Journey To The Centre of the Earth, Jules Verne Post 5

The Partners have now set off, across ice land, from the small town that they where previously staying in, to Snaeffells, the volcano that supposedly leads to the centre of the earth. After a long journey on horseback and with an Icelandic guide, Hans, they finally arrive at their destination. The interesting thing about how Verne described this relatively uneventful journey is that he does so as if he has made the journey himself, which adds an interesting twist to the story. When they arrive, the now three men, take a rest outside the volcano, (the Icelandic guide will be coming too). Annoyingly to professor Leidenbrock, the sunlight must shine over the crater, at midday to cast the shadow of the pointer towards the correct tunnel. Sadly there is no sunlight for three days, although there is a lot of bad weather, and the professor is becoming impatient. Finally, after them all almost giving up; because if the bad weather where to persist they would have to wait another year for the correct time of month, the weather changes. That very day they begin to travel in down the vertical shaft, a journey which would take them seven hours, as you would have guessed, they used a rope to descend into the abyss. The rest of the journeying is similar, until on around day seven when they realize that the water supply is running low, the supply that the professor was counting on filling up at an underground water source. After two days of surviving off of half a flask of water, they give up, collapsing, Axel falls into a deep sleep, and wishes he will never wake up. It's not until he wakes to the sound of the professors parched voice, that he realizes he isn't dead. 

This is a very special moment in the book as we see a kinder side to the professor, who gives Axel the last drop of his water. With the remaining life inside him revitalized, he goes back to sleep. Luckily, and predictably, as there was still more than 2/3 of the book left, Hans their guide finds water, just behind the rock-face with his acute sense of hearing. After twenty minutes or so of mining a steady stream of boiling water pours out, scalding the poor guide. Now refreshed, the group have water to  drink, even if it's a little warm, and a steady stream to lead them on a constant downward slope. They continue journeying, monotonously for another month, until one day Axel finds himself alone. He was sure they where just in front of him, but soon realized in his walking trance he really didn't know. His then slightly damaged lamp went out, and he was left in darkness, despaired he walked for almost half a day, trying to find his friends, before giving up. This isn't the end  though because he was roused from his slumber, by a whispering. As sound travel's a lot better through air underground he could hear his friends, although they where more than forty miles away. And that's where I stopped, at one of the most exciting parts, I can't wait to read the rest.

The Discussion

There are two main themes that the author weaves into the book, the first is that all of the people who live on Iceland are savages, or not savages but at the very least uncivilized  They are described as peasants and are treated as inferior to the white men trekking across the country. Some examples of this would be that instead of glass for windows, they used sheep membrane and that the mayors (slightly shabby) hut was considered splendid compared to the rest of the Icelanders "hovels". Another theme that is tightly woven into the book would be the constant doubt that Axel shows towards the journey, and how he is afraid of the fate he may meet. He is scared that the volcano may erupt while they are descending or that they will get lost, deep in the bowels of the Earth. He barely ever expresses these fears though, unless he can find some kind of scientific backing, which as we call in England is "showing the stiff upper lip". That pretty much means pack all of your troubles away, stop complaining and get on with it. This is a discipline which was very important in those days. The interesting thing about both of these themes is that they wouldn't be regarded as themes at all in the day. These where completely normal things back then, but now they seem bizarre to us. The way these two ideas are woven into the story is as if they where completely normal as that was the way Jules Verne intended, he probably didn't even realize that we would find it strange in theses days and just wrote these things, as he usually would.