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Part 2, Chapter 21
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
Arronax is horrified by Nemo’s act of vengeance, which he believes cannot possibly be justified. He goes to his room, but cannot sleep. From this point on, Arronax has no idea in which the direction the Nautilus is going, and also can’t tell the time because all the clocks have been stopped. He guesses that this liminal period lasts around 15 days. He barely sees Nemo, or any members of the Nautilus’s crew. Conseil keeps a close eye on Ned, worrying that he will kill himself. However, after 15 days or so Ned informs Arronax that the time has come: they will try to escape that night. They are 20 miles from land, although Ned doesn’t know which country it is.
Perhaps the most traumatic part of Arronax’s experience here is not the horror of watching people be murdered before his eyes, but the subsiding of this climactic moment back into the mundane, endless limbo that he has been trapped in for so long already. Arronax appears to indeed be in a kind of hell, although the other captives have miraculously managed to maintain hope.
Themes
Literary Devices
Arronax passionately agrees to join this plan. In the following hours, he feels highly distracted and nervous, but forces himself to eat so that he has energy. He goes to the museum and tries to burn the items in there into his memory, thinking about what a shame it is that no one else may ever see them again. He thinks about everything that’s happened since he was brought aboard the Nautilus, which now appear to him like “scenes in a drama.” In his mind, Nemo has become a kind of sea-monster. Suddenly, Nemo wakes and realizes that he was dreaming. With half an hour left until he is supposed to leave, he hears the sound of the organ.
Nemo’s final moments aboard the submarine become surreal, almost like a dream sequence. After spending so long trapped in a confined space and endless monotony, the idea of leaving must seem unbelievable. Meanwhile, Arronax’s trauma leads him to conceptualize Nemo as a sea monster, a framing that Nemo himself might actually approve of.
Themes
Literary Devices
Arronax creeps into the saloon and finds it dark, but the sounds of the organ assure him that Nemo is in there. Just as it seems as if Arronax has successfully managed to sneak past him, Nemo indicates that he is aware of the presence of the three captives. Ned begs for him to just let them go, and silently hands Arronax a dagger. Suddenly, Arronax realizes that the Nautilus is nearing the infamous maelstrom on the coast of Norway—a “whirlpool from which no ship ever escapes.” Arronax feels the submarine spinning and grows faint with horror. Ned shouts that they should try and hold on to something, but at that moment there is a loud crashing sound and Arronax passes out.
In a final twist, the captives’ escape attempt is almost thwarted—yet they are saved by nature. The whirlpool can be interpreted as a manifestation of the will of the ocean, which (literally) overturns Nemo’s hubristic plans and finally frees the captives—albeit in an extremely violent manner.
Themes
Literary Devices
