outer Space Treaty.  In relation, there was a genuine fear that several other countries were making plans to monopolize the fur trade in the West, during Lewis and Clark’s days.  Also, it was feared that the British would take possession of the West, thereby crippling the United States economically, militarily, and politically.  In reality, the “European nations were no more capable of exploring, conquering, settling, and exploiting the western two-thirds of North America than they had been in the preceding three centuries” (Ambrose 56).  It is fear that has, historically, been a motivator for exploration.  Waterman also felt fear, yet his fear was the exploitation of Mars by corporations to turn a quick buck, with no regard for the archaeological or anthropological significance of his discoveries.

Any journey into the unknown is not without its problems, and Lewis and Clark’s trek was no exception.  The expedition’s problems first arose in the very preparation for the trip.  For example, Lewis had to postpone the start of the journey because the boat builder was a drunk who cared no more about the success of the mission than the fauna that they would encounter during the actual expedition.  According to Lewis, the boat builder was “continuing to be constantly either drunk or sick.”  Lewis had no choice but to be patient with the boat builder, because he was the only builder, “within hundreds of miles,” skilled enough to build a boat worthy of the journey (Ambrose 106).

            Lewis had to contend with drunkenness among his own men.  After two of his men got “…so drunk that they were unable to help themselves,” and failed to report for duty the next morning, Lewis…“had them picked up and thrown into the boat, and set off” (Ambrose 112).  Heavy drinking was not the worst of the expedition’s problems, dissention and fighting were on the menu.  Once Lewis and Clark went off for a week to pick up supplies, and they left Sergeant John Ordway in charge.  Upon their return, Sergeant Ordway informed them that four of the men refused to obey Ordway’s orders to perform guard duty, instead they claimed to have gone hunting; in reality, the men were off getting drunk.  One might contest that it was drunkenness that led to dissention among the four men, but the fact is that the men were sober when they decided to disobey the orders of Sergeant Ordway (Ambrose 129). Perhaps more accurately put, the men were more lured by the desire to get drunk than they were afraid of the consequences for dissention.  Fighting may not have been so much of a serious problem, other than it was just something that needed time to be attended to.  According to Stephen Ambrose, author of Undaunted Courage, “These young heroes were in great shape, strong as bulls, eager to get going, full of energy and testosterone—and bored.  So they fought, and drank—and drank, and fought” (Ambrose 130).  He goes on to write that Clark wrote with zeal about the fights, perhaps this was Clark’s way of combating the boredom as well.

Besides the storms, lack of drinking water, the dreadful food supply, and the dealings with the unforgiving rivers, were disease and sickness: malaria, syphilis, dysentery, tumors, boils, fleas, and sick from overeating were prevalent, just to name a few.  In the summer of 1805, Lewis was stricken with dysentery so severe that he was unable to eat or proceed, until he was well.  According to Lewis, “I was taken with such violent pain in the intestens that I was unable to partake” (Ambrose 235).  Everyone in the party succumbed to an illness or an injury, or both, at some point along the expedition’s journey.  In addition, in Return to Mars, the crew that had ventured out to the canyon to explore the cliffs becomes deathly ill (with respect to anyone who wishes to read this book, the exact cause of the illness will not be alluded to), and they are unable to function, some are incapacitated to the extreme that without the help of others, they will surely die.

Although no all water route was discovered during the Lewis and Clark journey; nevertheless, the expedition was a success in more ways than Lewis probably imagined at the time.  After the successful end of the Lewis and Clark expedition, Lewis, being the true explorer that he was, could not deal with the fact that the adventure was over, and on October 11, 1809 he took his own life in a most gruesome way.  Even though his reason for committing suicide is purely speculative here, nonetheless, it is as conceivable as any other.  Jamie Waterman becomes depressed when he is forced to leave Mars in Mars.  John Carter, in A Princess of Mars, also suffers when he is forced back to Earth, back into the dark dismal cave from where his journey began; he remarks of his lost love left on Mars, “I would rather lie dead beside her there than live on Earth all those millions of terrible miles from her” (Burroughs 145).  As expeditions venture from one place to another, the motivations and problems of the journey may differ, but the explorer will undergo changes in character, effect, and be affected by, the world around him or her.

Works Cited

Ambrose, Stephen E., Undaunted Courage, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.

Bova, Ben., Mars, New York: Bantam, 1993.

-----Return to Mars, New York: Harper Collins, 1999.

Burroughs, Edgar Rice., A Princess of Mars, New York: Del Rey, 1979.

Crosby, Jr., Alfred W., The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492, Westport: Greenwood Press, 1973.

Loewen, James W., Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.

Millennium in Maps: Exploration, Washington: National Geographic Society, 1998, this is a map.

Poe, Edgar Allan., Arthur Gordon Pym and Related Tales, New York: Oxford, 1994.

Spain in the Americas, Washington: National Geographic Society, 1992, this is a map.

Willis, Clint, editor., Ice: Stories of Survival from Polar Exploration, New York: Adrenaline, 1999.