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Book Report Two:
The Journey to the Centre of the Earth
By: Jules Verne



By: Cody Freeman
English 9up
Period 4
2/20/2008
The Journey to the Centre of the Earth is one of the greatest works ever written. The storyline is great because of the development of the setting. The characters are so well defined that the story could radiate just off of a few items that are discussed by various people. The storyline is great because of the development of the setting. This is especially cited through the description of even one small lake inside the underground cavern. The theme is definitive because it is part of the things that people should live by although I can not list them all. These elements all combine to make a very descriptive, in-depth story.
There are many characters in this story. First is Axel, then there is Professor Lidenbrock, Grauben, Hans, the mayor of Reykjavik, and finally the sailors aboard the various ships that are used to travel. Axel is training to be a mineralologist, although he is not very learned in this profession he tries to learn everything he can from his uncle along the way, Professor Otto Lidenbrock. Professor Lidenbrock is a mineralologist, and is one of the leading men in his field. He is a professor but has a thirst for knowledge, action, and adventure. There is also Grauben who plans to get married to Axel as soon as he returns from the upcoming adventure. There is also the mayor of Reykjavik, he is rich, smart, and respectable. He helps Lidenbrock and Axel by providing them with help while they are in his city because he hopes that this event can help the scientific community. Hans is another character in this great story, he is a hunter and a tracker from a local village near Reykjavik. Hans is one of the main characters, because he ultimately saves Professor Lidenbrock and Axel as they travel throughout the bottom caverns of the volcano. Then there are the sailors who names are not mentioned but the are still a key part because they provided most of the travel means for the other characters.
Now for the settings of which there are three. The first is the house and study of the great Professor Lidenbrock which is in the city of Hamburg, Germany. He studies minerals in his study, this environment maintains a great interest because it sounds so dramatic. But in the same way this house is full of tension as the two adventurers try to find the secret message that is found in a book. They also visit Reykjavik, Iceland. This is a big city and the capitol of Iceland. There are a couple different areas which are visited. The first is a market district kind of area where all of the stores are located. The second area in the city is a mansion which is owned by the mayor of the city. Lastly, they visit the house of the ruling body I am not sure who this is because it is not clearly defined.
The last setting is the caverns located under the volcano. The volcano is inactive so it is accessible. But there is a part with a gigantic underground pond or a stream. In this area the characters get lost. So it is supposed to be gloomy and sad, the writing is so great it is almost real. Lastly is the area after the people get out of the caves. This was in a country side, it is described with great excellence as a farmland that contains grapes, olives, and water. This is a blessing to the characters because of their condition at this time. This area somehow conveys a thought that is symbolic with part of the theme of this book. It is interesting to learn from the different settings how poetically and dramatically Jules Verne writes.
Of the themes there are a few that really stand out as a life lesson. The first as I commented early is that when they exit the caves of the volcano the area around them almost seems perfect. I think this symbolizes that in even the worst of times good things can happen and you will be glad of them. The next is “coming of age” because when this story begins Axel is an innocent self reserved person, but throughout the story he becomes older mentally. He looses his innocence through the struggles and hurdles that he encounters. Next is that success will only come from hard work and determination. Because if you do not have that you will always fail no matter which precautions you take. And the last theme goes along with the first. It is if something goes wrong you should not stop fighting to get to the end, or for what you believe. This is represented by the professor and Axel keep on going when ever some stuff seems bad, and they come back rewarded because they fought for what they believed.
All of the elements of the story are key in the plot. The characters bring so much that this makes the story so vibrant in the way that the characters flow and they clash. The settings radiate with color as they are read because Jules Verne writes so descriptively. The themes of this book are numerous so they are hard to find and they help with the grand scheme of the story. Every collection should have this great book for both the story and the literary elements.

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