Racial Issues in Poe's Works

Episode 217 takes a brief look at 4 of Poe’s works where many critics believe his complex perceptions of racial issues are explored - The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym, The Goldbug, and Eureka.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 217 - Poe and Race. In the second episode for Black History Month, Celebrate Poe will examine some of  Poe’s complex views regarding race as expressed in his writings.  I wanted to examine some of these works this February, but will look at them in much greater detail in the future - so stay tuned.

Now Poe lived in the antebellum South, where slavery was the norm and racist views were deeply ingrained in society. His writing cannot be separated from that context, and his portrayal of race likely reflects the prevailing sentiments of the time. However, recognizing the context doesn't excuse the harmful representations.

In some of Poe’s works, you would really be stretching things to point out that his writings have a racial component, but in this episode, I am going to briefly look at the four works where critics feel that Poe points out his views on racial issues most prominently - those works are The Murders in the Rue Morgue, the Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym, The Goldbug, and Poe’s final work, Eureka.

The portrayal of Orangutan, the "savage" ape in The Murders in the Rue Morgue, as the killer reinforces negative stereotypes of Black people and other marginalized groups, linking physical appearance with violence and danger.

The story's focus on the Orangutan's physical characteristics and his animalistic behavior.  It is almost as though Poe is  contributing to the hateful idea of Black individuals as less than human - that Black individuals have inherently evil and animalistic natures.
The narrative positions the white protagonist, Dupin, as the intellectual hero who solves the mystery, while Orangutan, is reduced to a violent brute. This reinforces the problematic dynamic of white dominance and Black subordination.

As noted before, Poe lived in the antebellum South, a time of widespread racial prejudice and slavery. His portrayal of the Orangutan likely reflects the societal norms and biases of his era.  Some literary critics argue that the story subtly challenges racist assumptions. The story's ending leaves Orangutan's motivations and culpability ambiguous. This ambiguity allows for interpretations that resist clear-cut racial categorization.  Regardless of interpretation, it's crucial to acknowledge the harmful stereotypes and racist imagery present in the story. Again, these elements reflect the prejudices of Poe's time.

Now for Poe’s only novel - The Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.  This book offers a treasure trove of themes and complexities to explore, especially regarding race.  One notable example is the portrayal of the indigenous people encountered during Pym's adventures.

Specifically, in Chapter 12 of the novel, when Pym and his companions arrive at an island in the South Pacific, they encounter the native population. The description of the natives includes certain stereotypes and generalizations that were common in 19th-century literature. The depiction may be viewed as reflecting racial biases of the time.

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, written in 1838, relates the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym, who stows away aboard a whaling ship called the Grampus. Various adventures and misadventures befall Pym, including shipwreck, mutiny, and cannibalism, before he is saved by the crew of the Jane Guy. Aboard this vessel, Pym and a sailor named Dirk Peters continue their adventures farther south. Docking on land, they encounter hostile, black-skinned natives before escaping back to the ocean. The novel ends abruptly with a ship's entry that some critics believe calls to mind the escalating racial tensions over the question of slavery in the United States while Poe was writing The Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym.  Note the book’s strange use of the color white in this following section from the end.

Mr. Poe - would you care to read this section?

Certainly, Mr. Bartley

March 22d. The darkness had materially increased, relieved only by the glare of the water thrown back from the white curtain before us. Many gigantic and pallidly white birds flew continuously now from beyond the veil,.And then we rushed into the embraces of the cataract, where a chasm threw itself open to receive us. But there arose in our pathway a shrouded human figure, very far larger in its proportions than any dweller among men. And the hue of the skin of the figure was of the perfect whiteness of the snow.

Racism in The Gold Bug is a complex subject.  The character of Jupiter, Legrand's Black servant, is written in a way that reflects the racist stereotypes of the time. His exaggerated dialect, childlike mannerisms, and subservient role perpetuate harmful portrayals of Black people.

It's important to remember that Poe lived in the American South during the antebellum period, a time characterized by widespread racial prejudice and the institution of slavery.

Mr. Bartley, you keep saying that.

His writing, like that of many authors of his time, was shaped by the context of the era. And while some might argue that Poe was simply reflecting the societal norms of his time, others might the text as subtly subverting those norms through Jupiter's intelligence and resourcefulness.   In this sense, Jupiter, who most readers might perceive as inferior due to society’s reaction to his race, is actually the hero of the story.  Jupiter is also the individual who solves mysteries that confuse the white man.

Note that Poe wrote The Gold Bug in 1843 - 6 years before his death - but the scene of The Gold Bug was Sullivan’s Island in South Carolina - no doubt inspired by Poe’s time in the Army when he was in his early 20s.  Today many critics will slam the story as extremely racist, but during his lifetime The Gold Bug was among Poe’s most popular works.   Robert Louis Stevenson even said that one of the main influences on his novel Treasure Island was The Gold Bug. 

Leonard Cassuto, called Jupiter "one of Poe's most infamous black characters", and emphasized that the character has been manumitted but refuses to leave the side of his "Massa Will".  (For more about manumission, refer to the previous episode of Celebrate Poe - Poe Sells a Slave.) Cassuto sums up Jupiter by noting, he is "a typical Sambo: a laughing and japing comic figure whose doglike devotion is matched only by his stupidity".[ Apparently black characters in fiction during this time period were not unusual, but Poe's choice to give Jupiter a speaking role was. Critics and scholars, however, question if Jupiter's accent was authentic or merely comic relief, suggesting it was not similar to accents used by blacks in Charleston.

Ultimately, Eureka, Poe’s last work, presents a rich opportunity for critical discussion about the intersection of science, philosophy, and racial ideology in Poe's thought.

Would you care to read from Eureka - Mr. Poe?

Certainly, Mr. Bartley.

"The first and most obvious aspect of the Universe – what I take to be its chief character – is its immensity. ... We feel ... the impossibility of any conception which involves the notion of an end. We feel, in short, that everything is God. ... In the presence of this collective conception, utterly absorbing as it is, all individual thought, all individual feeling, all individual existence, sinks into nothingness. ...

No man, for instance, considers himself as absolutely isolated. ... We recognize, on the contrary, a sort of brotherhood, a sort of sympathy of interests with every being existing at the present or at the future period of time. There can be no real alien – no sense of the strange. .."

This passage emphasizes the interconnectedness of all things, including all human beings. Poe suggests that in light of the universe's vastness, individual differences and distinctions become meaningless. While he doesn't explicitly address race, the phrase "No man, for instance, considers himself as absolutely isolated... We recognize... a sort of brotherhood" does seem to contradict any notion of inherent superiority or inferiority based on ANY  factor.

Remember when Eureka was written, Poe was living in the northern part of the United States, and not surrounded by the slave culture of the South.
I feel his feelings toward race had evolved, as exemplified by this quote from Eureka - “No man is inferior to any other man.”   And I believe such a passage shows an evolution towards race in Poe’s thought.

But that’s my opinion.  Others might see it as some kind of cosmic principle.

Finally, in Eureka, Poe writes "The first and most obvious aspect of the Universe – what I take to be its chief character – is its immensity. ... We feel ... the impossibility of any conception which involves the notion of an end. We feel, in short, that everything is God. ... In the presence of this collective conception, utterly absorbing as it is, all individual thought, all individual feeling, all individual existence, sinks into nothingness. ...

No man, for instance, considers himself as absolutely isolated. ... We recognize, on the contrary, a sort of brotherhood, a sort of sympathy of interests with every being existing at the present or at the future period of time. There can be no real alien – no sense of the strange. .."

Join us for episode 218 when Celebrate Poe continues its episodes for Black History Month.  The next three episodes  delve into the life and works of the the  great Frederick Douglass. 

Sources include The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym, The Gold Bug, and Eureka from the Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe.

Thank you for listening to Celebrate Poe.