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
Nemo is devastated by the battle with the poulps and its aftermath. Arronax is also disturbed, particularly because the dead sailor had cried for help in French, revealing that the two shared a home country. The Nautilus floats along aimlessly, going in no particular direction. It ends up in the Gulf Stream. Ned once again approaches Arronax and says that he can’t go on any longer, and that he will go insane if they don’t at least try to fight for their freedom. By this point they have been at sea for seven months, with no contact with anyone on dry land.
The interminable limbo of life on the Nautilus becomes even more pronounced as Nemo stops actually directing the vessel anywhere and instead lets it float aimlessly. At least before there was some semblance of a mission to their journey, although its final purpose remained unclear. Now, there is simply endless, monotonous floating.
Themes
Literary Devices
Arronax points out that Nemo has been avoiding him, but Ned urges him to go and find Nemo. Yet when Arronax knocks on Nemo’s door, Nemo replies that he is busy. At first the men seem unable to understand each other, but then Nemo gives Arronax a manuscript, explaining that it is a book he’s written containing all his “knowledge of the sea.” It also includes his life story. Arronax is stunned, thinking that this means Nemo wants the outside world to know his story. However, when Arronax brings up the possibility of himself, Ned, and Conseil leaving the submarine, Nemo gets angry. He insists that no one shall leave the Nautilus before death.
The beginning of this passage provides a palpable note of hope for Arronax, who is encouraged by the existence of the manuscript in two ways. First, it convinces him that Nemo might one day be planning to leave the submarine after all (or allow his captives to leave). Secondly, Arronax is encouraged from a simply scientific perspective—he wants to know that the knowledge Nemo has gained won’t die with him.
Themes
Horrified, Arronax compares their situation to slavery. He says that they don’t have to speak about the topic ever again, but urges Nemo to take pity on Ned, and warns him that Ned might try to take “revenge” for his imprisonment. At this point, the Nautilus is not far from Long Island. The vessel gets caught up in a terrible storm. They briefly catch sight of a ship that Arronax guesses is passing between New York and either France or England, but before long the ship disappears back into the mist. The Gulf Stream is living up to its reputation as “King of Tempests.” Even deep underwater, the submarine is still violently thrown around by the storm.
Arronax’s decision to compare his plight to slavery is significant. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was written very shortly after the abolition of slavery at the conclusion of the American Civil War. Arronax’s words reflect a shifting consensus that slavery was abhorrent, yet the ease with which he compares himself to an enslaved person suggests that he does not grasp the magnitude of slavery’s brutality.
Themes
