# XLVI explained — The Survivors of the Chancellor

> Chapter companion for The Survivors of the Chancellor by Jules Verne.

## What happens

The survivors' hunger intensifies as thirst is temporarily relieved. The narrator, driven by a mysterious smell of cooked meat, discovers a hidden piece of bacon saved by the steward Hobart. A silent struggle ensues, and the narrator ultimately consumes the food, leaving Hobart empty-handed.

## Themes in this chapter

### Survival and Sacrifice

The narrator's desperate fight for a scrap of bacon illustrates the primal instinct to survive at any cost, overriding moral considerations.

### Human Nature and Morality

The secret hoarding of food by Hobart and the narrator's violent, silent struggle reveal the erosion of social bonds and ethical norms under extreme duress.

## Character check-ins

### Robert Curtis

Expresses willingness to risk his life attacking sharks for food, but is dissuaded by the others.

### Hobart

Revealed to have secretly saved provisions from the wreck; fights the narrator for the hidden bacon.

### Mr. Kazallon

The narrator who discovers the hidden bacon, struggles with Hobart, and consumes it.

## Key lines

> Curtis expressed his willingness personally to make the attempt, but so numerous were the sharks that we would not for one moment hear of his risking his life in a venture of which the danger was as great as the success was doubtful.

Curtis offered to dive in and fight the sharks with a knife, but we refused to let him take such a dangerous and uncertain risk.

_Highlights Curtis's bravery and the group's protective concern for their leader._

> Shocking to confess, it would be untrue to deny that we surveyed each other with the eye of an eager longing; and I need hardly explain to what a degree of savageness the one idea that haunted us had reduced our feelings.

It's horrifying but true: we looked at one another with hungry eyes, and it's clear how savage our thoughts had become.

_Reveals the dehumanizing effect of starvation on the survivors._

> I released my prisoner, and quietly crept back to my own quarters. And not a soul is aware that I have broken my fast!

I let go of Hobart and silently returned to my spot, with no one knowing I had eaten.

_The narrator's secret consumption of the bacon underscores the moral compromise and isolation brought on by extreme hunger._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_survivors_of_the_chancellor_se/chapters/xlvi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_survivors_of_the_chancellor_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_survivors_of_the_chancellor_se/chapters