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
Axel relates this chapter in the form of the uncertain, fragmentary notes he took during the storm. The storm shows no sign of yielding, and the men cannot hear one another over the thunder. Axel has no sense of where they are going. The next day, as the storm continues, Lidenbrock finally agrees to lower the mast, just as the storm pulls the mast and sail free from the boat and into the clouds. A massive disc of electricity fills the air with nitrous gas that threatens to suffocate the men. It magnetizes all the iron aboard the raft, sticking the men in place. Axel manages to break free when the disc explodes in bursts of flame.
Axel’s jumbled narration in this chapter emphasizes the complete confusion he feels during the storm. It renders the reader as out-of-sorts as Axel himself, drawing them into the danger of the situation and the panic it might cause. The story also continues to underscore the many threats adventurers face, focusing not only on the immediate hazard of a lightning strike but also its aftereffects.
Themes
