From Fossil to Fact: Jurassic Park as a Book of Transition for Readers by Henry

From Fossil to Fact: Jurassic Park as a Book of Transition for Readers by Henry - February 2015 Scholarship Essay

In high school, most people have, to some extent, outgrown the classic, but somewhat childish fantasy worlds of dragons and magic. However, most still long to get lost in another world, and escape from their ordinary lives. They want a synthesis between a complicated adult story, grounded in reality, and a fantastic childish fairy tale, grounded in the world of make-believe. They want Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton. This book is one that makes the transition from more childish literature too more adult reading smooth and enjoyable. It appeals to both the adult need for intellectual stimulation, as well as a child’s love of fantasy, and is easily the best choice for any high school student that needs a good book to read during those formative years.

The scientific, monetary, and mathematical reasoning that Crichton gives for the conflicts in the book are what appeal to the adult sensibility of logic and intelligence. When first reading Jurassic Park, you have to ask yourself, why don’t scientists do this? Using DNA from the blood of mosquitoes that have sucked from dinosaurs and then been encased in amber seems like a fairly obvious solution to completing the dinosaurian genome. It makes sense to the majority of adults and teens who are not archaeologists or biologists. From the monetary perspective Crichton does this same thing. The reasons for the creation/investment of the park and the bureaucracy involved make sense to the layperson with a general understanding of economics. He plays on our ignorance of the specifics of a particular area of knowledge. He appeals to a general understanding that makes us feel smart though not, in the case of mathematics. While the money and the science elements make us feel like we know what is going on in the book, the math targets our adult sense of curiosity and our ability to analyze. The reader is introduced to the application of mathematical models and chaos theory to real life through the character of Ian Malcolm, a mathematician who has predicted that the park will end in disaster, which it ultimately does. This is also how Crichton introduces the theme of nature’s ability to find a way and man’s inability to control it, a very deep theme, and its connection to mathematics requires lots of thinking on the part of the reader. This adult thinking about the world is what fuels the rational and adult parts of our brain, and molds perfectly with the more fantastic parts of the book.

Imagination and fear go hand in hand for a child. Fear inspires the imagination, and vice versa. In Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton uses both to create the marvelous and dangerous world of Isla Nublar. The wonder at the creation of dinosaurs is quickly replaced by the fear of the same beast, as summarized by Ian Malcolm in the movie adaptation of the sequel to Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park: the Lost World, “Oooh, ahhh, that’s how it always starts. Then later there’s running and screaming.” All little boys, and probably little girls, have, at some point a fascination with dinosaurs. They are these enormous reptilian beings, otherworldly, and it is hard to believe that they existed. They approach the books and the documentaries with wonder and amazement and ask themselves, how? This is the attitude of John Hammond, the creator of Jurassic Park. He wants the park to be a place for the children, to encourage their sense of wonder of the world. But his age and obsession with this blinds him to a far more serious matter, which a child would very easily recognize. Fear. Crichton provides this sense of wonder, and then poisons it with fear. The terrible Tyrannosaurus Rex inspires a very general fear that a storm provides. The fear of thunder and lightning are something every child can relate to. These are not so dissimilar to the teeth and the roaring of the T-Rex. In that general sense every child is scared. But the fear of being personally hunted, stalked, is a much deeper physiological fear, which stems from the Velociraptors, and while everybody can probably relate, it is not something you want to bring to the light. Both these elements are present in Jurassic Park and appeal to our child’s sense of wonder.
The teenager’s world, which is between child and adult, Jurassic Park makes a perfect appeal. It is a perfect transitional book. With an appeal to the logic of an adult, and the fear and imagination of a child, it is a superb choice, and a superb book, that every high school student should read before they graduate.