Twenty thousand leagues under the sea summary of chapters

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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea begins with a mystery. For over a year, ocean-going vessels have reported running into a floating island or a submerged naval wreck, or being rammed by a giant whale. Pierre Aronnax, assistant professor at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, develops a theory to explain these confusing sightings; he believes that a huge narwhal is bedeviling these ships. After the Scotia, a Cunard Lines passenger ship, again encounters this "creature," the United States equips a speedy frigate, the Abraham Lincoln, to hunt and kill the dangerous beast. Because of his theory, Aronnax is invited to join the expedition along with Conseil, his servant. Ned Land, a famous Canadian harpooner, is brought along for his hunting skills.

After a long, unfruitful search, the Abraham Lincoln finally collides with the beast off the coast of Japan. Aronnax, Conseil, and Land are thrown overboard and grab hold of the monster's back to keep from drowning, only to discover that its skin is made of steel. The "creature" is actually a submarine.

The three are brought aboard the submarine, called the Nautilus, where they meet the mysterious Captain Nemo.

Their status on the ship seems ambiguous. Are they guests, as Nemo insists, or prisoners, as Ned Land begins to suspect? Nemo introduces them to the wonders of the underwater world. He shows them the lost continent of Atlantis and the wrecks he has plundered of gold. He takes them through a secret underwater passage from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, a Suez passage where none existed in 1870.

Aronnax is fascinated by these underwater discoveries, but Ned Land becomes more impatient for his freedom.

When Nemo guides the Nautilus to the South Pole, the ship becomes entrapped in an ice pack. The Nautilus escapes from the ice, only to be attacked by a giant squid that nearly sinks the vessel.

Eventually, Aronnax's fascination with Nemo declines, as the Captain attacks passing ships, apparently for revenge or for greed. The Nautilus heads into northern waters, and the three captives plot their escape from Nemo's clutches, even as the ship blunders into a giant whirlpool.

On June 30, the Abraham Lincoln makes contact with some American whalers, one of whom—the captain of a ship called the Monroe—asks Ned to help the crew of his ship hunt a whale. Ned ends up killing not one but two whales, and this creates confidence that if the Abraham Lincoln ever finds the monster, it has no hope of surviving a clash with Ned. The ship continues sailing south around Latin America, and on July 6 it reaches Cape Horn before moving north around the other side of the continent, now in the Pacific Ocean.

The mission gets off to a successful start, but because the crew of the Abraham Lincoln still has no idea what they are facing, it is hard to say for sure whether Ned’s skills as a harpooner will be enough when (or if) they finally encounter the monster.

Motivated by the $2,000 prize, the sailors keep a close eye on the water, as does Arronax, even though he is not particularly interested in the money. Every time someone thinks they might see something, a great rush of excitement washes over the ship, only to subside into disappointment shortly after. By the end of July, the ship crosses the equator, and at this point the ship heads west, deeper into the Pacific. The ship spends three months there, scouring every inch of the ocean, and over time those on board become despondent. Eventually, Farragut announces that if the monster is still not found after three days, they will have to abandon the mission.

The fact that Arronax is completely unmotivated by money serves as yet another reminder that being a scientist isn’t just a job to him, but is rather the very essence of who he is. The problem with this, of course, is that the disappointment may be too much to bear if the mission is unsuccessful. 

On the final night of the expedition, Arronax and Conseil stand looking out at the water, and Arronax laments that the whole effort was “a silly business after all.” Conseil agrees, pointing out that they’ve wasted a great deal of time by not heading immediately to France. However, just at that moment Ned Land shouts that the object of their search is in sight.

This passage underscores the importance of remaining hopeful despite all odds. Whereas Arronax is often preoccupied with rationality and the scientific likelihood of different phenomena, moments like this demonstrate that the natural world is not always predictable or analyzable.

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