Short review on The Sphinx of the Ice Fields by Jules Verne

7/24/2019 Short review on The Sphinx of the Ice Fields by Jules Verne

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The sphinx of the ice elds by Jules Verne

First of all I think it is necessary to remark that this story is a sequel of Edgar

Allan oe!s book" #The Ad$entures of Arthur %ordon ym&' because there(s a

part in the summary that if you don(t kno) that comes from another book you

)ill probably get lost*

+r* Jeorling' an )ealthy American citi,en is doing research about )ildlife on the

-erguelen Islands but e$entually he starts hating cold )eather and lonely he is

in$ol$ed in' so he look for the rst chance to come back to home' it is in ./01*

2o the rst ship that arri$es to the Island )as The Halbrane, in charge of

3aptain 4en %uy* 4ate +r Jeorling persuades this captain to take him to Tristan

da 3unha Island*

5hile the trip +r* Jeorling )ho )as a great fan of The Adventure of Arthur

Gordon Pym, and actually though that the story )as true' talks to the captain

)ho sho)s a great interesting and a $ast kno)ledge about it

too* Then a sea

man seems to see a 6oating body in the )ater* The cre) take it to board and

disco$ers that this is the death body of a sailor from The Jane, the supposed

ship of the story of Arthur Gordon Pym' but not only get impressed by it but the

nd a letter in its clothing that indicates that he and se$eral others

including Jane's captain William Guy had sur$i$ed the assassination attempt at

Tsalal and are still ali$e* 7ecause the book apparently tells that they )ere

murdered at that island* Then captain 4en guy make a surprising re$elation'

3aptain 5illiam %uy from the book(s story )as actually his brother so' the tale

is true*



8ue to last e$ents' they all decided to nd and rescue the sur$i$ors from The

Jane. They go to take pro$isions at Falklands Islands )here a mysterious man'

+artin 9unt' :oin to their trip )ho )ere excited to take part in the rescue

because of unkno)n reasons* Extraordinarily mild )eather allo)s The Halbrane

to make good progress' and they break the pack ice barrier )hich surrounds an

Antarctic ocean )ithout ice' it )as early in summer* They nd rst 7ennet(s

islet )here according to the story' The Jane' +ade a stop and after fe) )eeks

they reach Tsalal Islands* 7ut something )eird has gone on' apparently a

recent earthquake de$astated the )hole place' e$entually they nd lots of

remains of Tsalal!s nati$es )ho died before the e$ent but there(s not a single

trace of The Jane and its cre)*

They )ere extremely disappointed at this point but the mysterious man )ho

ha$e :oined them recently' +artin 9unt' re$eal his true identity* 9e is 8irk

eters' one of the sailors of The Jane' )ho ob$iously could sur$i$e and come

back safely* This strange re$elation moti$ates e$eryone to keep going )ith the

search* eters tells them that ym and himself came back to the 2tates' their

home' but only eters instigated the publication of their $oyage and ne$er

listen about ym again' e$en he heard that some says that he )ent to rescue

the people )ho left behind at Tsalal island* eters since he )ere in home' he

changed his identity because he )as too ashamed of ha$ing )itness

cannibalism in their times of need*

%uy and eters to continue further south' but many man leaded by 9earne'

don(t think is a good idea* 2ome days later' the Halbrane' su;er a freak

accident* The ship is taken out from the )ater and stuck by an iceberg' the



)hole ship is destroyed but there is only one boat left that e$entually is taken

by 9earne and the men )ho disagrees )ith captain(s decision of continuing*

9o)e$er they got luck' as they see a small boat of aboriginal style drifting by*

eters is the rst to react as he s)ims out to)ards the boat and secures it* 7ut

eters nds more' in the boat' there are captain 5illiam %uy and the four

sur$i$ing sea men of his cre)' semiconscious and close to death* eters brings

them ashore' and the men from Halbrane nurse them back to life*

Then 5illiam %uy recounts their story* They took a dog )ith them' Tiger )as its

name' 2o at the nati$es Islands tiger bit many people and unfortunately the

dog got rabies' so people from there start to died one by one* 4eft people tra$el

to near islands to be safe from this danger' and the ones )ho )ere left behind

e$entually died )ith a de$astating earthquake* <p to this point' 5illiam %uy

and his men had li$ed fairly comfortably on Tsalal' but after the quake found

their position untenable and made a desperate attempt in the nati$e boat to

escape north*

The combined cre)s of Halbrane and Jane decide to try to make it north in

nati$e boat* They make good ad$ance' until they notice the appearance of

strong magnetic elds* They nd the source of it' the Ice 2phinx )hich is a

huge mountain magnetically charged by the particle streams that focusses on

the poles through Earth=s magnetic eld*

9ere' they nd the remains of 9earne=s team' )hich came to grief )hen the Ice

2phinx= great magnetic forces attracted their iron tools and boat components to

it and smashed them on its rocks* The boat of Joerling ' %uy brothers and the

others escaped destruction because' being built by the nati$es' it has no iron



parts* At the foot of the sphinx' they also nd the body of ym' )ho dead in the

same )ay* The others come back again in their boat' and nally reach the open

ocean and are rescued*

Opinion

I found this story particularly fascinated since it )as )ritten by Jules Verne )ho

is famous because of his ction books* 7ut is fascinating ho) Verne adapts the

original book by Edgar Allan oe and gi$es it a surprising but expected ending*

I think that it is expected because Jules Verne liked to )rite about tales that

in$ol$es magnetism or mysterious ,ones of the planet' so someho) it is a

typically ending for his books*

8espite I remark it is predictable' the )hole plot of story is really absorbing and

I en:oy that part )here the cre) of The Jane are found ali$e and recount

e$erybody their story* It )as a)esome*

Documents

Short review on The Sphinx of the Ice Fields by Jules Verne