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Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

Nemo's Organ

Introduced in Part I, Chapter XI, playing the piano-organ is one of the few activities that gives Nemo pleasure. In Part I, Chapter XXI, Aronnax finds Nemo “bending over his organ, and plunged in a musical ecstasy,” engrossed to the point of not hearing Aronnax enter or speak. Nemo can lose himself in the music and achieve a trance-like state. In Part II, Chapter XII, the captain is in the midst of one of his secluded phases when Aronnax “heard the melancholy tones of his organ; but only at night, in the midst of the deepest obscurity.” At the end of the novel, Aronnax “heard the distant strains of the organ, a sad harmony to an undefinable chant, the wail of a soul longing to break these earthly bonds,” and again, Nemo is “entirely . . . absorbed in the ecstasy.” Although these references are not many, the symbol is important, for it affords an insight into Nemo’s soul. The organ is a significant attachment to his former life. It and the sheets of music that sit upon it lift his tortured soul into another realm where thoughts and feelings are expressed as musical tones. Nemo’s organ represents the part of himself that he keeps hidden. He only plays at night, when he’s in his chamber alone, and the sound reminds readers of the songs of whales or the keening of mourners.

The Giant Squid

Nemo is explicit that he can control the laws of men but not the laws of nature. Only three rivals nearly claim victory over him: the iceberg that traps the Nautilus at the South Pole, the giant squid that attacks them in Part II, Chapter XVIII, and the maelstrom that knocks the captives off the hull at the end. The ice and the wind are forces of nature, but the squid, or poulps, is the only animal that threatens their lives besides the sharks. At first, Aronnax, Conseil, and Land discuss the squid as the subjects of legend, “a cephalopod a mile long.” During their discussion, they spot one of these creatures out the window. Eight yards long with enormous staring green eyes, the eight-armed monster is a “freak of nature.” Its bird beak, spiked tongue, pointed teeth, suckered tentacles, and changing colors are as awful to behold as “the furies’ hair” or “the hydra’s heads.” The damage the tentacles inflict is severe, even deadly to one crew member who is crushed by its grasp. Aronnax says that he will hear the man’s last cry of help, in French, for the rest of his life. The squid symbolizes the destructive power of wild animals that feel threatened by humans. The squid attack because the Nautilus has invaded their territory. Nemo commands that they fight them “man to beast,” knowing that his cunning and technology will likely prevail.

The Giant Pearl

In Part II, Chapter II, Nemo describes the pearl fields in the Bank of Manaar and invites Aronnax, Conseil, and Land to go fishing with him there. He also describes how pearls are formed, the intricacies of harvesting them, and the different kinds and sizes according to their values. In the following chapter, “A Pearl of Ten Millions,” Nemo leads them to an oyster of gigantic proportions. Inside is a pearl the size of a coconut, likely worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. Although Nemo “harvests” shipwrecks and other sunken man-made treasures, he does not allow anyone to touch this enormous pearl. Aronnax understands that Nemo wants the pearl to keep growing. He also wants the pearl to remain uniquely his. The pearl symbolizes Nemo’s double preoccupation: that some holy underwater objects remain untouched while others belong exclusively to him. This is also true of the underwater cemetery, so many deep-water species of plants, fish, and animals, and even the Nautilus, although none of these examples remains outside Nemo’s touch like the pearl. The pearl is Nemo’s secret. “Its globular shape, perfect clearness, and admirable luster made it altogether a jewel of inestimable value,” qualities that describe both Nemo’s vessel and his ocean kingdom.

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