Nature vs. Civilization Theme Analysis

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea depicts a man—Captain Nemo—who chooses to exile himself from human society and spend the rest of his life exploring the ocean, having minimal contact with other people. When he captures three men from another ship, the Abraham Lincoln, he welcomes them on board his submarine, the Nautilus, and asserts that they may never return to civilization again. While this is clearly an extreme fate, the novel expresses some sympathy for Nemo’s preference for nature over human society. Through its lengthy descriptions of underwater plant and animal life, the novel emphatically foregrounds the wonders of the natural world and depicts human civilization as less exciting and profound than nature. Yet it also disrupts the idea that there is a strong binary between nature and civilization through its depiction of Nemo, who uses advanced scientific technology in order to immerse himself in the natural world.

Professor Arronax lives in Paris, France—the heart of what was considered “civilization” in the Western world of 1868, when the novel takes place. Nonetheless, due to Arronax’s profession he is drawn toward the natural world, which is what leads him to initially accept the invitation to board the Abraham Lincoln in pursuit of a “narwhal.” Crucially, he embarks on this expedition instead of returning directly to his urban, sophisticated life in Paris. Of course, this ends up being a much more dramatically consequential choice than Arronax originally anticipated. Rather than spending a few days or weeks on the Abraham Lincoln before going home, Arronax finds himself totally removed from civilization and cast into exile in the natural world due to Nemo’s insistence that no one from the “civilized” world find out about his submarine. For Nemo, the pull of nature and the contrast between nature and civilization is so powerful that the self-imposed exile in which he lives must be permanent. Nature is not something that can be incorporated as a facet of an otherwise ordinary, “civilized” life, but rather is totally all-consuming. For Nemo, renouncing civilization and immersing oneself in nature is a unidirectional process that cannot be reversed.

It is also important to take note of the ways in which the novel reiterates 19-century associations between nature and indigenous people (who are referred to with the offensive epithet “savages” in the novel). This is contrasted against Western colonizers, who were characterized as bringing “civilization” to indigenous communities. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the rapid advancement of urbanization, industrialization, colonization, and scientific technology led some Westerners to argue that the project of “civilization” was accelerating at too fast a pace and that it was important for society to return to a more natural, “primitive” way of being, which they framed as being embodied by indigenous populations. Although Nemo’s nationality and ethnic background remains unclear he positions himself as someone who rejects the modern world in order to return to a pre-“civilized” way of being.

At the same time, Nemo’s reliance on scientific technology disrupts the binary between nature and civilization. Nemo uses the most advanced technologies available in order to live a simulated version of a natural lifestyle. This is encapsulated by tools such as the Rouquayrol apparatus, an iron oxygen tank worn as a kind of backpack that allows a person to swim underwater for extended periods of time. The Rouquayrol apparatus is an example of technology being used to artificially engineer a more organic, intimate relation between humans and nature. These contradictions indicate that it is harder to draw a clear line between nature and civilization than it might appear.

A significant percentage of the novel is dedicated to reverent descriptions of the natural world, which highlights the significance and majesty of nature, elevating it to a more important position than “civilization.” At the same time, Arronax’s scientific perspective once again disrupts the binary between civilization and nature. Arronax is fascinated by the natural world, and spends most of his time on the Nautilus gazing at the plants and animals visible around him. Yet rather than simply observing this marine life, he and Conseil dedicate themselves to naming and categorizing it. This is an example of the imposition of “civilization” on the natural world. While Arronax may love nature, he arguably doesn’t love it for what the messy, terrifying reality that it is. His intense fear of sharks, for example, suggests that he prefers for the natural world to exist under human control. This indicates that even ardent nature-lovers (including professional naturalists) do not necessarily love nature for what it is, but rather love a sanitized, “civilized” version of it.