Blog Post 13 – Poe’s “The Gold Bug”

            This short story is about two white men—William Legrand and the narrator—as well as an old negro man—Jupiter.  Legrand lost his fortune but found himself in possession of a scarabaeus—a dung beetle—that is made of solid gold.  This bug is no ordinary tchotchke.  It seems to communicate with Legrand who convinces the other men to go on a trek into the South Carolina wilderness of bushes and brambles with a scythe and shovels.  At this point, the end goal of the walkabout is unclear to the reader. 

After walking for two hours, they stop at a tree.  Legrand tells Jupiter to climb it to a certain branch.  When Jupiter reaches the right spot, Legrand directs him to look for an item—a skull—attached to the tree branch.  Legrand tells Jupiter to slip the gold bug into the left eye socket.  Jupiter does it, and the gold bug falls to the ground, marking where they should begin digging. . . for pirate treasure.  They dig and dig but find nothing.  Legrand then realized that Jupiter dropped the gold bug into the right eye socket rather than the left, skewing the measurements.  Legrand unleashes his anger on Jupiter, saying “Curse your stupidity! [Y]ou infernal black villain!” (p. 84-85).  The men continue digging and soon find a 350-pound chest filled with money, gold, and precious stones. 

            After discovering the treasure, the men haul it back to Legrand’s cabin.  Legrand spends great time and effort recounting his method of deciphering a cryptograph that was written on a piece of parchment, which led to locating the treasure.

            This story was published in 1843.  Teaching ideas include comparing/contrasting Poe’s “The Gold Bug” to Twain’s (1884) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, investigating the use of language in each.  Another is for students to examine the characteristics of a mystery story and the use of cryptographs. 

            Obstacles include the racist and unkind manner that Legrand treats Jupiter, calling him awful names when he cannot tell right from left and drops the gold bug into the wrong eye socket.  Poe used much detail to craft this story, such as specifying the vast differences between paper and parchment.  This excessive amount of detail about seemingly trivial items might deter typical adult students.

            I enjoyed reading this story; it drew me in.  However, I’m not convinced that adult students would find this story useful in their daily lives—relating to passing the GED tests or at their workplaces.