Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Journey to the Center of the Earth, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Science and Discovery
Maturity and Independence
Intuition vs. Evidence
Nature vs. Civilization
Adventure
Summary
Analysis
The morning of August 13th, the men embark across the sea. As they leave the grotto behind, Lidenbrock wants to give it a name. Axel suggests Port Gräuben, and Lidenbrock accepts this. Wind blows across the sea, allowing the men to keep a steady and rapid pace. They pass massive algae growths, which Axel finds incredible. The following day, Hans tries fishing, and after two hours, he catches a fish. Axel believes it to be a sturgeon, but Lidenbrock disagrees and points out features that identify it as a species that has been extinct for centuries. Hans catches more ancient fish, some of which even Lidenbrock can’t identify.
Nature continues to amaze and surprise Axel. Even Lidenbrock, who is rarely impressed by the strange things the men discover in nature, can’t identify some of the fish Hans catches. And algae requires sunlight to grow, something that’s nonexistent underground—so it differs substantially from algae at the earth’s surface. This is another instance of modern science failing to categorize what has not yet been discovered.
Themes
Axel wonders if the presence of ancient species below the earth means that they will encounter dinosaurs. He imagines all the creatures that might live in the underground tunnels, losing himself in the “fossil world” of his imagination. He envisions the various epochs of the earth, and his imagination becomes hallucination, almost prompting him to walk off the raft. Hans pulls him back, and Axel regains his senses. He assures Lidenbrock and Hans that he is alright. Lidenbrock calculates that they will soon reach land, but Axel sees no sign of land.
Axel is not as single-mindedly dedicated to science as Lidenbrock, but he is still passionate about the discoveries they are making. The possibilities of what they might discover––and of the implications of what they have already discovered––excite him so much that his imagination runs wild.
Themes
