Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Twenty Thousand Years Later Essays

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Twenty Thousand Years Later Essays Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Twenty Thousand Years Later Essay Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Twenty Thousand Years Later Essay Twenty Thousand leagues Under the Sea, Twenty Thousand Years Later â€Å"The year 1866 was signalized by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and inexplicable phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten† (1). This is the opening sentence in Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and as it draws you into this essay, it does so for his timeless novel right from the first line. He is believed to be one of the most skilled scientific and adventure writers of his time, and ours. Jules Verne’s novel has been around for years and years, but how has it been able to last through so many different eras? In this essay, proof will be brought to light as to how this book passed the tests of time. With amazing characterization, excitement and anticipation for any age group and his futuristic ideas, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea easily lasted for centuries, and will for many more to come. Jules Verne’s skill of dynamic characterization keeps everyone interested in his books, and especially in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. His main characters of Captain Nemo, Professor Aronnax and Ned Land, each with their own personality, make for a remarkable book. Captain Nemo is the mysterious antagonist in the novel. We are first introduced to him after he has locked up Aronnax, Ned Land and Conseil in their room once aboard the Nautilus. Captain Nemo did finally reveal himself to them, but there were still many mysteries surrounding him, such as being gone for months on end with no one ever seeing him, or â€Å"Where did the captain gather this gold from? And what was he going to do with it? † (56). Not knowing where he is or what he is doing gets you to constantly turn the pages to find out more. Captain Nemo is not the only character that gets people of all sorts interested, Professor Aronnax does this as well. He is an intelligent man and readers enjoy hearing the story through his point of view â€Å"†¦I knew by the perpendicularity of the sun’s rays, which were no longer refracted. The magical colours disappeared by degrees, and the shades of emerald and sapphire were effaced. †(69). Pierre is captivated by the great submarine they have found themselves on and his character is able to describe how the ship works in great detail. Readers are able to enjoy this character because they too are fascinated by the happenings onboard the Nautilus. Ned Land is then considered a mix of Pierre and Nemo; he is also mysterious and yet is a very smart man. Ned is honest and true and although he also finds the submarine remarkable he verbally speaks of how he hates living here and plans on escaping. â€Å"We are in Europe; and before Captain Nemo’s caprices drag us once more to the bottom of the Polar Seas, or lead us into Oceania, I ask to leave the Nautilus†(145). Having all these characteristics combined on to one ship it makes for an amazing story with heads clashing, suspense and tensions running high. As mentioned, the character Ned Land is persistently attempting to break out. This makes for a great adventure and fast paced action that is not too gruesome for younger readers but is heart racing and exhilarating for older adult readers. When the captain finally lets his captives out to hunt out the island, Ned is thrilled. He thought it could be his chance to escape but the day ends with hooligans chasing them off the island. It is a classic ‘grab your stuff and go scene’ as everybody runs back to the submarine. â€Å"‘To the boat! I said, hurrying to the sea†¦We had not gone two cables’ lengths, when a hundred savages howling and gesticulating, entered the water up to their wastes. †(96). Just this one sentence of action gets your heart racing. It is no wonder this book has been read for the past century without being forgotten. That is not even the only point of action as it might be is some books. A second point of action occurs when the Na utilus gets stuck in the ice. Once again Ned wishes to take this chance to escape, but is unsuccessful as his only way to live would be to help the Nautilus be freed from the ice. The Nautilus was really imprisoned in a perfect tunnel of ice more than twenty yards in breadth, filled, with quiet water. ’ (201). In this section of the novel the anticipation of what will happen next is thrilling, and never gets old. The highest point of action occurs when Ned Land and the others actually do escape, but what keeps things interesting is that no one knows what happened to the submarine. ‘But what has become of the NUTILUS? Did it resist the pressure of the maelstrom? Does Captain Nemo still live? (244) Finally, this book was able to last through generations of people, because as the world grew up, so did this book. The ideas in it went from being far-fetched to in the realm of possibility to instruments we actually use today. Jules Verne was extravagantly ahead of his time al lowing the book to not seem ‘out of date’. Our first realization of how well thought out his writings are is when Professor Aronnax is on top of the submarine. Ships were still made of wood yet this SUBMARINE was a light and indestructible metal. â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Professor, that beast is made of sheet iron. ’†(30). Jules Verne was able to make it so believable to the people of his time that this submarine and how it worked was quite possible. Comparing captain Nemo’s inventions on the submarine to the inventions of the time Jules Verne was writing in is astonishing. To begin with, something as simple as the sewing machine was only invented in 1845 yet Jules Verne was writing about submarines and all the instruments associated with that. â€Å"‘There is a powerful agent, obedient, rapid, easy which conforms to every use and reigns supreme on board my vessel. Everything is done by means of it. It lights it, warms it, and is the soul of my mechanical apparatus. This agent is electricity. ’ ‘Electricity? ’ I cried in surprise. † (49). Jules makes his characters astonished by the fact that electricity is used, but the feeling is mutual with his readers. In this twenty first century it would make sense for everything to be run using electricity or battery power, but Verne was writing in the nineteenth century and was still able think it all possible. The usage of electricity and its realistic features is also seen with the ‘luminescence’ that is pointed out at the beginning of the novel. It wasn’t until 1878 that a practical and longer-lasting eclectic light bulb was invented. In Verne’s novel, â€Å"‘Never did pholades or shape produce such a powerful light. ’†(21). The Nautilus had lights in front of it so that it could see for miles ahead of itself. It is incredible that Verne’s knew that the study of electricity would develop enough that when we read his books it all seems true and realistic. It is said, in fact, that some things where invented based on, and using theories from this novel. This novel, amazingly written, will doubtless last many more years to come. It started out as a simple French novel written years ago and it became famous again after being translated to English so that more people would enjoy the read. It is interesting, although, that it is as remarkable in English, because when it was translated it lost some of its descriptive detail and idealist explanations. Imagine reading Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea in its original context, you would never set the book down, which you can barely do in this language. Verne, Jules. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.