Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Scientific Discovery and Technological Innovation
Freedom vs. Constraint
Human Intelligence and its Limits
Exploration, Imperialism, and Conquest
Nature vs. Civilization
Summary
Analysis
Arronax feels surprisingly emotional about walking around on dry land. While he observes the local fauna, Ned cracks open some coconuts, suggesting they take some with them back on the Nautilus. He fantasizes about bringing all kinds of goods back to the submarine, then jokes about understanding how cannibalism can be appealing. Meanwhile, the men are walking further and further into the island’s forest. To their delight, they eventually find some fruit and vegetables. They eat enthusiastically, then wonder how long they have been away from the submarine. Conseil comments, “How time flies when you’re on firm ground!”
To the three men, the island is a kind of paradise that provides relief from their existence trapped at sea. They evidently do not think about the fact that the land could be a group of people’s homes, and that they are brazenly trespassing. In this sense, this episode can be read as yet another metaphor for colonization.
Themes
At five p.m., the men return to the Nautilus. The submarine seems “deserted,” but Arronax has a long, peaceful sleep anyway. The next day, they remain moored in the same spot, and there are still no other signs of life on the vessel. The following day, Arronax, Conseil, and Ned decide to return to the island at dawn. They find some birds, which they are disappointed to see, on closer inspection, are parrots. However, Ned comments that in their desperate circumstances, parrots could make a delicious meal. Exploring further, Arronax is astonished to discover birds of paradise. By 11 a.m. they have covered a large distance of the island, but still not eaten anything. Eventually, Ned shoots and cooks some pigeon.
Arronax and Ned embody two opposing modes of the appreciation of nature. On one hand, Arronax has the enthusiasm of a naturalist, someone keen to document and preserve the great variety of wildlife that exists on Earth. Ned, meanwhile, has a much more practical, survival-based approach to the natural world. At the same time, this approach is also a form of appreciation, since natural resources like hunted birds will provide Ned and the others with the sustenance they need.
Themes
The men embark on another hunt, and before long Conseil lets out a shout of triumph. He has captured a bird alive, and discovered that it is drunk on nutmegs. It is a large emerald bird, the rarest and most spectacular species to be found in the Papuan islands. At two p.m., Ned manages to shoot a hog, and the men finally have the red meat they’ve been craving. Later, they come upon a herd of kangaroos, and successfully shoot these, too. At six p.m., they return to the shore, and prepare a delicious dinner with the day’s catch. They also drink liquor made from fermented coconut. Conseil and Ned half-jokingly suggest that they never go back to the Nautilus. Suddenly, a stone falls dramatically at their feet.
Although on one level the men perhaps can hardly be blamed for being so enthusiastic about the prospect of eating red meat after their months without it, the brazen and greedy way in which they kill so many animals on the island seems destined to cause trouble—as the mysterious stone (likely thrown by a person) indicates is about to happen.
Themes
