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Part 1, Chapter 12
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 and Arronax sit in the saloon, smoking seaweed cigars. Nemo explains that the Nautilus is 6,032 feet long and weighs 1,500 tons. The exterior of the ship is made of steel. Nemo explains that the ship is able to travel far into the depths of the deep sea by allowing precise levels of water inside designated reservoirs. The engine, powered by electricity, has “almost infinite” power. Nemo explains that the collision between the Nautilus and the Scotia happened by accident, and is relieved to hear that no one was killed as a result. Meanwhile, Nemo only attacked the Abraham Lincoln as an act of defense after the latter ship attacked first.
The phrase “almost infinite” is key, as it reveals how electricity is posited as being an almost magical force in this 19th-century context. Of course, to many living at the time Verne wrote the novel, electricity may indeed have appeared this way. In this sense, the novel captures how technology can seem larger-than-life and thus be interpreted in mythic terms.
Themes
Nemo explains that the Nautilus is the perfect ship both due to its electrical power and the fact that, travelling below the surface of the water, it is unimpeded by things like storms. As “captain, builder, and engineer” of the vessel, Nemo has utmost faith in it. Before committing to his life in the sea, Nemo studied engineering in London, Paris, and New York. He managed to build the Nautilus without anyone noticing by sourcing its parts from different parts of the world. Arronax asks if Nemo is rich, and Nemo replies that he is so rich that he could personally “pay the national debt of France” if he wanted.
This passage establishes a parallel between the “almost infinite” power of electricity and the similarly infinite-seeming power of Nemo himself. In both cases, the source of power is somewhat obscured. Electricity seems like a magical force produced out of nowhere and capable of anything; similarly, Nemo is portrayed as having supernatural levels of wealth and intelligence, but there is no explanation of how this came to be the case.
Themes
