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
In the lodge, Hammond paces impatiently around Malcolm’s room, overwhelmed by the scent of his putrefying wound and angry at the thought that the mathematician’s possible death, by confirming his predictions about the park, will become his final rebuke of John Hammond and his grand ideas. And Malcolm lies on death’s door, mumbling deliriously though semi-consciousness about paradigms. Hammond leaves Malcolm in Dr. Harding’s charge, declaring that he’s going outside for some air.
Malcolm’s slow, agonizing death does indeed continually rebuke Hammond’s arrogance and selfishness; it’s notable that the direst consequences of these failures have happened to other people, including innocent victims, like Malcolm. Instead of facing the consequences of his actions, Hammond chooses to avoid them both literally and emotionally by leaving the lodge.
Themes
The fresh air invigorates Hammond, reminding him of the park’s potential. He’s determined to make his idea work, using the backup embryos stashed at InGen headquarters to start again. Like a good engineer, he will solve the problems that this iteration of the park uncovered. He also decides that he can attribute the failure to Wu—who Hammond decides was too sloppy and too focused on tinkering with the dinosaurs—and Arnold, who missed important details despite his persistent worries. Most importantly, Hammond concludes, neither man had a grand enough vision of the park’s potential. He will hire better people next time.
Hammond’s denial runs so deep that putting problems like dying guests out of sight allows him to excise them from his mind, as well. And he continues to close his eyes to the reality around him to preserve his internal vision of the park’s success. Rather than recognizing his humanity, acknowledging his limits, and accepting responsibility, Hammond blames his dead employees.
Themes
Hammond wanders towards his bungalow, lost in thought, until the sound of the tyrannosaur’s roar fills the jungle around him. Running away in a blind panic, he stumbles and falls down an embankment into the woods where he breaks his ankle tripping on the vegetation. In the control room, Lex and Tim fight over the computer controls after realizing that they can broadcast recorded dinosaur sounds over the park’s loudspeakers.
Hammond’s instinctive panic shows that he sees, on some level, the flaws in his vision. Even though his denial keeps him from acknowledging it, he knows the park is dangerous. And in the end, ironically, he falls victim to nature through his manipulation of the world around him—it’s not the real tyrannosaur that frightens him, but a recorded sound relayed through the park’s sophisticated and all-encompassing electronic systems.
Themes
John Hammond lies cowering in the jungle, listening to the tyrannosaur roar. After a few minutes, he hears Tim and Lex over the loudspeakers and realizes that they’re playing with the park systems. He curses them in anger. He only brought them to the island as insurance against Gennaro shutting him down. They didn’t help on that count, and now they’re mucking around in the control room. Still, knowing that the tyrannosaur isn’t after him allows Hammond to calm down. He begins shouting for help.
At this point in the book, readers have seen more than enough evidence of Hammond’s character flaws, including greed, pride, and selfishness. Still, his admission (to himself) that he used his grandchildren—exposing them to mortal peril to shield his idea from scrutiny or rebuke—makes him seem even more objectionable.
Themes
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In the lodge, Malcolm’s voice grows fainter as he mutters that everything looks different on the other side of the paradigm shift. Dr. Harding knows scientists talk about worldview changes—discoveries so massive they force humanity to reassess its beliefs—as “paradigm shifts.” Darwinian evolutionary theory instigated a paradigm shift in the 19th century. Harding muses on these shifts as Malcolm smiles that he doesn’t care about “anything” because “everything looks different … on the other side.”
Ultimately, events on the island have proven Malcolm right: humanity cannot fully predict or control chaotic, complicated nature. The only constant is change, and those unwilling or unable to accept this will fall victim to nature’s power. This knowledge gives him hope, however, since it promises that those willing and able to adapt will not only survive but thrive.
Themes
