Perfect Little Protagonists: from Edward Stratemeyer's "First at the North Pole"

In penning this volume I have had a twofold purpose in mind: the first to show what pure grit and determination can do under the most trying of circumstances, and the second to give my readers an insight into Esquimaux life and habits, and to relate what great explorers like Franklin, Kane, Hall, DeLong, Nansen, Cook, and Peary have done to open up this weird and mysterious portion of our globe.

~ Edward Stratemeyer, from his 1909 preface of First at the North Pole

This was the first novel I’d read by Edward Stratemeyer, and frankly it will probably also be the last.
First at the North Pole, or, Two Boys in the Arctic started out promising, introducing the main character Andy as an orphaned eighteen-year old in Maine, and his struggle to survive in a job recession and with the added dead-weight of his lazy Uncle Si. This uncle showed up out of the blue after his parents died, claimed he was his guardian, and settled into a drunken, loafish lifestyle all the while hypocritically cracking the whip over his honest-working nephew’s back. What’s worse, Uncle Si tries to keep Andy from befriending another orphaned youth, Chet, on the flimsy excuse that Chet’s father was accused of embezzlement and forgery, and had run off never to be seen again…which of course proved he was guilty!

The plot thickens when Andy finds out that he has inherited some land in Michigan, which might prove valuable to the mining corporations who want to take control of that territory. Of course the wheedling Uncle Si snoops through his nephew’s things (after sending him out to find a job), and decides to try to sell it to the first land shark that conveniently shows up pretty much the same time he finds the deeds to the land. Andy discovers the plot and runs away into the Maine winter, taking refuge with his friend Chet while he tries to figure out what to do. They have a few adventures in the woods, trying to hunt to survive and so on, and Andy even manages to lose his papers in the vast expanse of snowdrifts.

So far, so good. The story establishes the protagonist as a “good guy” with an oppressive uncle and difficult challenges ahead. But here the story wavers, because Stratemeyer suddenly remembers the title of his novel, and needs to figure out a way to redirect the plot northward rather than towards Michigan. So he introduces a professor and an explorer. They meet the boys (again, conveniently), and during their conversation the idea of travelling to the North Pole comes up.

There are several things that are problematic about this novel.

First, the protagonists are drawn as inerrant heroes. Even though they’re teenage boys out in the backwoods, they speak in purple prose. For instance, in the middle of a Maine blizzard, their reaction is “This is most unpleasant!” (Considering their generation, I wouldn’t be surprised if they spoke like this in the company of women, but out alone in the wilderness I’m sure young men would have had other colorful words to use rather than simply purple!)

The problem with inerrant heroes is that, unless the author is a genius at his craft, they often come across as boring and cookie-cutter. In this case, all of the inerrant heroes are pretty much the same, from Andy to Chet to the professor. Since they are clones, the only reason to have more than one of them is for there to be dialogue instead of internal monologue.

Another problem with writing inerrant heroes is, if the author is going to write someone as perfect, they’d better actually be perfect. For Andy and Chet, et al. this is not the case. These protagonists are inherently violent and bigoted, but are still treated as if they have no foibles. The main characters go on an expedition into the northern wilderness, and promptly go about killing pretty much all the wildlife there, from polar bears to arctic foxes to walruses.

But worst of all is their utter contempt for the "Esquimaux" people* who are helping them on their quest. This culture is systematically maligned, as the author himself characterizes them as foolish, easily manipulated, and cowardly. The main characters themselves obsess over how “unhygienic” the Esquimaux are because they don’t bathe (even though at subzero temperatures that makes absolutely no sense), and how they stink because they rub oil on themselves instead (despite the fact that many oils are in fact antibacterial and also smell pretty nice). They disrespect the Esquimaux by spitting out the food they offer them, too, despite the fact that they’re dying and the indigenous cuisine is undoubtedly packed with the nutrients and fat content they need to survive.

This ethnicity are treated with more contempt, in fact, than the somewhat-villainous uncle. And even disregarding the un-disregardable racism, there are problems with the uncle’s role in the story. If you’re going to have perfect protagonists, there had better be a good villain or challenge for them to prove their perfection. While Uncle Si is more of a nuisance than an actual threat, even this villainy is undermined by the “perfect” Andy. He feels sorry for his uncle when he reads a letter from him, because it reveals how Si is really not a bad person, just uneducated! Andy and Chet talk about how they hope Si will see the error of his ways, as if the only thing that really bothered them was his character rather than how he abused and leeched off of them. That leads in to my next issue.

A protagonist should not reach their goal without any effort. Yes, while the expedition faces challenges like starvation and snow blindness, it is a collective challenge rather than something Andy or Chet have to face alone. Frankly it seems like they got to the North Pole comparatively quickly and easily. Then, upon returning home, their wish is granted without having to expend any effort on their part: it turns out the evil Uncle Si has reformed his dissipated ways through hard work, sobriety, and general moral strengthening. Also, he’s miraculously found Andy’s lost papers, but because he’s a saint now he saved them for Andy to do with as he pleases.

To sum up, I wouldn’t recommend this novel, and partly felt like I had to review it in order to warn others about it. This is not a case of “oh those evil people in the past let’s destroy or at least ignore them.” I can forgive a lot of things from older books, because I’m also a history buff who likes to know how people used to think—even if they were incredibly wrong. In fact, sometimes reading “wrong” opinions is a way to reconsider one’s own character, and forces one to question preconceptions that exist even today. However, this novel was written as an adventure novel whose goal is to entertain rather than educate. And I do not find unnecessary animal slaughter or racist slurs entertaining…or even dramatic. 


* My understanding is that the correct term for this ethnic group should be "Inuit." The reason I use "Esquimaux" throughout this particular blog post is because I'm discussing Stratemeyer's book using Stratemeyer's inaccurate terminology.