A Peary Ironic Journey
Doctorow, in his 1975 novel Ragtime, embraces the spirit of postmodernist fiction by weaving historical figures into the narrative. A common thread of this "collision of worlds" construction is that upper-class members are villainized, and their depictions are laced with irony. Some of these characters include Ms. Fish, Harry K. Thaw, Peary, Ford, and Morgan. Of these, we will focus on the arctic exploration of Peary in Chapter 10.
Peary, in his Arctic exploration with father, carries on the spirit of colonialism. The beginning of Chapter 10 tells us that, Peary "loved to discuss his system" (73), which turns out to be a mere adaptation of the Esquimo way of life. He carries the knowledge of "the material and designs of the sledges, the food that was to be eaten, ..." (73) with pride. In fact, the Esquimo people are seen as the Arctic version of the "noble savage": Peary asserts that the Esquimos are "children and ... [should] be treated like children" (73) and that their virtues are "loyalty and obedience, roughly the same virtues one sought in the dogs" (78-79). He clearly views the Esquimos as a lesser race which only serves to expedite his Arctic journey. In a similar vein, his black assistant Henson is a key member of his crew. Doctorow tells Henson's story with some irony: Henson is much more of an explorer than Peary himself. While Peary "[occupied] one of the igloos built for him" (78) by Henson, Henson does the bulk of the work. He "[takes] care of Peary's dogs, repaired broken sledges, made supper, [and] dealt with the Esquimos" (78)---the work of a fitting Arctic explorer. Henson is also aware that he is the core of the expedition, and not Peary: upon Father's questioning, Henson answers that he just knows that Peary will pick him (77).
Doctorow, at the end of chapter, thickly laces the irony. The depiction of Peary slightly shifts from an arrogant colonialist to an incompetent man searching (in vain) for his lifelong goal (there's an interesting symmetry between Peary's Artic and Morgan's Egypt).
Peary first sends Father back, telling him that his tendency to freeze was "the fate of some men in the North" (79). It can reasonably be deduced that Peary sees himself as a chosen adventurer whose fate is to conquer the Artic (again, compare with Morgan). While in his mind he is the leader of the expedition fulfilling his destiny, Peary's conquest of the Artic is not smooth by any means. Ordering Henson to calculate his position every mile or two, he paces back and forth, unable to find the Pole (80). He compromises by explaining that "there was no question that they were there" (80). Henson and his crew of Esquimos are glad to be done, as Peary drove them on for days on end with minimal sleep. Finally, when he settles for a photo, the "five stubby figures ... [are] indistinguishable, seen only as black blanks framed by caribou fur" (81). It's ironic that Peary utilizes his "system" (the Esquimo system) and valiantly travels to the Pole (sleeping in houses built by Henson) just to arrive at a makeshift, unsatisfactory pole. The photo that he takes doesn't even show his face, and the American flag planted on the peak of ice snaps and ripples in honor of his conquest.
I really love how you point out the parallels between Peary and Morgan! I think there's something else to be said in the irony that out of the two of them, the one more alienated from humanity is not the one who travels to the ends of the earth, but the one who has earth come and wait on him.
ReplyDeleteI also like your highlighting of Henson's self-awareness, although it is noticeable that he does not try and sell this fact to Father, to try and convince him of his own importance, presumably thinking it a lost cause, nto worth his while, or both. (And yeah, Father is not worth his while).
I agree with Katie: you kind of "bury the lead" in this post, by just casually dropping in the analogy between Peary searching for the pole and Morgan searching for meaning in the Ba birds that might appear in the Great Pyramid. (This could be an excellent essay topic, if anyone is interested!) This detailed account of Peary-as-seen-by-Doctorow does a great job of explicating what we mean when we say that the novel frames Peary and the whole project of "exploration" as a nineteenth-century relic that's increasingly out of place in the new century--just as Father, when he returns to New Rochelle, feels like the world has moved on without him. I suppose it is important for some reason for a human to get to the North Pole and stick a flag in the ground, but it's not obvious why that's necessarily going to give us any more information about what the North Pole is or how it functions. It's framed in the novel as a giant photo-op (and Father can't even make it to the photo!). There's no sense at all that the world has changed because Peary has reached the pole--we get no indication that anyone stateside even cares. It's a kind of paid cosplay adventure for Father to pretend he's an explorer, and as you document, Doctorow relentlessly and with bitter irony makes clear that the "Great Explorer" is working on the backs of a bunch of indigenous people and his trust "assistant," Matthew Henson. His model of colonialism and paternalism belongs fully in the previous century.
ReplyDeleteHi Jay, you make a lot of good points in this post, and I find the points you make about the similarities between Peary and Morgan very interesting. The fact that they have the money to fund their extravagant ideas is also a good point to think about. After all, this trip was only made possible by Peary's funds, but that's as much as he really contributes to the project, and in the ends it is Henson and the Eskimos that did most the work.
ReplyDeleteHey Jay, I like how you walked us through the arctic journey once again, but this time encouraging us to notice the irony present in the journey. I would like to add that Father is perhaps more critical of Coalhouse Walker Jr. because of this journey, as he saw another black man, Henson, be so useful and important to the expedition, that he felt a sense of jealousy and a threat to his colonial beliefs. After all, Father looks down upon the Esquimos and other non-whites, so being bested by a black man likely hurt his pride. Ironically, both black men seem to be much more capable and important than Father. Overall, great post!
ReplyDeleteI agree, most of the irony of Peary's expedition is done by how he, the leader, is the least competent of the expedition team. However, I think you could expand more on how the expedition itself is already ironic: while Peary will eventually portray the event as a glorious conquest, Doctorow describes the voyage as a very drawn-out ugly struggle. Although, you do partially mention something along the lines of this with the photo that was taken.
ReplyDeleteHi Jay, I found the ironic depiction of Peary's expedition as one of the most funny parts of the book, and you perfectly broke down why it is. There was something really intersting about how Doctorow depicted Peary---the great explorer from history---as an imcompetent, rude, and excessively arrogant man while constantly poking fun at him with his pen as the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Jay! I really liked this post, and I think it's another great example of Doctorow's irony. Peary is exactly the type of character, like Morgan, Ford, or even Father, who take themselves way too seriously, and are usually depicted behind a thick coat of irony. You do a great job analyzing Peary's arrogance and desire to be a hero. The scene where they can't find the true north pole, and end up just arbitrarily marking it goes along really well with your post. Great job!
ReplyDelete