In 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a famous novel written by Jules Verne, there are only a handful of named characters, but they are all well designed and written with their own personalities, as well as being main characters. The only real exception to this is Captain Farragut, the captain of the whaling ship sent to find and kill or capture the Nautilus at the beginning of the book.
Professor Aronnax was the main character of this book, as well as the narrator, the whole of the story being his record of what happened. He is a french marine biologist, and seems to be famous and skilled, as he was asked by the news for his opinion on the sea creature before anyone knew much about it, and captain Nemo compliments the professor’s book on marine life. He loves the sea, but forever thinks of his home as on land, and never ceases to defend people’s goodness whenever Nemo makes a disparaging comment about humans in general. A part of this is shown when he asks Nemo who he performs his work for, saying that he (Aronnax) does it for mankind.
Conseil was the Professor’s assistant and apprentice, always being very calm and efficient about things and problems that happened on their journey. He was very humorous, particularly whenever something happened to Aronnax, telling him that he had jumped over the side of their sinking ship because he saw his master get thrown overboard. He was much more of a side character, and would do any thing for the professor and think nothing of it. He was also quite skilled at classifying fish, though he could barely identify them.
Ned Land was a skilled harpooner, taken onto the hunting expedition specifically to capture the Nautilus, had it turned out to be an animal. Throughout the book he’s angry and homesick, missing dry land, other Canadians, and most of all, meat. He does love the sea, but only from a bit of necessity, since his job is to go sailing and hunting whales, and he’s good at it. He was good friends with Conseil, and was also a bit of a side character.
It’s doubtful that Captain Nemo’s name is really Nemo, as it’s Latin for no one, and he purposefully keeps his past a mystery, apart from the fact that his family was killed by some government or other, and he has turned bitter against the world. He does accept Aronnax into his ship because of his expertise in marine life, and perhaps a bit of guilt about capturing them. He was okay with going to Antarctica, since no one lived there, proving that the reason he left the land isn’t due to the land itself, just the people in it. He primarily does his work for himself, believing people would use it nefariously, though he does say that when he believes his death is close, he would give all his knowledge to people, allowing them to do what they will after his death.
School Essays 