Journey to the center of the earth by Jules Verne

Chapter 29 On the waters a raft voyage

Chapter 30 Terrific Saurian Combat

Write a summary that expressly states the central idea or theme of the text in four or five sentences. The goal is to be as concise and direct as possible with your information. The summary should cover Chapters 29 and 30 listed above. You may want to begin with a re-writing activity and make a list of all the important events, then isolate which of those are central ideas or themes that Vernes is attempting to convey. Use those ideas within your text. Submit only your final summary sentences.

as those of his uncle and Hans.

Axel speaks along the side of the gallery because, in this manner, his voice will carry. He and Lidenbrock connect with this acoustic effect, but there are long stretches between speaking and hearing. They figure out that they are about four miles apart. Lidenbrock instructs Axel to head down. The slope is so steep that he falls.

Chapter 29

When Axel awakens, Hans and Lidenbrock are there. Lidenbrock tells Axel to sleep, and Axel gratefully does so. When he finally regains his consciousness definitively, he is confused because he appears to discern daylight and the sounds of waves and wind. He wonders whether the explorers have returned to the surface and becomes extremely happy.

Axel's uncle prepares food for him and smilingly entertains his nephew's questions. He mentions that their route will involve a crossing; Axel is astonished and wonders if there is a lake, a river, or a sea ahead of him.

Chapter 30

Now somewhat renewed, Axel cannot believe his eyes. Before him stretches a vast sea, with waves breaking on the shore. There is a light wind and spray hits his face. The light seems to be of electrical origin and is "like an aurora borealis, a continuous cosmic phenomenon, filling this cavern big enough to hold an ocean" (138). The sky seems filled with clouds but there is no sun, of course. Axel wonders what kind of geological event could explain this hollow. He cannot find the words to express his wonderment.

Lidenbrock asks Axel to walk a bit and Axel sees that the Hans-Bach is melting into the sea.

Axel also sees in the distance a huge forest comprised of massive mushrooms, which have grown large due to heat and humidity. Other vegetation reveals itself as Axel and Lidenbrock walk. It is the flora of the Secondary Period, the Transition Era. Axel calls this environment a hothouse and Lidenbrock adds that it is a menagerie on account of all the bones of animals scattered on the ground. Axel finds the lower jawbone of a mastodon, wondering how quadrupeds came to be under the Earth. Lidenbrock replies that the soil they have found is sedimentary. Axel becomes unnerved because he suspects that one of these animals might still be around. After a time, though, it becomes clear that the men are the only living creatures in this subterranean world.