Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym

The horror of entombment pervades the novel, as it does in many of Poe's other works. Pym's virtual imprisonment in the hold and his and Peters's near-interment in the cavern on Tsalal evoke the most heightened sense of fear and frenzy. What makes burial while alive particularly disturbing is the fact that one's consciousness is still very much awake; the person knows exactly what is happening to them and experiences the uncanny feeling that they are experiencing "the allotted portion of the dead" (153). In this text, however, these entombments also facilitate a movement toward rebirth and the eventual possessing of ultimate knowledge that comes with the spiritual journey to the ends of the earth. While entombment is thus terrifying, it is a necessary component of Pym's journey.