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Part I, Chapters XVII–XX

Summary: Part I, Chapter XVII, Four Thousand Leagues Under the Pacific

The Nautilus continues its course for several days, crossing the Tropic of Cancer and the equator on December 1. The morning after their forest hunt, Aronnax goes to the platform, where he sees Nemo and observes crew members hauling in nets. He observes that the crew are of many different nationalities, just as the nets contain many species of sea life. Much of this chapter describes myriad types of fish, testimony to the expertise and interests of the author. One day, Conseil tells Aronnax to come see something. They observe a vessel that had been sunk for only a few hours, with corpses bound by ropes. Among them are a mother and infant, members of the crew, and even the steersman. As sharks approach, the gruesome sight haunts the onlookers.

Summary: Part I, Chapter XVIII, Vanikoro

The chapter is named for a Solomon island where French explorer Jean-François de La Perouse was stranded in 1788. Aronnax describes their route in which they observe several other shipwrecks and some beautiful madreporal (or stony coral) islands. After several days of absence and the passage of Christmas Day, Nemo appears and announces that they have come to Vanikoro. When Nemo asks Aronnax what he knows about the shipwrecks of the Boussole and the Astrolabe, two ships sent to circumnavigate the globe, captained by La Perouse, Aronnax relates the long tale of the two ships as he understands it. Afterward, Nemo claims to have discovered the fate of a third ship, which had never been found, and he shows Aronnax a corroded tin box to corroborate his tale. Inside is a bundle of papers signed by Louis XVI. Nemo declares that such a coral tomb makes a fine grave for a sailor and hopes that he and his crew will enjoy the same one day.

Summary: Part I, Chapter XIX, Torres Straits

The chapter begins with New Year’s Day. Conseil wonders if they shall ever see home again but also admits that, while on the Nautilus, they have seen wonders beyond belief. The Nautilus continues to the Torres Straits, north of Australia and situated with dangerous coral reefs. The weather is rough, and the Nautilus runs aground. The ship is not damaged, but it is stuck. Nemo intends to wait a few days for the full moon’s high tides to release the vessel. Land and Conseil convince Aronnax to ask Nemo’s permission to go out onto dry land while the vessel is grounded. Nemo surprisingly consents. Land is anxious to kill and eat some land meat, and the threesome takes a boat to the Island of Gilboa.

Summary: Part I, Chapter XX, A Few Days on Land

Aronnax, Conseil, and Land are more than happy to spend some time on dry land. While on the island, they discuss cannibalism after Land admits how much he craves fresh meat. On the first day, they gather and eat breadfruit, coconuts, bananas, and cabbage palms but no meat. They return to the Nautilus and unload the food, but they see no one. The next morning, they return to the island. They see many species of tropical birds, including birds of paradise, and they hunt, kill, and cook several. Finally, in the afternoon, Land shoots a hog with an electric bullet and then several small kangaroos. The three men gather on the shore and cook a magnificent meal, musing about whether they should ever return to the Nautilus when a stone falls at their feet.

Analysis: Part I, Chapters XVII–XX

Geography lessons continue in these chapters, and if readers look at world maps, they can trace the route of the Nautilus and appreciate how quickly it moves. Likewise, lessons about ichthyology continue as the nets are hauled and Aronnax observes the splendid array of colors, species, and sizes caught within the ropes. Readers get history lessons, too, as Aronnax recounts the convoluted history of previous explorers of the South Pacific Islands. Some of those explorers remained on the islands; others escaped; still others perished, sometimes at the hands of violent natives.

In addition to these academic areas, readers also continue to learn about Nemo and his strange philosophies and propensities. In Chapter XVII, Nemo talks more about his relationship with the ocean. When he does, he changes in demeanor, a change that Aronnax observes and admires. To Nemo, the ocean is a living being. It has tempers and moods. It sleeps and arouses. Nemo even goes so far as to say, “It has a pulse, arteries, spasms,” and circulation. “True existence is there,” he claims. For Nemo, the ocean is not only alive but also humanlike. Nemo, like Verne, describes his passionate love of the ocean a little at a time, drop by drop, and each conversation reveals a bit more.

The islands of the South Pacific both appealed to and horrified most nineteenth-century Europeans. Their exotic fruits and birds and colorful coral reefs enchanted sailors and crews such as La Perouse and his men. However, the islands also held many dangers beyond the reefs that wrecked so many ships. When Aronnax, Conseil, and Land discuss cannibalism, or, as Land calls it “anthropophagy,” they point to a subject that frightened all explorers of this region of the time. “Savages” who lived on these islands were often inhospitable to foreigners, and rightfully so. Falling into the hands of angry natives could be deadly. Captain James Cook, mentioned in Chapter XIX, had been killed in Hawaii by natives in 1779. This extreme fear of natives and their customs, coupled with extreme racism, was common at the time of this novel, the colonial era, and was likely shared by Jules Verne, articulated by Aronnax. The men refer to the natives as nearly being apes. When the stone falls at their feet as the three men dine on shore, readers know exactly what each one of them fears most.

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