113 pages • 3 hours read
Michael CrichtonJurassic Park
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1990A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
The Dangers of Unchecked and Profit-Driven Scientific Advancement
There are many warnings in the story of Jurassic Park, but one warning supersedes them all: the chaos that results from the narrowminded and profit-driven pursuit of modern science. From the very first chapter, there are catastrophic and deadly consequences that result from Hammond and Wu’s unchecked scientific progress. Furthermore, because “[e]veryone has a stake” (x) in science itself, profit and competition become the main objectives. As Malcolm points out, scientists today “stand on the shoulders of giants” (343) and do not really understand the technology that they are grappling with. What results is a carelessness regarding the moral implications of one’s actions and discoveries. Hammond and his team contemplate the consequences to an extent, but they cling to the arrogant belief that they will not be affected by said consequences.
Hammond is particularly delusional and selfish in his pursuit of scientific advancement. He creates a park full of dinosaurs, extinct creatures of the past, and allows them to be stored and replaced as if they are car models. He has absolutely no regard for the fact that he is dealing with living, feeling creatures. Hammond also sees no possibility of the dinosaurs escaping the island, believing that they have the animals completely contained. Even with Malcolm’s constant warnings that nature is not containable, Hammond acts as if he has no clue what Malcolm is talking about and carries on. As a result of his arrogance and short-sightedness, Hammond’s park falls into complete chaos before it even opens, and Hammond himself, along with several of his crew, perish.
Dr. Henry Wu is also corrupted by his pursuit of science. He was hired by Hammond right out of graduate school and thus was naïve and eager to begin working on new technologies, without thinking about the consequences. In the lab, Dr. Wu collects and analyzes DNA and fills it in virtually at random to create new dinosaurs. He sees them as projects or experiments, and when one becomes sick and dies or behaves uncontrollably, he simply considers it a mistake and attempts to replace it with something better. Wu is not as interested in money as Hammond; instead, he is focused on creating a name for himself in the world of science and being the first to clone extinct dinosaurs. In the end, Wu begins to realize the error of his ways, but it is too late, and his tragic flaw causes him to be consumed alive by the very dinosaurs he created.
Jurassic Park is ultimately shut down before it even opens. The island is bombed and all the dinosaurs on it are killed, never even having asked to be there in the first place. The only people who seem to truly regret the deaths of the dinosaurs are Grant, Sattler, and the children; the others only mourn their profits. As Malcolm points out, “We are in jeopardy. We haven’t got the power to destroy the planet—or to save it. But we might have the power to save ourselves” (413). What happens to Jurassic Park is a warning about what can happen when scientific discovery is used solely as a tool to gain profit and power, and without a concern for the ethical or environmental implications of its use. Crichton wrote this novel to illustrate what happens when science goes unchecked.
Humanity’s Desire to Conquer Nature
Jurassic Park is the result of peoples’ desire to conquer, control, and alter nature. Hammond, the visionary behind this idea, believes that his park is under total control at all times. He sees massive mistakes, like people dying, as minor glitches that can be improved upon later. Even when the park is in total ruin, he talks about the next park he will create in its stead. Hammond’s goals to create an isolated natural environment and control it make him egomaniacal and foolish. He does not see that nature cannot be contained. As Ian Malcolm points out, “Life finds a way” (179). Even when chaos builds to a point of no return, Hammond insists that “just because it lasts a long time, doesn’t mean it’s permanent” (412). He believes things will always blow over and work out. When Hammond breaks his ankle after tumbling down a steep hill, he still expects “to live to a hundred” (439), remaining in utter denial to the very end. Hammond does not succeed in conquering nature, just as Malcolm predicts. The opposite occurs: The nature that Hammond attempted to conquer eventually conquers him, as he is slowly devoured by a group of compys and dies alone.
The causes and consequences of Jurassic Park are a miniature reflection of a much larger issue. Humans continue to ravage nature with little regard for the future of their species. Malcolm believes that earth will long outlive humans and can handle anything humans throw at it; it is humans who need saving, as activities such as deforestation and pollution only mean toxic air, animal attacks due to loss of habitat, and undrinkable water. As Malcolm points out, “This planet lives and breathes on a much larger scale” (413), and humans are merely a blip on the radar. Just as Hammond, Wu, and Arnold are destroyed by their attempts to overrule natural laws, Malcolm predicts that the human species will experience a similar fate. When people attempt to control what is uncontrollable, it creates chaos. He also believes that humanity’s attempts to control nature are ridiculous and foolhardy. He explains this using a metaphor about a hunter: “When the hunter goes out in the rain forest to seek food for his family, does he expect to control nature? No. He imagines that nature is beyond him. Beyond his understanding. Beyond his control…. He’s at the mercy of it” (392). Scientists seem not to have a sense of humility when it comes to their power over nature, believing anything is possible if they can only find the right method. Malcolm insists that, as in the laws of chaos theory, nature is fundamentally unpredictable and cannot be controlled. He sees a pointlessness in modern science, because “science cannot help us decide what to do with that world, or how to live” (350). Instead, the antithesis appears to be true: Science, especially when coupled with concerns for profit margins and shareholders, tends to remove people’s sense of morality and responsibility. Malcolm believes that scientists purchase their “power in the form of a Saturday night special” (344), with no regard for where it came from or what it implies.
How Money Corrupts Absolutely
In his introduction, Crichton refers to an “ethical event” (x) unfolding in the world of modern science. This phenomenon seems to have infiltrated almost every arena but is having a particularly exaggerated effect on the field of molecular biology. Scientists who would have once been considered visionaries are now concerned primarily with profit. Crichton writes,
In the past, pure scientists took a snobbish view of business. They saw the pursuit of money as intellectually uninteresting, suited only to shopkeepers. And to do research for industry, eve at the prestigious Bell or IBM labs, was only for those who couldn’t get a university appointment. Thus the attitude of pure scientists was fundamentally critical toward the work of applied scientists, and to industry in general…. But that is no longer true. (xi)
In Jurassic Park, almost every character is corrupted by their desire or need for money to some degree, and for each of them it means either their death or their nearing it. Each character is not equally corrupted by this desire, but it brings them all towards the same chaotic end. Hammond, the park owner and visionary, wants to create an attraction that will draw the richest possible investors and customers, with plans to charge $5,000 a day. Inside his seemingly friendly exterior lies a manipulative, selfish man with delusions of grandeur and dreams of living to a hundred and becoming a billionaire: “This is my island. I own it. And nothing is going to stop me from opening Jurassic Park to all the children of the world…. Or, at least, to the rich ones. And I tell you, they’ll love it” (226). Hammond’s desire for money, power, and control is felt by Gennaro and Nedry as well, who are both guilty of lying and cheating. Moreover, Nedry is guilty of stealing for profit and personal gain. Gennaro knew that Hammond was a liar and not exactly level-headed yet allowed him to run the park unchecked. Nedry steals embryos and shuts down the entire park’s power and security, putting the lives of every single person on the island in danger—all for profit. Even Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler are not immune to this problem, as they initially decline Hammond’s offer to come to the island until he offers them $60,000 to fund future expeditions. Only the children, Tim and Lex, are innocent, and they sadly become victims of the selfishness and short-sightedness of the adults in their lives.
Related Titles
By Michael Crichton
