The Mysterious Island · Chapter
XXII explained
The colonists endure the coldest part of winter, with intense cold, snowstorms, and a hurricane confining them to Granite House.
What happens
The colonists endure the coldest part of winter, with intense cold, snowstorms, and a hurricane confining them to Granite House. They continue trapping, catching foxes and peccaries, and engage in indoor activities like basket-making and sugar crystallization from maple trees. The chapter also hints at mysterious footprints of large carnivores and the need for future exploration.
Themes in this chapter
Survival and Self-Reliance
The colonists adapt to extreme cold by trapping animals, making baskets, and producing sugar from maple trees, demonstrating resourcefulness.
Nature and the Sublime
The snowstorm, hurricane, and icy landscape are described with awe, highlighting nature's power and beauty.
Characters to notice
- Pencroff
Regrets the lack of bears for warm cloaks, jokes about hogs, and leads trapping and basket-making efforts.
- Herbert Brown
Identifies the trapped peccaries and classifies the claw marks as belonging to the cat tribe, suggesting tigers.
- Gideon Spilett
Assists with traps and suggests using dead foxes as bait; helps clear the Chimneys with Smith.
- Neb
Laughs at Pencroff's bear comment, varies rabbit sauces, and helps with fuel collection and basket storage.
- Cyrus Smith
Works with Spilett to clear the Chimneys, undertakes sugar crystallization from maple trees, and is grateful for Granite House's shelter.
Key passages
“Pencroff regretted that Lincoln Island, instead of harboring so many foxes and seals, with no fur to speak of, did not shelter some families of bears.”
Pencroff wished the island had bears instead of foxes and seals, as bears would provide warm fur for winter clothing.
Shows Pencroff's practical humor and focus on survival needs.
“The hurricane, coming steadily from the northwest, spent its force on the other side of the island, and the eastern lookout of Granite House preserved it from a direct attack.”
The hurricane hit the island from the northwest, but Granite House's eastern position protected it from the worst of the storm.
Highlights the strategic advantage of their shelter.
“The only sugar which they had had up to this time was a liquid substance which they had procured by making deep cuts in the bark of the maple tree.”
Their only sugar source was a liquid obtained by tapping maple trees.
Describes their primitive sugar production method.