The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe ch. 1-8 – Summary

Preface (signed A.G Pym)

Pym meets some people who urge him to write his tale. He is reluctant to publish it for fear he would not be believed because its contents are so marvelous. Also he is a poor writer. Mr. Poe, he says, took great interest in the tale and wrote it up and published it as fiction.

Chapter I

Pym comes from a respectable family in Nantucket. He goes out to sea on a small sailboat with his friend Augustus. Augustus takes the boat far out and Pym realizes that he is drunk. Pym can't sail well and a storm is approaching. He hears a terrible scream and passes out and wakes up on the deck of a whaling ship. He realizes that the two ships had collided and that they had been rescued, first Pym and Augustus after half an hour. They had both been near death.

Chapter II

1.5 years after the Ariel disaster, he deceives his family who is opposed to his seafaring aspirations by telling them he is off to spend several weeks with Mr. Ross to whom he is related. He stows away with Augustus' help onto the whaler Grampus on which will also sail Augustus and Mr. Barnard. It's June. Three days later the brig departs. At first he is satisfied with his hiding spot inside a box but after five or so days becomes gloomy and concerned that Augustus hasn't visited him. He has terrible dreams and is frightened by the dog Tiger whom he loves and whose lives each other had saved. His prolonged stay below decks, which is a chaotic mess of ship furniture, makes him ill and he's out of food and water and sea sick. He decides to find his way above decks with the rope Augustus prepared for him and finds he is unendurably weak. He arrives under Augustus' stateroom to find the trapdoor unopenable. He goes back to his box in a state of despair and finds a note tied to Tiger.

Chapter III

He assumes the note is from Augustus. He lights matches to the note, only to find it blank and despairs again and tears it to pieces. He is sick and hungry and thirsty but realizes the note must have been on the other side. Tiger finds the pieces and in the light of the last matches all he is able to read is "blood – your life depends upon staying close". Tiger becomes violent and Pym is about to kill it when he hears his voice spoken. He manages to call for Augustus who finally comes, bringing water and food.

Chapter IV

Augustus now tells him what has transpired while Pym was below decks. Augustus came to him while he was asleep and he figured he would return some other time. As soon as he entered his stateroom he was assaulted by some of the crew who had tied his father up. There are six mutinous crew members and they kill one Englishman who is a deck hand. They subdue the rest of the ship's crew. They kill 22 of the 27 captives. It is thanks to Dirk Peters, a short strong frightening man that Augustus lives. They release the remaining prisoners but Augustus in a boat with water and biscuits but no way to steer or navigate. Augustus finds that his room was made into a storeroom with heavy chains atop the trapdoor. His foray into the room is discovered and he is saved from death by Peters but is handcuffed and thrown into the berth of the ship.

Chapter V

Augustus continues telling the story. It is now ten days since Pym stowed away and he knows Pym needs water. He slips off the handcuffs and loosens the foot ropes. They neglect to check on Augustus and he whittles away some wood that would allow him to reach Pym. Augustus sees that he wouldn't have time to reach Pym that day and sends the dog to Augustus with the note which he "scrawled with blood – ", which is fortunate because otherwise Pym would have tried to alert the crew. Intoxicated, some members of the crew came to the berth where Augustus was and discussed their plans which were divided into a party headed by the first mate who wanted to plunder ships, and one headed by the cook and Peters, whose party was stronger and who suggested to go whaling in the south pacific for both profit and women. Finally Augustus goes to seek Pym, bringing food and water and finally finds him.

Chapter VI

The manner in which cargo is stowed on a ship is very important so that it doesn't shift, or expand through fermentation, and cause the ship to lose equilibrium and founder. The stowage in the Grampus was terrible.

Augustus goes back to the ship and Pym hides closer to where Augustus is being kept. Tiger is better. The book turns to journal style. They let one ship go unattacked, and one man of the cook's party is thrown overboard. They're all drunk all the time and another of the cook's party goes overboard and drowns. There are now 6 cook members and 5 mate members plus Augustus and Pym on board. 2 cooks turn to mates. The ship makes way for the West India islands to pirate. Augustus assures Peters that he would help in case Peters decided to overtake the brig.

Chapter VII

Still diary format. Another cook man dies. The cook joins the mate's side and Peters decides it is time to overtake the ship. The weather is stormy. Augustus reveals Pym's presence and Peters is delighted. Augustus wants to take over now but Pym cautions against it because he thinks they are suspicious.

He explains what "lying to" means.

Pym has the idea to take advantage of the mate's superstitious nature. The mate had previously poisoned Rogers, of Peters' party. The corpse was still on the scuppers.

Peters kills Allen who is on watch. Augustus and Pym take pump handles for weapons. Pym takes the corpse's shirt and disguises himself as the corpse complete with swollen stomach and limbs and blood.

Chapter VIII

Augustus, Peters and Pym approach the cabin where their enemies are seated. They are armed, alert and less drunk than usual, discussing piracy plans. Peters and Augustus enter the cabin and Peters begins a conversation about marine superstitions. The dead man is brought up and Pym enters the cabin. Since all deckhands are present and they had just been talking about superstition and his appearance is so convincing they are sure Pym is the corpse revivified or a ghost. The mate dies on the spot. They kill four of the enemies. Augustus is hurt and Tiger comes to his aid and kills another. Peters kills two more and they become masters of the ship. Only Richard Parker remains of the enemies and they spare his life and take him prisoner.

They finish their siege to find the ship in wrecks from the gale and flooded from a leak. They throw the bodies overboard and cut away the mainmast and foremast to lighten the ship. Their ship is left a hulk in a violent sea.

Edgar Allan Poe