20,000 leagues under the sea HELP

[oneyedbandit]

Hey i have to write an essay on the novel and i was wondering if anyone could help me.

My essay is going to be on how it does not Reflect the time period.
Does anyone have any points from the book that could possibly help me out? It would be greatly apprciated thanks

[Admin]

Have you read it? One thing that Jules Verne was famous for was effectively predicting future inventions. In many of his novels you will read about some machine that didn't exist at his time, but would eventually be invented (H.G. Wells' novels have the same quality). In 20,000... The Nautilus would be the most obvious candidate for something that isn't of the time period.

[oneyedbandit]

yeah i read it! Pretty cool how he predicts the future. Thanx for the help
if you can think of some more points that would help me out for my essay let me know! thanx alot

[Musketeer3]

I am going to red it soon, I hear it's good and I've seen the movie.

[Sitaram]

One league equals three miles.

I was so dumb as a kid. I thought the title of the book meant 20,000 leagues DEPTH under the ocean, and not a journey of 20,000 leagues in length, which I guess is 60,000 miles.

http://www.unmuseum.org/verne.htm

Though today we think of Verne as an optimist and an unswerving supporter of scientific progress, this was not really the case. Early on he had doubts about the effects of too much technology on human lives. In 1863 he penned Paris in the 20th Century, a novel about a young man living in a future world with skyscrapers of glass and steel, high-speed trains, gas-powered automobiles, calculators, and a worldwide communications network. The hero cannot find happiness in this highly materialistic environment, however, and comes to a tragic end.

Verne took this novel to Hetzel, who declined to publish it. Hetzel, knowing the mood of the times, thought that the novel would not be successful and might even damage Verne's career. "Wait twenty years to write this book," Hetzel wrote in the margins. "Nobody today will believe your prophecy, nobody will care about it." Verne followed Hetzel's advice and the manuscript was dropped into a safe where it lay until 1989 when it was discovered by Verne's great-grandson. It wasn't until Hetzel's death in 1886 that a more pessimistic side of Verne reemerged in his literature.

[PeterL]

In addition to the invention of a high quality submarine (low quality submarines had been in use since the Civil War), Nemo's attitude toward the European powers was somewhat unusual. It has been a long time since I read it, but the ending is the most important part. Verne's anti-war attitude was toned down by the publisher, but it still shows through.