Essay, Research Paper: The Lost World

Through this report a discussion of the elements of The Lost World by Michael Crichton will be explored. A further

explanation of how these elements combine to create a good

or bad novel will be explored.
The Lost World takes place six years after the incident
on Isla Nublar, Costa Rica,(Jurassic Park)and only carries

one of the characters over to the sequel, which is Ian

Malcom.

InGen, the company which had been breeding live

dinosaurs had gone bankrupt immediately after the incident,

and disappeared, along with any evidence of them ever being

on Isla Nublar. All of the personnel involved with this

expedition were not answering any questions, or they had

mysteriously disappeared. Search parties had covered the

whole island, along with the surrounding islands, and found

nothing.

Aberrant forms of extremely large reptiles had been

washing up on the shores of various Costa Rican islands, and

word was getting out to the public, most of who became very

concerned about their health. The government would

incinerate them on the spot immediately so nobody knew if

they were really reptiles. Until Richard Levine got word of

one of them which they had not heard of yet. Being as

obsessed as he was he reached the site and collected a

sample of flesh just as the troops burnt the form to

ashes. Finding that it was most probable to assume the form

was a species of dinosaur, he linked it to the InGen
corporation incident a few years ago. He had been awaiting

this moment for years, he was extremely well prepared; two

trailers incredibly strong, with many features required for

researching dinosaurs and their environment. But first he

had to find the only island with dinosaurs remaining: a lost

world. Collecting information, he discovered a Site B; the

alleged island to contain dinosaurs He first sets out

relying on his information which he collected various ways,

but only mildly prepared, with a backpack and a guide. Upon

arrival he is attacked and days later manages to contact his

team back in America.

The rest of Levine's team, consisting of Ian Malcom,

Eddie Carr, Jack Thorne, Sarah Harding, Arby Benton, and

Kelly Curtis(Kelly and Arby hid aboard the trailers and went

along). They received Levine's distress signal and found his

notes and set off with all the equipment to rescue Levine.

Upon arrival they explored parts of the island and

found that it was the area which InGen went from the DNA to

the actual egg which contained the dinosaur, for there was

a massive factory which they briefly explored. They found

Levine who was healthy and set up various equipment to

observe the dino's. Various events occur; the arrival of

Sarah Harding, and the human enemies who steal eggs and spur

the dinosaurs to attack everyone.

After numerous encounters with the dinosaurs, they

discover a boathouse with a working boat the plot goes from

them being in a certain death situation to the short

conclusion in a matter of pages.
The Lost World did not follow the traditional plot

structure for there were many other things involved.

Ian Malcom is forty years old and a mathematician. He
is the only character carried over from Jurassic Park. Due

to a serious injury in that novel he is impaired in

one leg and must walk with a cane. However the InGen company

paid for the expensive operations without which he would

have had surely lost his leg. He is tall thin and a balding

man with traces of black hair. He always wears black

clothing, including socks and sneakers. Malcom is a man of

strong opinion, and he is always giving it to people whether

they are listening or not. He provides most of the technical

views the majority of which are used to provide some sense

on what a terrible place the world is, and there is nothing

anybody can do about it. He at first has great difficulty

confronting the dinosaurs due to past experiences, but soon

he faces his fear.

Richard Levine is very tall and thin. He had the title

of The Praying Mantis in high school partly due to his

appearance-and in part from his tendency to bite the head

off of anyone who disagreed with him. Levine wore wire-frame

spectacles and behind them were the famous sharp features of

his face. He was also famous for his photographic memory,

his arrogance, his sharp tongue, his determination and the

unconcealed pleasure he took in pointing out the errors of

his colleagues. Being a paleontologist which he enjoys

immensely, he was extremely stubborn in difficult times

which almost resulted in costing lives. Most people who

knew Richard Levine, detested him.

Doc Thorne was a grey-haired, barrel chested man of

fifty-five. Except for his wire-frame glasses, he looked as

if he might be a retired prizefighter. Once a professor

of applied engineering, and a specialist in exotic materials

he had always demonstrated a practical focus and a love of

teaching. However, colleagues who knew him agreed that

retirement had marked the happiest period in his life. Soon

after retirement he started him own company of building

almost anything the customer requested.

Kelly Curtis was in grade seven and 13 year old. She

was at the top of her class in marks and the bottom in

popularity. She had to wear all her sisters old clothes and

shoes which were usually bought at Kmart. She had to wash

and iron all her own clothes; her mother was never home ,

most of the time, and she envied Arby's fortune at an easy

life. She is faced with being made fun of by her classmates

all the time, her only true friend is Arby Benton.

R.B. Benton (Arby) was a head shorter than Kelly; he

was the shortest person in their class. He was also the

youngest, He was only eleven years old and in grade 7. He

had already been skipped ahead two grades, and there were

rumors he would be skipped again. Arby was a genius,

particularly with computers. He wore horn-rimmed glasses

which he constantly pushed up on his nose, and he usually

wore a white button-down shirt and neatly pressed Khakis.

Arby was black; both his parents were doctors in San Jose

and they always made sure he was dressed very neatly like he

was in college. Which was probably where he would be in a

couple of years by the way he was going. He and Kelly both

would run errands for Levine, and soon became attached to

him and Thorne. They ended up sneaking aboard in one of the

trailers to go along for the ride to Site B.

Sarah Harding was originally from Africa, and once had

a close relationship with Ian Malcom, but they went their

separate ways after his operations. She was compact, had a

muscular frame and had short black hair. Her field of

expertise was African predators, lions and hyenas. She

studied them for many years closely at night and monitored

their patterns for attacking, eating, sleeping etc. She soon

became famous for her work and was invited on a trip to a

Costa Rican island by Malcom.
The minor characters in The Lost World are very few,

due to the fact the most of the novel takes place on Site B.

They are Ed James, Jeff Rossiter and Lewis Dogdson. They

don't play a very important part in the novel, except they

steal the eggs of certain dinosaurs, who in turn come

looking for them.
There are many themes incorporated into The Lost World

as viewed through the statements of Ian Malcom, there

are quotes from him at the beginning of every

"Configuration" (Major chapters) but the strongest of

theme portrayed in this novel is: "Nature will adapt, but

if there are no older generations to show the offspring how

to hunt, act, and survive, Nature will follow a different

course, not that of its ancestors."
The Lost World had many interesting chapters along with many extremely technical ones. As opposed to Jurassic Park,
the characters of The lost World were prepared for the

attack of dinosaurs, and it was not as unexpected, for the

characters knew not to get close to any of the dinosaurs, so

there was not much substance to the plot besides finding the

island that was Site B. When they were on the island, most

of the time was spent looking for a way to get to the

helicopter meeting point for all of the Jeeps were

destroyed. The setting and atmosphere was extremely well

done along with the character structure.

I found this novel to be a very well written sequel.

Almost all the aspects of the novel, aside from the lengthy

lectures, were excellently done, including the character

composition, the timing, and the setting and atmosphere.

Except however, for the conclusion, where the climax ended

abruptly in a matter of pages while I was expecting an

interesting solution for only that incident, they escape the

island entirely, not once looking back at what happened.

Malcom is lecturing as the are leaving, leaving you with

the impression that Crichton got fed up and finished it as fast as he could. I preferred Jurassic Park over The Lost World, but it was still a very good novel all in all.