At the Mountains of Madness

The structure of Dyer’s story is repetitive. After establishing the broad outline of the story in the opening chapters, he returns to the narrative and fills in the details that he purposefully excluded earlier. By doing this, Dyer heightens the audience’s anticipation. His aim is to terrify his readers so much that they never travel to Antarctica. By reiterating his fear and trepidation at simply telling the story, he sets the tone for what is to come. Given that the narrator of the story is struggling to recall the truly horrific nature of what he has experienced, the audience expects to experience that horror for themselves. The repetitive structure of Dyer’s account builds on these expectations, while also revealing the fundamental flaw in his plan. Dyer, like his audience, cannot help but be fascinated by the Old Ones and their abandoned city. Each time Dyer returns to an earlier point in his story to flesh out the details, he hints at the excitement and curiosity he felt at the time. This morbid curiosity suggests that future scientists will inevitably ignore Dyer and travel to Antarctica.

The slow descent of the plane mirrors the book’s structure and emphasizes this curiosity. Dyer and Danforth pass over the abandoned city and cry out in shock and amazement. They then descend slowly, circling over the empty ruins with a mixture of awe and fear. The way in which the plane descends builds tension: Each pass over the buildings brings some fresh information, and Dyer’s breathless descriptions convey his excitement. The dark colors of the city and the ghostly nature of the ruins add a sense of dread; the city appears dead and only seems more dead as the men get closer. However, the pair’s curiosity overcomes their fear, and they know that they will inevitably explore the city. The plane’s descent becomes a metaphor for this nervous anticipation.

The alien origins of the Old Ones cause an existential crisis in Dyer. As a geologist, he can date rock formations. This knowledge allows him to accurately assess the age of the mountains around the city and the rock used to make the buildings. He quickly realizes that the Old Ones were alive a long time before humanity evolved. This realization undermines everything he thinks he knows about the history of the world. For a man who has dedicated his life to science and knowledge, the existence of an advanced (nevermind alien) civilization millions of years before human development demolishes his life’s work. Dyer came to Antarctica hoping to further his career as a scientist. Instead, he has made a discovery that shows him how little he really knows. This identity crisis adds an extra dimension to Dyer’s horror, as he no longer knows himself, let alone the world around him.