20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Identity Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

Would I ever know to what nation this strange man belonged, that boasted of belonging to none? Who had produced the hatred he had sworn for the whole of humanity, the hatred which might perhaps seek a terrible vengeance? Was he one of those unrecognized scientists, one of those geniuses "who had been hurt" to use Conseil's expression, a modern Galileo; or he was he one of those scientists […] whose career was ruined by a political revolution? (1.14.24)

Perhaps Nemo is none of these things, though. Perhaps Nemo is something far less noble: a renegade whose personal vendetta has caused him to blow up ships around the world.

Quote #5

"Savages!" replied Captain Nemo in a sarcastic tone. "And you're surprised, Dr Aronnax, that when you set foot on one of the lands of this globe, you find savages? Where are there not savages, and, in any case, are those that you call savages any worse than the others?"

"But, captain…"

"For my part, sir, I have encountered them everywhere." (1.22.23-5)

Nemo's misanthropy makes him sort of race-blind. Sure, he doesn't like people, but he doesn't discriminate in his hatred. Such distinctions in identity aren't important to him because it's really that vague evil of oppression that he abhors. When you think about it, pretty much anyone could be considered an oppressor, when viewed through the right lens…

Quote #6

"What about the savages?" asked Conseil. "If monsieur pleases, they do not seem to me to be very ill-interested after all."

"They are cannibals, my good fellow."

"One can be a cannibal and a good man," replied Conseil, "just as one can be a glutton and honest. The one does not exclude the other." (1.22.44-6)

Conseil also doesn't want to identify or define another human being by a single characteristic. We can get behind him on this one; if you exclude those deity types, no one is really all good or all bad.