Journey to the Center of the Earth · Chapter
XIII: Hospitality Under the Arctic Circle explained
Axel and his uncle arrive at a peasant's house in Iceland, where they experience generous hospitality despite the humble conditions.
What happens
Axel and his uncle arrive at a peasant's house in Iceland, where they experience generous hospitality despite the humble conditions. They share a meal with the large family, observe local customs, and continue their journey through desolate landscapes, encountering lepers and harsh terrain as they approach the Snæfells volcano.
Themes in this chapter
Human Endurance and Survival
The travelers endure cold, hunger, and difficult terrain, while the Icelandic family survives in harsh conditions with limited resources.
The Power of Nature
The desolate landscape, volcanic terrain, and the looming Snæfells volcano emphasize nature's overwhelming force and the insignificance of human efforts.
Characters to notice
- Axel Liedenbrock
Describes the hospitality of the Icelandic peasant family, his fatigue during the journey, and his melancholy at the savage landscape.
- Professor Otto Liedenbrock
Persists tirelessly on the journey, hits his head on low beams in the house, and defies the Snæfells volcano as a giant to conquer.
- Hans Bjelke
Returns after seeing to the horses, calmly participates in the kissing ceremony, and leads the expedition with steady endurance.
Key passages
“It ought to have been nighttime, but under the 65th parallel there was nothing surprising in the nocturnal polar light. In Iceland during the months of June and July the sun does not set.”
Although it should have been night, the sun doesn't set in Iceland during June and July at this latitude, so it was still light.
Explains the polar daylight phenomenon.
“The building was constructed of roughly squared timbers, with rooms on both sides, four in number, all opening out into the one passage: these were the kitchen, the weaving shop, the badstofa, or family sleeping-room, and the visitors’ room, which was the best of all.”
The house had four rooms off a central hallway: a kitchen, a weaving room, a family bedroom, and a guest room.
Describes the layout of a typical Icelandic peasant home.
“The host served out to us a soup made of lichen and by no means unpleasant, then an immense piece of dried fish floating in butter rancid with twenty years’ keeping, and, therefore, according to Icelandic gastronomy, much preferable to fresh butter.”
The meal included a lichen soup and dried fish in very old rancid butter, which Icelanders considered better than fresh butter.
Highlights the unusual local cuisine and tastes.