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Part 1, Chapter 23
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
The next morning, Arronax wakes up feeling fresh and alert. He sets off to explore the submarine, and doesn’t find anything unusual. However, he also cannot find Captain Nemo. That afternoon, Arronax is sitting in the drawing room when Nemo enters, looking weary. He asks if Arronax is qualified as a medical doctor, and Arronax replies that he is. Nemo takes Arronax to see one of the sailors, who has a terrible wound on his head. Arronax tends to it, then asks Nemo how the sailor was wounded. Nemo dodges the question. Arronax gravely admits that the man will be dead within two hours, and that nothing can be done to prevent this.
In today’s world, it would be somewhat unusual for a professor of natural history to also be a qualified medical doctor. However, in the 19th century there were fewer divisions among different scientific fields, and thus it would have been more normal for someone with Arronax’s position to also be trained as a doctor.
Themes
On hearing Arronax’s diagnosis, Nemo begins to cry. After a while, Nemo permits Arronax to leave. Arronax feels troubled for the rest of the day and night. The next morning, Nemo asks Arronax, Conseil, and Ned to join him on an excursion away from the submarine. They accept. Having donned diving suits, the men swim past a spectacular coral reef. Arronax briefly thinks about how much money he could make from selling this coral. At a certain point they stop in a glade, and Nemo begins digging a hole. Arronax suddenly realizes that this is to be the grave of the fallen sailor. After the hole is made, the man’s body is placed within it, and the “funeral procession” returns to the Nautilus.
In the previous chapter, Nemo’s decision to drug the three captives put him in a decidedly unsympathetic light, making him seem unforgivably tyrannical. Yet his profound grief over losing a member of his crew—combined with the surreal, moving funeral procession that takes place underwater—encourages the reader to reconsider their assessment of Nemo’s character yet again.
Themes
Literary Devices
