Prison Vs. Freedom In The Nautus

Prison Vs. Freedom During class discussions, the idea of freedom vs. prison has been brought up multiple times with regard to Professor Aronnax and his fellow companions whilst on board the Nautilus. While on a hunt for the evasive “giant narwhal,” the boat that Arronax, Counseil, and Ned Land were traveling on was struck by the Nautilus, sending all three men overboard. They are later taken into the vessel which struck them as “prisoners.” The Nautilus, which is a submarine captained by a mysterious man named Nemo, is the “prison” that is referred to throughout the novel. Aronnax’s companion Ned Land sees the Nautilus as strictly a prison, to which he is confined and cannot readily escape. While Ned Land thinks of the submarine as a prison, Arronax himself sees the Nautilus as a sort of freedom, allowing him to explore the depths of the ocean and to observe “the complete series of marvels piled under the seas of the globe.” Arronax also states that “I should like to have seen what no man has seen before, even if I should pay with my life for this insatiable desire to learn” demonstrating how strongly he feels about staying onboard (Verne 130). Arronax’s companion, Conseil, has an overall neutral feeling about the submarine, stating that he thinks “like monsieur, I say what …show more content…
I once went on a vacation to the beach that I did not want to go on with my father. He loved the water and the atmosphere of the beach, much like Annorax and the ocean. I was more like Ned Land, in that all I wanted to do was to go back home to my normal life. There was no convincing the other that the trip was unenjoyable. The location that we were at was the exact same for the both of us. We just wanted different things out of it. My wants were not provided there, but his were. This proves that the enjoyment of a situation is largely based on the individual experiencing the place, as opposed to the place