Kidblog Assignment
Notice and Note Signposts
Journey To The Center Of The Earth
By: Jules Verne
Contrasts & Contradictions
" 'Make a start, like a good fellow.' These words served to rouse some kind of courage in my sinking frame."
I thought he would feel utterly hopeless when he heard he had to start his journey to find his uncle, but he got courage from it. It surprised me.
aha Moment
Harry:
" 'I have made a very important discovery.' "
The Manuscript:
" Which dog Latin being translated, reads as follows:
Descend into the crater of Yocul of Sneffels, which the shade of Scartaris caresses, before the kalends of July, audacious traveler, and you will reach the center of the earth. I did it.
ARNE SAKNUSSEMM"
Harry's Uncle:
" 'Let me have something to eat. We can then start at once. Get my portmanteau ready.' "
Memory Moment
Chapter 13, page 73:
"In a few moments, however, my thoughts were far away, back in my German home, with Gretchen and the old cook. What would I have given for one of my cousin’s smiles, for one of the ancient domestic’s omelettes, and for my own feather bed!"
Words of the Wiser
Before they started their journey, Harry was always thinking that they were going to die because of what the other scientists had said. His uncle told him that he should test theories before he believes everything he hears.
Chapter 4, page 20:
“ 'All scientific teaching, theoretical and practical, shows it to be impossible.'
'I care nothing for theories,' retorted my uncle.
'But is it not well-known that heat increases one degree for every seventy feet you descend into the earth? Which gives a fine idea of the central heat. All the matters which compose the globe are in a state of incandescence; even gold, platinum, and the hardest rocks are in a state of fusion. What would become of us?'
'Don’t be alarmed at the heat, my boy.'
'How so?'
'Neither you nor anybody else know anything about the real state of the earth’s interior. All modern experiments tend to explode the older theories. Were any such heat to exist, the upper crust of the earth would be shattered to atoms, and the world would be at an end.' ”
Tough Questions
Right before they started the journey, Harry was wondering if everything he had heard could be trusted. This doesn't really come out as a true answer, and you never really know if his uncle was thinking straight.
Chapter 4, page 21:
"Was all I had heard really and truly possible? Was my uncle in his sober senses, and could the interior of the earth be reached?"Again and Again
Pages 114, 108, 115, 109, 111, and 112 are some examples of where they talk about it.
Page 114, Chapter 21:
"The murmuring stream flowed quietly at our feet. I could not but compare it to some familiar spirit, guiding us through the earth, and I dabbled my fingers in its tepid water, which sang like a naiad as we progressed. "