This afternoon, John had spent hours reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. He turned the pages frantically, absorbed in the incredible story that captivated his imagination. Captain Nemo was ingenious; this mysterious man who lived on the Nautilus, far from human society, fascinated him. Aronnax and his companions had been pulled into the jaws of the monster, like Jonah into the belly of the whale, and were now prisoners of the stern captain. What would become of them now? John had never enjoyed reading so much, but this book had unleashed a wave of emotion upon him. “Here’s a book for a future engineer!” his mother had told him when she gave him the novel. John was suspicious; was this some kind of scheme to force him into reading? His mother was always up to these sorts of tricks. “Reading is important, even for boffins like you! Numbers won’t get you far without words and ideas!” she’d cried, exasperated at seeing his terrible marks in English. But their teacher had never given them anything as good as this to read; it was always love stories and long-winded descriptions, or landscapes stretching out over pages and pages in books he couldn’t wait to put down. But today, John was immersed in this tome, and had forgotten what a fine day it was outside. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was without a doubt the best book he had ever read, and now he was sure he wanted to become an engineer.
“The sea is the vast reservoir of Nature. The globe began with sea, so to speak; and who knows if it will not end with it? In it is supreme tranquillity. The sea does not belong to despots. Upon its surface men can still exercise unjust laws, fight, tear one another to pieces, and be carried away with terrestrial horrors. But at thirty feet below its level, their reign ceases, their influence is quenched, and their power disappears. Ah! sir, live — live in the bosom of the waters! There only is independence! There I recognise no masters! There I am free!” Captain Nemo explained to Pierre Aronnax. John was wonderstruck; he had never thought about there being another world under the sea. A living world, far removed from the troubles of the earth, of human hatred and wars and tyrants. Could he be an explorer? No, the calling he felt was to be an engineer. John wanted to understand the sea, but the sky and the earth too. John wanted to invent, create, and use his mathematical skills for the good of science. Engineering did not require genius, but rather ingenuity. He would understand, resolve, calculate, discover, and do hundreds of other things. It seemed to him that an engineer was the natural combination of Captain Nemo and Aronnax. His mother had been right; it was the perfect book for him.
“John, dinner’s ready!” his mother called to him. He hadn’t finished the book yet, but he would do so tonight, wrapped up warm under his duvet. Even if it meant he didn’t sleep; John was always on form for maths class. At school tomorrow he would tell all his friends about this incredible story; he could even tell his English teacher that he’d read an entire book, and loved it.
Alan Alfredo Geday