Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea By Jules Verne

When ships from every nation mysteriously are destroyed by the blow of an unknown creature of the sea, the crew of the Abraham Lincoln sails off to discover this creature and take it down. Among the crew is Ned Land, an expert harpooner from Canada, Professor Aronnax, a distinguish scientist, and his faithful servant Conceil who would give his own life to save his master’s. Together, they seek out the monster only to find out it’s not really a monster, but a submarine! The under water machine, the Nautilus, is captained by a man who calls himself Nemo. He greets his uninvited guests, Ned, Conceil, and Aronnax, with great hospitality with the only exception of them never leaving the Nautilus.


It was easy to lose myself in the reading of this novel -once the old English style sunk into my head. Though some parts were confusing, others carried me down to the deepest depths of the ocean and the coldest places known to man. More than once I found my self completely baffled by the extensive research Jules Verne had to do to bring about the astonishing world of the Nautilus and the seas not yet known to man. “…the Nautilus. This pioneer underwater ship had a long way to travel, no less than twenty thousand leagues under the sea, and though it was to make this perilous trip only on paper, Verne meant it to be seaworthy at every point” (7). Verne was well ahead of his time, well over a century. “…whatever the mind can clearly see, the hand of man in time will carry out” (8).


Jules Verne portrayed each character vividly thus I, at times, caught my self acting and becoming the characters. Though this is true for most books I read, this had yet to happen when I am required to read. Captain Nemo, the mysterious man who left the world above to live beneath the seas that are free of tyrants, beckoned me ‘til the point that I started believing that the sea was the one true escape from the world. “…I had done with the world on the day when my Nautilus plunged for the first time beneath the waters” (79). “I have done with society entirely, for reasons which I alone have the right of appreciating” (73). Monsieur Pierre Aronnax, a man of science and adventure, captured every moment and left out little detail when he told of the magnificent Nautilus. “Study is to me a relief, a diversion, a passion that could make me forget everything.” (348). Conceil, loyal servant of Aronnax, shares the same passion for the sea and its inhabitants as his master and drew me in with his calm natured matter. “…being in my master’s service, I followed him” (53). Ned Land, the Canadian harpooner whose attitude and quickness of hand led him to be the best of his dangerous occupation, brought out the every anger one could feel for being contained under water for too long. . “…I will defend myself; I will force them to kill me” (368).


Though I would not recommend this book to novice readers, I would recommend it to those who can loosen their minds from reality and let it sail off into the horizon of a new day. A day aboard the Nautilus and the mysterious Captain Nemo.
Post created and published by Tasha