A Frosty Paradise: Arctic Perceptions and Their Chilling Connotations
The ice is always bluer on the other side of the glacier, or at least that’s what dime novelists wanted you to believe. The Arctic reaches of the world have been a constant curiosity for centuries to those unfamiliar with it, holding secret wonders in its cold grasp. People are enraptured with the unfamiliar and dream of all the possibilities that lie in wait outside the humdrum of daily life. This obsession with the unknown is what made places like in the Arctic a perfect setting for dime novels in the late eighteen to early nineteen hundreds. Little was known about the Arctic by the general public in this time period, so it was able to be depicted any number of ways without …show more content…
The extinction of several species took place during this time due to deforestation, erosion and pollution of the environment. The current events of the time influenced the media that was produced and may be why in The Ice Elephant the nature and wildlife is always found in abundance. When the characters first reach land, they find it to be stocked full of animals: “…thousands of sea-birds were screaming and hovering…while the black heads of seals dotted the smooth waters below in shoals innumerable”. Whittaker paints a world full of anything one could desire, plenty of animals and wildlife, untainted by humanity drawing parallels to the nation at the time. During a stretch in America’s history when abundance was becoming frowned upon, Whittaker offers readers an escape into a world without limits, defined only by the imagination of the audience. This is what made his novel and similar dime novels so popular; they created a world of daring and wonder in a time where the nation had lost some of its adventurous spirit. However, people started to believe in the abundance of the Arctic due to the dime novels, creating misconceptions about a place far from home in order to escape from the stress of their daily lives. While the stories Whittaker wrote were meant for pleasure reading, ultimately they helped perpetuate rumors about the Arctic and its people that continue to thrive among the …show more content…
Unfortunately, it isn’t hiding elephants in the ice with ivory by the tons, nor does the Arctic contain thoughtless tribes of people hell-bent on their next meal. The Arctic isn’t portrayed accurately by Whittaker, but things rarely were in the late nineteenth century. Thus, it was easy for misrepresentations to become integrated into the minds of the readers, leading to the stereotypes associated with Arctic today. The best thing we can do to deter misconceptions is spread the truth about the Arctic to those unknowing of its real value. So next time someone asks about igloos, instead of referencing our pet reindeer, give them a real answer and stop Arctic stereotypes one polar bear at a
The ice is always bluer on the other side of the glacier, or at least that’s what dime novelists wanted you to believe. The Arctic reaches of the world have been a constant curiosity for centuries to those unfamiliar with it, holding secret wonders in its cold grasp. People are enraptured with the unfamiliar and dream of all the possibilities that lie in wait outside the humdrum of daily life. This obsession with the unknown is what made places like in the Arctic a perfect setting for dime novels in the late eighteen to early nineteen hundreds. Little was known about the Arctic by the general public in this time period, so it was able to be depicted any number of ways without …show more content…
The extinction of several species took place during this time due to deforestation, erosion and pollution of the environment. The current events of the time influenced the media that was produced and may be why in The Ice Elephant the nature and wildlife is always found in abundance. When the characters first reach land, they find it to be stocked full of animals: “…thousands of sea-birds were screaming and hovering…while the black heads of seals dotted the smooth waters below in shoals innumerable”. Whittaker paints a world full of anything one could desire, plenty of animals and wildlife, untainted by humanity drawing parallels to the nation at the time. During a stretch in America’s history when abundance was becoming frowned upon, Whittaker offers readers an escape into a world without limits, defined only by the imagination of the audience. This is what made his novel and similar dime novels so popular; they created a world of daring and wonder in a time where the nation had lost some of its adventurous spirit. However, people started to believe in the abundance of the Arctic due to the dime novels, creating misconceptions about a place far from home in order to escape from the stress of their daily lives. While the stories Whittaker wrote were meant for pleasure reading, ultimately they helped perpetuate rumors about the Arctic and its people that continue to thrive among the …show more content…
Unfortunately, it isn’t hiding elephants in the ice with ivory by the tons, nor does the Arctic contain thoughtless tribes of people hell-bent on their next meal. The Arctic isn’t portrayed accurately by Whittaker, but things rarely were in the late nineteenth century. Thus, it was easy for misrepresentations to become integrated into the minds of the readers, leading to the stereotypes associated with Arctic today. The best thing we can do to deter misconceptions is spread the truth about the Arctic to those unknowing of its real value. So next time someone asks about igloos, instead of referencing our pet reindeer, give them a real answer and stop Arctic stereotypes one polar bear at a