The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett The Voyage of the Narwhal is a novel by Andrea Barrett, which reveals many aspects of the search for fame and glory, compared to the search for truth. When the characters set out on the journey with the same mission, it is the push of their different motivations that separates their destinies during the journey. It was the commander who, blinded by fame, led the expedition towards tragedy and loss. In this novel the author reveals through the characters that the search for truth is more important than the search for fame and wealth. Barrett begins the novel with the crew loading the ship for the expedition, searching for the famous British explorer Sir John Franklin and his men, lost in the Arctic. It was said that whoever found it would be assured of fame and glory. The young commander of the expedition, Zachariah Voorhees also known as Zeke, has been determined to search for the missing men for almost a decade now. After years of being captain of a merchant ship, he is now planning a journey through the Arctic to discover places never seen before. The story is told from an omniscient point of view in which different people's personal feelings and thoughts are revealed in many ways. Erasmus Wells, a middle-aged man is the naturalist of Philadelphia. He joins the expedition partly because he hopes to make up for the miserable failure of a previous expedition, secondly because his sister Lavinia is engaged to Zeke, so he acts as his protégé, as he promises. He hopes that on this expedition he can gather enough information from the natural history of the region. This time he plans to bring something home from the trip. In Erasmus' previous Wilkes expedition none of his efforts are attributed to him, when Wilkes writes a book and does not even mention it there. Erasmus also fails after getting engaged to his fiancée when shortly before the wedding she dies of heart disease. He grew up studying plants and animals with three older brothers and a younger sister. His mother died shortly after Lavinia's birth, and as he was the youngest of three brothers he had to take care of her. After so many failures in his life, perhaps this expedition was another chance for success for him.