Chapter 21: 50 States of Grey—Northwest Passage – Summary & Analysis
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
The chapter opens with a frustrated explorer who declares the Northwest Passage “unfindable” after a long, cold struggle. He has been navigating an icy, watery body that repeatedly threatens to destroy his vessel. Voices (likely backers or a partner) have insisted the passage exists and will bring “pleasure and profit,” but he now recognises it as a myth. The chapter ends with his resigned surrender: he will not find the Northwest Passage. Petri uses this monologue to lampoon the historical obsession with a shortcut through the Arctic, contrasting grandiose promises with the grim reality of ice, failure, and broken ships.
Key Events
- Explorer’s surrender: After prolonged effort, the protagonist verbally gives up the search for the Northwest Passage.
- Description of the environment: The passage is portrayed as a hostile, icy body that grips his vessel “unpleasantly tight.”
- Rejection of myth: The explorer concludes that the passage is a fantasy, not a real geographic feature.
- Thematic punchline: The chapter ends on the note that the Northwest Passage remains undiscovered (in this version of history).
Character Development
- The Explorer (unnamed): He opens determined or at least hopeful, but ends disillusioned. His shift from perseverance to defeat illustrates the psychological toll of fruitless exploration. No other characters are present in the excerpt.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
- Myth vs. Reality: The Northwest Passage symbolises the human tendency to believe in convenient fictions. The explorer’s moment of clarity undercuts centuries of speculative maps and promises.
- Cold as an antagonist: The icy grip of the water becomes a character in itself—indifferent, powerful, and destructive.
- False promise of profit: The “pleasure and profit” line mocks the economic incentives that drove real exploration, suggesting they were never grounded in truth.
Why This Chapter Matters
Petri’s chapter serves as a humorous corrective to the heroic narrative of Arctic exploration. By reducing the quest to a single, weary speech of defeat, she reframes a major chapter of US history as a lesson in stubborn folly. It also foreshadows later American expansionist efforts that would similarly chase elusive routes and resources. In the broader context of the book, this chapter reinforces the theme that many “discoveries” were actually wishful thinking dressed up as history.
Study Questions & Answers
1. What does the explorer’s final statement—“I give up! It’s unfindable!”—reveal about the tone of the chapter?
The tone is satirical and anti-climactic. Instead of a glorious discovery, the chapter ends with weary resignation, undercutting the romanticised view of explorers as triumphant heroes.
2. How does Petri use the image of the “icy grip” to comment on the relationship between humans and nature in this period?
The icy grip treats the explorer’s vessel as fragile, suggesting that nature was not a passive resource but an active force that could destroy those who underestimated it. This counters the notion of Manifest Destiny as an easy conquest.
3. Why might the author have chosen to leave the explorer unnamed?
Leaving him unnamed universalises the experience—any of the many failed explorers could be speaking. It also keeps focus on the idea (the myth of the Passage) rather than on one historical figure, reinforcing the chapter’s critique of the entire enterprise.