Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Jurassic Park, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Chaos, Change, and Control
Sight and Insight
Flawed Human Nature
Technology
Summary
Analysis
From the relative safety of the Jeep, Gennaro and Muldoon survey the aftermath of the tyrannosaur attack on the hadrosaurs. Muldoon’s experience as a hunter and tracker helps him to analyze the scene. Based on droppings and bite marks, he ascertains that the tyrannosaur separated a juvenile from the stampeding herd and then dispatched it. After the larger dinosaur cleared the area, smaller scavengers joined in the feast. The radio crackles. It’s Arnold, calling from the control room to say that he’s located Nedry.
Arnold’s discovery in the control room parallels Muldoon’s interpretation of the aftermath of the tyrannosaur attack. In both cases, a careful attention to what one can see (especially when one keeps an open mind) yields important information about the ongoing situation. The tyrannosaur behaves in many ways like a typical predator, peeling the most vulnerable member of the herd off before dispatching it. Nature follows patterns are predictable when viewed with an unbiased eye.
Themes
Muldoon and Gennaro drive to the place where Nedry abandoned his Jeep. His bloated corpse lies near the car, providing a feast for a flock of compys. But after seeing the swelling on his hands and face and smelling the telltale scent of dilophosaur venom, Muldoon pieces together the story of his final minutes. The park warden retrieves the rockets from the front seat of the second Jeep but leaves the body to the scavengers. As he tells Gennaro, they have bigger problems to deal with first.
Muldoon rescued Malcolm when he was injured; he leaves the dead Nedry behind. More than any other character in the book, Muldoon lives his life according to the rules and laws of nature. Nedry’s actions sealed his fate, and so Muldoon leaves him to the mercy of the food chain. But he does retrieve the tranquilizer rockets in light of the serious dangers everyone faces.
Themes
As the jungle river becomes narrower, it runs faster, carrying Grant, Lex, and Tim back towards the base. Lex, still hungry, wants to try berries from trees alongside the river, but Grant tells her not to. They may be dangerous. Annoyed and missing her father, she picks on Tim for his interest in computers and dinosaurs. But they stop bickering when they hear an unearthly shriek from somewhere ahead.
Despite the dangers they face, Tim and Lex still behave like siblings and children, picking on each other and griping about their hunger and fatigue. Despite our advanced intelligence, humans still suffer discomfort and behave in cruel and unlikable ways.
Themes
In the Jeep, Muldoon grows increasingly impatient with Arnold’s inability to find the tyrannosaur via the computers. Arnold insists that the computer system can find neither the giant dinosaur nor the lost paleontologist and children.
Yet again, the park operators demonstrate their excessive reliance on the park’s computer systems. But this system, by design, doesn’t allow them to see the whole picture. Their inability to see (both literally and metaphorically) limits their insight.
Themes
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Back on the river, the raft drifts towards the steel framework dome of the aviary. Grant remembers that there’s a second lodge here. Hoping to find functional motion sensors or—even better—a phone, he lands the raft.
The aviary loomed large when the guests landed on the island, but it wasn’t featured on the tour. Grant’s hopeful expectation of finding a way to communicate with the control room keeps him from wondering why.
Themes
