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Chapter 18
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Journey to the Center of the Earth, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Science and Discovery
Maturity and Independence
Intuition vs. Evidence
Nature vs. Civilization
Adventure
Summary
Analysis
The next day, June 30th, the men continue following the passage downward. They reach a crossroads, which gives Axel and Hans pause. Lidenbrock, on the other hand, chooses the eastern tunnel seemingly by chance and starts down it without hesitation. Though the heat stays bearable, Axel continues to worry that Snäffel will erupt and kill them all. He does not voice these concerns to Lidenbrock, whose only goal is to move forward. The next day, the passage seems to slope uphill, but Lidenbrock angrily ignores Axel when he brings this up. Axel recognizes rock formations that mark a more recent geological period, proving that Lidenbrock chose the wrong tunnel and has led the group back toward the surface. Axel is too excited by his discovery to hide it from his uncle, so he informs Lidenbrock.
Lidenbrock usually makes decisions based on the evidence before him, but in his rush to move forward, he chooses a path based on intuition alone. This choice fails him, but Lidenbrock is loath to admit he made a mistake. Though Lidenbrock is an expert geologist, it is Axel who finds geological proof that the group is moving the wrong way. This demonstrates both Axel’s talent for geology and Lidenbrock’s willful blindness to the evidence in front of him.
Themes
Lidenbrock refuses to turn around. He insists that he may have made a mistake, but he cannot be sure until they reach the end of their current passage. Axel argues that they are running out of water, but Lidenbrock tells him that they can simply ration the water.
The stubbornness and irritability that made Lidenbrock an eccentric professor back home now make him a dangerous leader underground, as he risks the group’s water supply for the sake of his ego. He weaponizes the respect for evidence that he and Axel share by insisting they cannot be sure they are moving the wrong way until they see where the passage ends.
Themes
