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
Two days later, Dr. Guitierrez visits the beach at Cabo Blanco. He’s troubled by the incident with the Bowmans. Basilisk bites and lizard bites requiring hospitalization are strange; he can’t find any examples in the research literature. And when he looks into the incident with the infant that he described at the hospital, he learns that recently, lizard bites have become quite common. He begins to suspect the discovery of a new species—not uncommon in Costa Rica, with its extreme biodiversity. Additionally, deforestation means that habitat losses push species into new niches and change their behavior.
Dr. Guitierrez models the curiosity and integrity necessary for insight. He follows the growing trail of evidence that a previously undiscovered animal bit Tina, although InGen’s secrecy still limits his vision. The extreme biodiversity of the country, which harbors many undiscovered species, also points to the chaos and change that characterize nature and put it beyond human capacity for complete understanding.
Themes
Just as Dr. Guitierrez prepares to leave—the sun is setting and he doesn’t want to have to drive back on the rugged road in darkness—he spots a howler monkey ambling down the beach, munching on a lizard. On closer inspection, he sees a green tail with brown stripes. Shooting the monkey with a tranquilizer dart, Guitierrez retrieves the lizard’s remains. Now he can send them to the world’s preeminent authority on lizard taxonomy, Dr. Simpson, for proper identification.
In a stroke of good fortune that illustrates the chaos and contingency of life, Dr. Guitierrez discovers the lizard just before he leaves. Unfortunately, the fact that only half of it remains limits his ability to analyze the lizard’s remains. These signs require the knowledgeable eye of an expert like Dr. Stone.
Themes
