20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Estimated Read Time = 7 hours
This Article - Estimated Read Time = 15 minutes
Time This Article Saves You = 6 hours and 45 minutes
*Most books need to be read twice before they can really be understood. This article saves you time & effort by helping you reach a solid understanding with just one read.
Recommended Cocktail | The French Connection
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea is a classic adventure novel that I feel has suffered greatly from inadequate branding.
Maybe it’s just me, but nearly every image I’ve ever encountered from the novel led me to believe it was about a submarine diving into the dark, dangerous depths of the ocean to battle some squid-like monstrosity.
Somehow, I was led astray…
But, really… can you blame me?
It turns out the novel is something else altogether.
Jules Verne is considered the father of Science Fiction, and this is one of his classic works. In this novel, he predicted the invention of the submarine, using his writing to push past the boundaries of science in his day, daring it to try and catch up.
Which, in time, it did.
For that reason, the novel is a fascinating example of the relationship between science fiction and actual science. It demonstrates how the genre has occasionally led with imagination, casting vision for real scientists and engineers about what might truly exist one day, if they could only find a way to realize it.
The novel was released serially from 1869-1870, as one story within a set of travel-related adventure novels that Verne wrote. The set is called Extraordinary Voyages. It also includes Around the World in 80 Days and Journey to the Center of the Earth.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea has always been considered one of Vernes’ pre-eminent works. For good reason. Because while it pushed the boundaries of science, it’s also a work that explores the true nature of freedom. What freedom is worth, what it costs, and the various forms it can arrive in.
I’m convinced that the novel seeks to delight us with the imaginative wonders of the sea that surrounds us, while simultaneously inviting us to consider what freedom truly means.
Story Recap . Spoiler Alert!
The novel is about a journey. One that takes place under the sea and over the course of 20,000 leagues.
One nautical league is the equivalent of 3 miles. The journey then is 60,000 miles long (for reference sake, the U.S. is about 3,000 miles coast to coast).
The story is told from a first-person perspective, the narrator being its protagonist, Professor Aronnax. He's a French professor who'd been studying in the United States, while some disturbances arose at sea. These disturbances begin everything. The Professor splits his narrative into two halves.
The First Half
He opens with an account of the fascination that took the world by storm in the mid-1860s, as some sea monster of hideous proportions began attacking ships. Everyone has an opinion, but no one knows for sure what the creature is.
Amidst all the excitement, Professor Aronnax is invited aboard a U.S. military ship commissioned to hunt the creature down in Pacific waters. He readily accepts, only to find himself thrown overboard when the ship encounters the foul beast.
Along with two others, he finds himself rescued by the Nautilus, a submarine floating placidly upon the ocean's surface. They enter its chambers and meet those on board.
Here you learn that the beast is no beast at all. Rather, it's an electric submarine called the Nautilus. It's managed by the mysterious Captain Nemo, whose origins are completely unknown. Captain Nemo explains that they're free to roam about the Nautilus, but they are sworn to it as prisoners for the rest of their lives.
From here, the exploration commences.
They begin in the Pacific, wind their through Polynesian waters, and eventually cross into the Indian Ocean. Book one closes here.
The Second Half
The journey continues as they push into the Indian Ocean. From there, they travel into the Red Sea and cross through an underground tunnel into the Mediterranean Sea.
A few character developments take place here. First, it's revealed that Captain Nemo recovers treasure from sunken ships. Yet, instead of hoarding it, he uses it to support struggling and oppressed people above the surface. He's a freedom fighter, of sorts.
Also, Ned Land, one of the Professor's fellow prisoners, begins to grow increasingly erratic. He cannot stand being trapped aboard the ship, and the wonders of the ocean do nothing to mitigate his anxieties.
The Professor desires to finish his oceanic studies aboard the Nautilus and is willing to trade his freedom to do so, at least for the time being. Ned Land is not. And they are committed to each other. Constantly, Ned Land scans their circumstances for an opportunity to escape.
As the journey continues, they travel into the Atlantic Ocean, sailing to the south pole, discovering it for the very first time. After some difficulties and a close call, they return to the Atlantic Ocean. Here the scuffle ensues between the crew of the Nautilus and a crew of giant octopi (this is where the false branding comes from). It's a pretty wild scene.
Then, they move up through the western side of the Atlantic, eventually crossing over between the UK and continental Europe. Here, Nemo sinks a warship from an unknown country.
Afterward, he descends into fury and madness. And it's revealed that he formerly had a wife and children. It appears their loss led him to this strange lifestyle beneath the sea.
At this moment, Ned Land attempts to escape and the professor joins him, along with his assistant Conseil. They soon realize they're caught in a massive whirlpool. They are cast from the submarine into the dark waters but wake to find themselves alive and on land.
The narrative ends here with Nemo’s fate and the Nautilus’s, a complete and utter mystery.
An Interpretation . Exploring Freedom
The rising tension in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea centers on the theme of freedom.
When Professor Aronnax, Ned Land, and Conseil board the Nautilus their lives are saved. Yet, their freedom is lost forever. They respond to this reality in two vastly different ways.
Along with Conseil, Professor Aronnax is unconcerned. Because while he's lost the freedom to leave, he's gained the freedom to explore the ocean in a way previously unattainable. With the Nautilus, he's able to expand his research, observing and studying aquatic life he never could’ve before. He's willing to trade his freedom for this opportunity, at least for the time being.
You could say that because the Nautilus affords him the opportunity to do that which he most wants to, he doesn't feel trapped. He would choose to be there anyways. So, even though the option to leave isn’t there, he's not concerned.
Ned Land, the harpooner, couldn't be more the opposite. He rails against their new situation, desperate to escape. As the journey drags on, you see him slipping mentally and emotionally. He’d leave in a heartbeat if he could.
The situation tortures him.
Captain Nemo provides another angle on the subject. He is free to leave the sea but chooses not to even though he’s miserable. He’s not constrained by anyone; instead, he’s driven by hatred and loss.
I guess you could say he is a prisoner only to grief. He is free to choose many paths in life, but the one path he desires is no longer an option—his family is gone.
While Ned Land is locked inside a prison desperate to get out, Captain Nemo is locked outside of the one life he longs for, without any ability to get inside. His family is forever lost.
One is locked in; the other, locked out. Both are prisoners and neither possesses joy. Meanwhile, Professor Aronnax is also locked in. But doesn’t mind, because he’d choose to stay anyways.
This gives rise to a question for each of us. Due to our circumstances, we are all bound to certain options in life. Only a limited number of paths are available to us. So, here's the question:
If you could choose to do anything with your life, within reason, would you choose to do what you are now?
If the answer is yes, you're likely content with your current life.
If the answer is no, you're probably not.
If you’re discontent, the follow-up question is do you possess greater freedom than you realize to shift things around?
By this, I mean more than adding a hobby to your life, like gardening or woodworking. I mean more than learning to set boundaries in relationships and altering the soundtrack of negative thoughts that might play continuously throughout your days. I mean even more than quitting your job to pursue more satisfying work.
On a broader scope, do you possess the freedom to craft your life? Or, like Ned Land, are we all trapped? Doomed to live out our previously scripted lives, lacking any capacity whatsoever to deviate from our lines. As humans, what freedom do we have? And if any, how should we use it?
Closing Thoughts . Freedom or Destiny?
The novel sparks reflection on the degree of freedom within one’s own circumstances. Yet, it's hard to not step back and consider the same question from a broader perspective.
What is the nature of human freedom?
For example, many take comfort in the sentiment, everything happens for a reason. The comfort gained from this is grounded in the idea of destiny or fate.
This amounts to the conviction that we're living within a story, one that's already been written. We're just living out our roles within some previously crafted script.
I can see why people turn to this for comfort, especially in the wake of tragedy. Yet, something about it also feels restrictive. Because if it's true, how can anything like free will truly exist?
Either we're living out a script that's already been written and every decision and action of our lives has already been decided. Or, we write the script ourselves, penning the next twist with every decision and every breath we take.
So, which is it?
I believe this is a question whose answer isn’t so black and white. It’s more tinged with mystery.
The Bible doesn't teach anything that coincides with destiny, but it does teach about God's plans. For example, the Old Testament is ripe with prophecies that pointed centuries forward to Jesus. These include details as small as what town he'd be born in all the way up to his death and resurrection. This could only happen if reality is in some way scripted.
Yet, from the origins of humanity, it's clear that God has granted us a degree of freedom. Adam and Eve had the freedom to choose or reject God, which is a freedom they exercised.
Theologians disagree nowadays on the extent to which we still possess that same freedom. But it's my belief that God is unchanging and that God values love. For this reason, it follows that God would continue to grant us freedom of the will, out of his undeserved kindness to us.
“God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise moral choice, and man from the beginning has fulfilled that decree by making his choice between good and evil.”
-A.W. Tozer, Pastor and Theologian
So, is there a script? Yes. Absolutely.
But has everything within that script, from beginning to end, already been drafted? I would suggest, no.
Perhaps one purpose of biblical prophecy is to clue us in to the broader plot points, to grant us some greater awareness of the story that's unfolding. If that’s so, my recommendation is to consider the story well and choose your part wisely.
You've been given freedom for a reason. Use it well.
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