Tuesday, 30 September 2008

20,000 Leagues under the Sea Conflict Analysis

I found this interesting short essay online (link below), which details has some interesting aspects about character interactions in 20kluts.

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Summary: Science is meant for the progression of man, but using science for evil can also lead to the downfall of men. In 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne, a scientific fiction novel, that explains the conflict between man vs nature, there are conflicts in the story, the conflict effects the surrounding characters.

Science is meant for the progression of man, but using science for evil can also lead to the downfall of men. In 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne, a scientific fiction novel, that explains the conflict between man vs nature. There are conflicts in the story, the conflict effects the surrounding characters, but in the end, the conflict is resolved.

The novel, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, is generally about a ship called the Nautilus, who is led by Captain Nemo, which reeks chaos and terror amount the sea. The characters: Dr. Pierre Aronnax, Conseil, and Ned Land are imprisoned in the ship, which is the main conflict in the story. The main character, Aronnax, and the antagonist, Captain Nemo, the main conflict between them is the concept of freedom. Even though Aronnax is fond of the science, he does not approve of the way Captain Nemo attacks and kill innocent people. Captain Nemo is mysterious and paranoid, his hatred for mankind is because of their corruption. “So it was a sad day I spent, between my wish to regain freedom and my regret at saying goodbye to the marvelous Nautilus…” –Aronnax. This quote represents Aronnax’s main conflict, he cannot stay with the Nautilus because he must help his friends, even though he is fascinated by the knowledge he can obtain by the Nautilus. The conflict between Aronnax and Captain Nemo is that Captain Nemo is keeping Aronnax’s friends captives of the ship. The main conflict of Aronnax is that he has to choose between science vs the freedom of his fellow man.

The conflict between Aronnax and Captain Nemo effect the characters around them. Aronnax effect his fellow crewman, Ned Land, because Aronnax is too busy using the opportunities that he receives from the Nautilus to study science, while Ned Land prefers to plan a way to successfully escape the Nautilus. Not only does Ned Land want to escape the ship, but also he dislikes the way Captain Nemo kills whales. Ned Land states that he is a hunter, not a butcher. Aronnax also effects his servant, Conseil, because since Aronnax’s actions also effect Conseil’s action because Conseil is a servant that is always loyal and never complains to his master, Aronnax, so whatever Aronnax chooses to do, that action will also have a chain effect on Conseil’s actions. Conseil is so loyal that he would stay to Aronnax till the end. This is the same idea how Captain Nemo effects his crewmembers also because they too are loyal to Captain Nemo and are willing to do anything for him, even commit suicide in the whirlpool.

The conflict is resolved in the end, when Captain Nemo commits suicide by getting his ship along with his crewmembers intentionally caught in the raging whirlpool. Even though Captain Nemo and his crewmembers are probably dead, but fortunately Aronnax, Ned Land, and Conseil manage to escape the ship in time and are rescued by fishermen. Aronnax, though his journey with the Nautilus is over and also has lost the chance of a life time to study marine life more extensively because having Nautilus’s ability causes more quality study of the marine life. In the end, Aronnax chooses the freedom of his fellowman over science, but Aronnax doesn’t leave empty handed because he learned so much from his journey, such as the marine life and submarine construction. While returning to France, Aronnax rewrites his memories and wisdom of his journey under the sea.

In conclusion, not all science benefit men, they sometimes corrupt them and cause them to create terror among the innocent. The conflict in the story effect and change the characters, but in the end, the conflict is eventually resolved. The conflict of the story causes the characters to react in their own way, which shows the quality of each character.
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