Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne Essay Example for Free

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne Essay In a classic novel in the genre of science fiction, Jules Verne depicts the epic adventures onboard the submarine of Captain Nemo. The characters are interesting and memorable and the story is very exciting to read. When the book was first published in France, it was called Vingt Mille Lieues Sous Les Mers, but was translated into English as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. This book was written in 1870, quite a long time before submarines were widely used. This illustrates the fact that Jules Verne was a very imaginative writer, because he was able to develop a realistic story around something that had not yet happened. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea begins with Professor Pierre Aronnax as the narrator. He is a famous marine biologist and is sent on a mission to find a massive sea monster that has been stalking the coast and frightening people all over the world. He leaves New York on a battleship called the Abraham Lincoln and they all search for the monster for quite a while. Finally, the ship finds the sea monster in the Pacific Ocean, near South America and then they begin attacking it. During the battle with the creature, the Abraham Lincoln is damaged and the steering on the ship stops working properly. Professor Pierre Aronnax, his assistant and a man named Ned Land, who is a harpooner, are thrown overboard into the sea. They think that they are lying on top of the sea monster, and all three men are very afraid of what will happen to them. It turns out all right though, because what they are laying on really it isn’t a monster at all. Soon, Captain Nemo opens the hatch of his submarine and the men are brought into the ship, the Nautilus. The submarine is very impressive and seems very comfortable to the men. After everybody is introduced, the Nautilus continues steaming through the ocean. The men see spectacular things from under the sea and enjoy the adventure. They encounter coral in the Red Sea, shipwrecks and then the ice shelves of Antarctica. Finally, the Nautilus brings the men to the lost city of Atlantis. It is a sight unlike anything the men have ever seen before. The whole city is wonderful and there are lots of things to see underwater. Even though they have enjoyed their trip, the Professor, his assistant named Conseil, and the harpooner decide they wan to leave the Nautilus after a while, mostly because Captain Nemo is very unhappy and is doing dangerous things with the submarine. The Captain does not want to let them go, because they have seen his submarine, which he has kept a secret since he built it. Captain Nemo does not want anybody to know that he has this submarine because he wants to be far away from people. If the men were to escape, they might tell the newspapers about the Nautilus and then other battleships might come looking for him again. At the end of the book, Captain Nemo takes the Nautilus far to the North to Norway. The boat is caught in a giant whirlpool because of the reckless way the Captain has been driving his submarine, the Nautilus. After this happens, the Professor, his assistant Conseil, and Ned Land, the harpooner, all decide that it is time to try to make their escape to dry land. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a thrilling novel that has many interesting characters in it. It is also interesting that this book was written in 1870, before submarines were used very often. The details and stories that Jules Verne provides are full of excitement and the book also teaches people about undersea creatures.