Article #604-2 | Gutenberg Articles

Excerpt

Excerpt from Gulliver of Mars, by Edwin Lester Arnold

Dare I say it? Dare I say that I, a plain, prosaic lieutenant in the
republican service have done the incredible things here set out for the
love of a woman--for a chimera in female shape; for a pale, vapid ghost
of woman-loveliness? At times I tell myself I dare not: that you will
laugh, and cast me aside as a fabricator; and then again I pick up my
pen and collect the scattered pages, for I MUST write it--the pallid
splendour of that thing I loved, and won, and lost is ever before me,
and will not be forgotten. The tumult of the struggle into which that
vision led me still throbs in my mind, the soft, lisping voices of the
planet I ransacked for its sake and the roar of the destruction which
followed me back from the quest drowns all other sounds in my ears! I
must and will write--it relieves me; read and believe as you list.

At the moment this story commences I was thinking of grilled steak and
tomatoes--steak crisp and brown on both sides, and tomatoes red as a
setting sun!

Much else though I have forgotten, THAT fact remains as clear as the
last sight of a well-remembered shore in the mind of some wave-tossed
traveller. And the occasion which produced that prosaic thought was a
night well calculated to make one think of supper and fireside, though
the one might be frugal and the other lonely, and as I, Gulliver Jones,
the poor foresaid Navy lieutenant, with the honoured stars of our
Republic on my collar, and an undeserved snub from those in authority
rankling in my heart, picked my way homeward by a short cut through the
dismalness of a New York slum I longed for steak and stout, slippers
and a pipe, with all the pathetic keenness of a troubled soul.

Explanation

**Detailed Explanation of the Excerpt from Gulliver of Mars by Edwin Lester Arnold**

1. Context of the Source

Gulliver of Mars (1905), also published as Lieutenant Gullivar Jones: His Vacation, is an early science fiction novel by Edwin Lester Arnold, a British journalist and author. The novel predates many classic sci-fi works and is notable for its imaginative depiction of Martian civilization, blending adventure, romance, and speculative science.

The protagonist, Lieutenant Gulliver Jones, is a disgruntled naval officer who, through a series of fantastical events, finds himself transported to Mars. The excerpt provided is the opening passage, setting the tone for the narrative by establishing Jones’ character, his motivations, and the contrast between his mundane reality and the extraordinary events to come.

2. Themes in the Excerpt

A. The Duality of Reality and Fantasy

The passage immediately contrasts prosaic reality (Jones’ longing for steak and tomatoes) with extraordinary fantasy (his claim to have done "incredible things" for love). This duality is central to the novel:

The mundane (hunger, loneliness, bureaucratic snubs) grounds the story in relatable human experience.
The fantastical (his Martian adventures, the "pale, vapid ghost of woman-loveliness") introduces the novel’s speculative and romantic elements.

This tension mirrors the broader science fiction tradition of using the extraordinary to explore human desires and flaws.

B. Love as an Obsessive, Destructive Force

Jones admits his actions were driven by love for an almost ethereal, unattainable woman—a "chimera," a "pale, vapid ghost." His language suggests:

Unreality: The woman is not fully human ("ghost of woman-loveliness"), implying an idealized, perhaps delusional, infatuation.
Destruction: The "tumult of the struggle" and "roar of the destruction" that followed his quest foreshadow that this love leads to chaos, not fulfillment.
Compulsion: He must write, as if haunted by her memory, reinforcing love as an irresistible, almost maddening force.

This aligns with Romantic and Gothic traditions, where love is often a transcendent but dangerous emotion.

C. Alienation and Disillusionment

Jones is a lonely, disaffected figure:

He is a "poor" lieutenant, snubbed by authority, walking through a "dismal" slum—symbolizing social and emotional isolation.
His longing for domestic comforts (steak, slippers, a pipe) underscores his unmet needs in reality, making his Martian adventure an escape.
The contrast between his humble desires and his grand claims ("I have done the incredible things") suggests a man out of place in his own world, seeking validation elsewhere.

This theme reflects late 19th/early 20th-century anxieties about modernity, bureaucracy, and the search for meaning beyond mundane existence.

D. The Unreliable Narrator

Jones questions his own credibility:

"Dare I say it?" / "you will laugh, and cast me aside as a fabricator" → He anticipates skepticism, making the reader question whether his story is truth or delusion.
His insistence on writing ("I MUST write it") feels compulsive, as if he’s trying to convince himself as much as the reader.

This device blurs the line between reality and fiction, a common trope in adventure and speculative fiction (e.g., The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, The Time Machine).

3. Literary Devices & Stylistic Analysis

A. Juxtaposition

High vs. Low: The grandiosity of his claims ("the incredible things here set out") is undercut by his prosaic cravings (steak and tomatoes).
Romantic vs. Cynical: His poetic descriptions ("pallid splendour of that thing I loved") clash with his self-deprecation ("a plain, prosaic lieutenant").

This creates ironic tension, making the reader question whether his adventure is heroic or absurd.

B. Sensory & Emotional Imagery

Visual: "pallid splendour," "red as a setting sun" → Contrasts paleness (death-like beauty) with vibrancy (life, warmth).
Auditory: "soft, lisping voices," "roar of the destruction" → The gentle (feminine, Martian) vs. the violent (consequences of his quest).
Tactile/Gustatory: "grilled steak," "crisp and brown" → Grounds the fantasy in bodily desire, making his longing tangible.

C. Repetition & Emphasis

"I must and will write" → Compulsive urgency, as if he’s driven by an inner demon.
"Dare I say?" (anaphora) → Reinforces his hesitation and defiance, as if he’s challenging the reader’s disbelief.

D. Metaphor & Simile

"a pale, vapid ghost of woman-loveliness" → The woman is not fully real, more an ideal than a person.
"like the last sight of a well-remembered shore" → His memory of steak is nostalgic, almost painful, like a sailor lost at sea—hinting at his emotional drift.

E. Stream of Consciousness (Proto-Modernist Technique)

The passage mimics the flow of thought, jumping from:

Self-doubt ("Dare I say it?")
Defiance ("I MUST write it")
Mundane cravings (steak)
Melancholic reflection (lonely fireside)

This psychological realism makes Jones feel flawed and human, not just a heroic protagonist.

4. Significance of the Passage

A. Framing the Narrative

The opening establishes the novel’s tone:

Adventure (his incredible deeds)
Romance (love as a driving force)
Uncertainty (is he reliable?)
Satire (a "prosaic lieutenant" doing grand things)

It hooks the reader by presenting a conflicted, compelling narrator.

B. Early Science Fiction Tropes

Interplanetary travel (Mars as a site of wonder and danger).
The "unobtainable woman" (a common motif in pulp sci-fi and fantasy).
The everyman hero (Jones is not a genius or warrior, just a flawed, relatable man).

Arnold’s work prefigures later sci-fi, like Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars (1912), which also features a Earthman’s Martian adventures.

C. Psychological Depth

Unlike many pulp adventure heroes, Jones is introspective and vulnerable:

He questions his own motives.
He admits to loneliness and pettiness (the "undeserved snub").
His love is not pure heroism but obsession.

This humanizes the fantastic, making the story more than just escapism.

D. Metafictional Play

By addressing the reader directly ("read and believe as you list"), Arnold:

Invites skepticism, making the story feel like a confession or madman’s tale.
Blurs fiction and reality, a technique later used by Lovecraft, Borges, and postmodern writers.

5. Key Takeaways from the Text Itself

Jones is an unreliable but compelling narrator—his doubt and defiance make the reader both sympathize and question him.
His love is destructive and unreal—the woman is a ghost, a chimera, suggesting his quest is doomed or delusional.
The contrast between the mundane and the extraordinary drives the story—his hunger for steak is as vivid as his Martian adventures.
The passage is rich in sensory and emotional texture, making the fantastical feel tangible.
The opening sets up a story that is both adventure and psychological study—not just what happens, but why it haunts him.

Final Thoughts

This excerpt is a masterclass in blending genres—adventure, romance, psychological realism, and early sci-fi. Arnold grounds the fantastic in human emotion, making Gulliver Jones’ story not just about Mars, but about longing, obsession, and the stories we tell ourselves to escape reality.

Would you like a deeper dive into any specific aspect (e.g., comparisons to John Carter, the role of women in early sci-fi, or the unreliable narrator trope)?

Questions

Question 1

The narrator’s repeated insistence—"I must and will write"—primarily serves which of the following psycholiterary functions in the passage?

A. To establish his credibility by demonstrating unwavering commitment to truth-telling.
B. To mimic the compulsive, almost manic cadence of a confession under duress.
C. To create a rhythmic, incantatory effect that lulls the reader into uncritical acceptance.
D. To signal his awareness of the story’s marketability in an era of sensationalist pulp fiction.
E. To externalize an internal conflict between suppression and disclosure, where writing becomes both purge and self-flagellation.

Question 2

The "pale, vapid ghost of woman-loveliness" is most effectively interpreted as a symbol of:

A. The narrator’s repressed Victorian-era idealization of feminine fragility.
B. A critique of Mars as a barren, lifeless planet incapable of sustaining true human passion.
C. The hollow nature of romantic love when divorced from material or intellectual compatibility.
D. The protagonist’s subconscious recognition that his quest is a futile chase after an illusion.
E. An archetypal femme fatale whose ethereality masks her role as catalyst for apocalyptic destruction.

Question 3

Which of the following best describes the structural relationship between the narrator’s craving for "grilled steak and tomatoes" and his subsequent Martian adventures?

A. The mundane desire acts as a foil to the fantastic, underscoring the absurdity of his later claims by grounding them in bodily immediacy.
B. The culinary longing is a Freudian displacement of his unacknowledged sexual frustration with the bureaucratic Republic.
C. The steak functions as a symbolic anchor, representing the Earthly stability he must abandon to achieve transcendence.
D. The passage employs bathos, deliberately undercutting the sublime with the ridiculous to satirize adventure narratives.
E. The sensory specificity of the craving serves as proof of his reliability, contrasting with the vagueness of his Martian recollections.

Question 4

The passage’s tone is primarily shaped by the tension between:

A. Defiant vulnerability (compulsive confession) and self-aware artifice (acknowledging the reader’s skepticism).
B. Romantic idealism (love as a transcendent force) and cynical realism (the woman as a "chimera").
C. Nostalgic longing (for domestic comforts) and futuristic escapism (the Martian quest).
D. Psychological instability (obsessive writing) and narrative control (structured recollection).
E. Colonial ambition (ransacking a planet) and existential guilt (the destruction that follows).

Question 5

If the narrator’s account is deliberately structured to mirror the psychological state of a man grappling with trauma, which of the following best explains the inclusion of the "dismal New York slum" setting?

A. To establish a realist framework that validates the later speculative elements through contrast.
B. To evoke urban decay as a metaphor for the moral corruption he will encounter on Mars.
C. To provide a socioeconomic justification for his later ruthlessness—his suffering "earns" his violent quest.
D. To create spatial claustrophobia, foreshadowing the suffocating alien landscapes he will navigate.
E. To externalize his psychic fragmentation—the slum’s chaos parallels the "tumult" of his memory and the "roar of destruction" he carries.

Solutions and Explanations

1) Correct answer: E

Why E is most correct: The narrator’s repetition of "I must and will write" is not merely emphatic but dialectical—it enacts a struggle between repression ("Dare I say it?") and compulsive disclosure ("it relieves me"). The act of writing becomes both a purgative (relieving his obsession) and a self-lacerating act (inviting ridicule). This aligns with psychoanalytic theories of confession as both catharsis and self-punishment, where the subject is torn between silence and exposure. The passage’s raw, almost masochistic urgency ("read and believe as you list") suggests he is simultaneously seeking absolution and courting judgment.