20,000 Leagues: Calm Before the Storm

In my last post, I mentioned briefly the scene in which--following Nemo's suspicious behavior--Aronnax, Conseil, and Ned Land are drugged, only to wake up with no memory of what happened in the interval.  A little later, Aronnax (apparently also a doctor) is taken to see one of the crew.  This man has a serious injury, from which he eventually dies.  He is then buried under the floor of the sea, and this ends Part I of the book.

Up until now, Aronnax and his friends have led a relatively quiet life on the Nautilus, deeply engrossed in scientific studies and the wonders of the underwater world.  This incident comes as a bit of a shock, a reality check nobody wanted.  Had the previous chapters been nothing but a "rip-roaring adventure", maybe this wouldn't have been such a big deal; however, as it is, the contrast makes it horrifying.

The key to a good sea-story epic is, pardon the pun, the "calm before the storm".  The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway) and Moby-Dick (Melville) display the same brooding calm, before anything exciting happens.  What makes this technique (if it even be intentional) so appealing is its reality.  Most of us could liken our lives to a sea voyage, a daily routine that hardly ever changes, yet when something happens, the effect it creates is almost surreal.

One more "storm": I'm three chapters into Part II, and Ned Land has just saved Nemo's life while Nemo was trying to protect a pearl fisher from a shark attack (the plot is really picking up).  The stakes are higher in the Disney movie, and I find it interesting that movie!Ned's reaction is "Why did I do that?!", as opposed to book!Ned's "I owed it to you".  Though I believe in his benevolence/heroism in both versions, it's hard to believe he would say what book!Ned said. 

I should add that I'm really enjoying this translation. There are a number of anachronistic word choices (some of which are rather funny), but somehow it works well in this particular book...I'm not sure I'd want to read it any other way! 

I'm also starting to remember a lot of scenes from when I read it before.  Like the part where Aronnax freaks out at the idea of hunting sharks, and Ned and Conseil disappoint him by being ok with it.  XD  The hunting trip on the island was also pretty hilarious.  This also led me to look up "coconut crab" on Wikipedia, which I do NOT recommend for the faint of courage.