The Mysterious Island 4 5 by Jules Verne 6

Home , Cyrus Smith, Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island

Penguin Readers Factsheets l e v e l E

T e a c h e r’s n o t e s 1

3 The Mysterious Island 4 5 by Jules Verne 6

ELEMENTARY S U M M A R Y

hen a balloon is blown off course, it arrives in supported by scientific knowledge or speculation. W the middle of the Pacific Ocean and deposits Verne was fascinated by exploration – he even wrote its occupants – four men, a boy and a dog – a history of exploration from Phoenician times to the into the sea. One of the men, Cyrus Smith, is mid-l9th century. In all his famous works, his particularly lucky to survive. He managed to make it characters use the latest ‘inventions’ to explore the to shore but has no idea how he reached a cave half moon, the ocean depths or the center of the earth. a mile from the sea. Amongst the inventions which he anticipated in his Other mysterious things happen on the writings are flights into outer space, submarines, uninhabited island. After the men have made a list of helicopters, air conditioning, guided missiles, and things they want, a large box appears on the beach motion pictures. His other science fiction works and inside are all the things they asked for. When include From the Earth to the Moon and 20,000 pirates come to disturb them in their new cave Leagues Under the Sea in which Captain Nemo first house, their ship is torpedoed and sent to the bottom. appears. Finally, when the boy, Herbert, falls sick, medicine appears which saves him. But their mysterious helper suddenly needs help of BACKGROUND AND THEMES his own. He tells them how to find him – at the bottom The Mysterious Island turns out to be a sequel to of the deep well in their cave house. He is none other 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but this only than Captain Nemo, anti-hero of another Jules Verne becomes evident at the end of the story. Up until the story, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. He is at the point where Captain Nemo reveals himself, it is the end of his life and he wants the men to take his tale of a group of castaways, very much in the mould riches and scuttle his submarine, Nautilus, after his of Robinson Crusoe. The big difference is that, in this death, with him on board. case, there is a mysterious helper. At first, this help The friends spend a little longer on the island but has an almost mystical quality. Is Verne writing about are eventually rescued by a British survey ship, free the way that God helps people in trouble? A man is at last to start or return to families, and write or tell of carried to safety as if by magic. The castaways write their adventures and their mysterious helper. notes of what they need – written prayers – and, soon after, all their needs are met – their prayers are answered. But then the help takes on a much more ABOUT JULES VERNE scientific form – the torpedoing of the pirates’ ship – and we move from mysticism to pure adventure. Jules Verne is sometimes considered to be the father There is one final twist. Captain Nemo is their helper. of science fiction but he came to the genre late in his Although his very name means nobody in Latin, he is life. quite definitely somebody in this story – a person He studied law in Paris then became secretary of with a past fixed firmly in the recent history of the the Theatre Lyrique before working as a stockbroker. world for Verne’s readers. Most Frenchmen probably His first fictional works were plays and the words for resented the breadth and influence of the British operas. Then, at the age of 34, he wrote the empire, but it is debatable how much the average adventure story Five Weeks in a Balloon which was Frenchman of 1875 cared about the Indian Mutiny of quickly followed by the science fiction classic 1857, brutally put down by Britain, the imperial Journey to the Center of the Earth, published in power, However, Verne clearly felt that these events 1864. Ve r n e ’s skill was to weave an exciting gave Nemo good reason for his behaviour. adventure story around a fantastical idea which was

Communicative activities Chapters 10–13 At the end of the story, it says that the men The following teacher-led activities cover the were happy to leave the island. Ask students to same sections of text as the exercises at the work in groups and make a list of good things back of the Reader and supplement those and bad things about living on a desert island exercises. For supplementary exercises with four or five other people – of the same sex! covering shorter sections of the book, see the photocopiable Student’s Activities pages of this ACTIVITIES AFTER READING THE BOOK Factsheet. These are primarily for use with There are 13 chapters in the book. If possible, class readers but, with the exception of the put students into groups of 13 and give each discussion and pair/groupwork activities, can student one chapter to read again and make also be used by students working alone in a notes on. If you cannot divide the group in 13s, self-access centre. give the stronger students two chapters each. Give students 10 minutes to re-read their ACTIVITIES BEFORE READING THE BOOK chapters and then retell the story in groups. 1 Ask students to work in groups and to think of possible ways in which an island can be mysterious. Elicit ideas from each group. 2 Ask students to continue to work in groups G l o s s a r y and to look at the list of words in the back of It will be useful for your students to know the following new the book in section 2 of the ‘Before You words. They are practised in the ‘Before You Read’sections Read’ Activities (Chapters 1–4). They must of exercises at the back of the book. (Definitions are based come up with a short story about a on those in the Longman Active Study Dictionary.) mysterious island which includes all those Chapters 1–4 words. balloon (n) a large rubber bag filled with hot air which can ACTIVITIES AFTER READING A SECTION carry people into the air bark (v) if a dog barks, it makes several short loud sounds Chapters 1–4 bow (n) a weapon used for shooting arrows Remind students that in this section the men branch (n) a part of a tree that grows out from the trunk write a list of things to help them do the cave (n) a large natural hole in the side of a cliff or under the ground following: island (n) a piece of land completely surrounded by water • cook land (n) a country • fish master (n) the man who is in charge of a dog, a home or a • write servant • fight match (n) a small wooden stick that produces a flame • build when you rub it against something Put students into pairs to make a list of helpful mysterious (adj) strange and difficult to explain or items for each verb, e,g, cook = pots, pans, a understand stove. You might let them use bilingual prisoner (n) someone who is kept in a prison rock (n) a large piece or solid mass of stone dictionaries for the task. rope (n) very strong thick string, made by twisting together After some time, elicit ideas from all the pairs many threads and make a list on the board for each verb. sign (n) an event or fact that shows that something exists wave (n) a raised line of water that moves across the Chapters 5–9 surface of the sea Remind students that in this section they had a Chapters 5–9 lot of problems with Cave House and found pirate (n) a sailor who attacks other boats and steals things answers to each problem. Without looking back from them at the chapters or the other activities on this torpedo (n) a weapon that is fired under the surface of the sea from one ship to another sheet, can they make a list of problems and answers in small groups. Chapters 10–13 captain (n) someone who is in charge of a ship or plane prince (n) the son of a king or queen submarine (n) a ship that can travel under water

Published and distributed by Pearson Education Factsheet written by Terry Philips © Pearson Education 2001 Factsheet series developed by Louise James Penguin Readers Factsheets l e v e l

Student’s activities 1 The Mysterious Island 2 3

Photocopiable 4 Students can do these exercises alone or with one or more other students. Pair/group-only exercises are marked. 5

Activities before reading the book 6

1 The following things are all in one or more of the 4 What did they find on the big island? Tick one or pictures in the book. Can you find all the things in more of these things. ELEMENTARY two minutes. Which page are they on? (a) wood a box (b) mountains a boy (c) water a branch (d) beach a cave (e) people a cave (f) food a dog (g) rocks a door 5 What does the word in italics refer to in each of a fire these sentences from Chapter 3? fish (a) We’ll have to watch it. a light (b) He doesn’t know his way round around the rocks island. a rope (c) He’s dead. sea (d) I remember something. a ship (e) It’s more that half a mile to the sea from here. waves (f) It’s very mysterious. a window 6 Match these verbs and nouns from Chapter 4. (a) cook (i) bow (b) write (ii) box Activities while reading the book (c) cut (iii) coffee Chapters 1–4 (d) eat (iv) fruit (e) throw (v) fire 1 Six characters are introduced in Chapter 1. Here are (f) use (vi) dinner five of the characters. Match each character (a–e) to (g) climb (vii) knife one of the descriptions (i–v). (h) make (viii) mountain (a) Cyrus Smith (i) put into (ix) notebook (b) Pencroft (j) have (x) rocks (c) Gideon Spillet (d) Nab Chapters 5–9 (e) Top 1 In Chapter 5, what ...? (i) a dog (a) was on a high shelf (ii) a newspaper man (b) could go out for the first time (iii) a seaman (c) was yellow (iv) a strong man (d) was light green (v) Cyrus Smith’s man (e) was blue-green 2 Who is the sixth character? (f) was light blue 3 Put these things in the order they went into the sea (g) was almost half a mile thick in Chapter 1. (h) was slow and wide • bags (i) were at the bottom in the colder water • Cyrus Smith (j) was about thirty feet above them • food 2 Complete these sentences from Chapter 6 with a • guns suitable preposition or adverb in each space. • money (a) The mouth of the cave ... the rock wall was about • the dog twenty feet wide but only three feet high. • the rest of the balloon (b) Nab and Pencroft broke some rock … • the three men and the boy (c) Cyrus Smith lit a branch and went .... • water

(d) The way ... the rock was only six feet high and beach food halves hours pirates sea ship three feet wide. torpedo wind (e) After a time, it opened ... a long, wide cave. (a) The men went down to the .... (f) ‘ We’re going ... to the sea.’ said Cyrus. (b) The ... was quiet now. (g) They turned ... the right and suddenly stopped. (c) They could see the ... on the bottom. (h) They were ... the mouth of a great underground (d) Most ... were inside but some men were in the cave. water. (i) Nab and Pencroft moved their branches ... their (e) Some ... later, Pencroft and Nab swam to the heads and the light got stronger. ship. (j) There was nothing ... the cave. (f) It was in two ... (k) At the opposite end there was some light from .... (g) They found clothes, shoes, guns and .... (I) ‘Let’s go ... that light.’ said Cyrus. (h) But then another great ... came and the ship (m)‘I think it comes ... the front of the rock wall.’ went out to sea. (n) The cave floor opened in front ... them. (i) Some days later Nab found a ... on the beach. (o) Cyrus found a small rock and threw it into the water .... Chapters 10–13 (p) ‘We’re about a hundred feet ... the sea here. ‘said Cyrus. 1 Discuss in pairs. The mysterious person helps the men in at least four ways up to the end of Chapter 3 There were problems with the Cave House (Chapter 10. What are they? 7) but they thought of answers for each one. Match the problems and the answers. 2 Put these events from Chapter 11 in order. Problems (a) A white light lit the cave. (a) They couldn’t use the long way in and out each (b) Cyrus Smith said ‘It’s him.’ time. (c) Cyrus Smith took Spillet’s arm. (b) The window was eighty feet up the rock wall. (d) Gideon Spillet said ‘But isn’t he dead?’ (c) A very long rope was dangerous in a high wind. (e) Nab climbed down the rope. (d) They didn’t have enough rope. (f) Pencroft climbed down the rope. (e) They didn’t have any beds, chairs or tables. (g) Pencroft found a shelf of rock next to the water. (f) It was dark in the cave. (h) The others climbed down the rope. (g) The smoke couldn’t get out of the cave. (i) They found a boat. (h) Sometimes they couldn’t go out of the cave for (j) They saw something half above the water and fruit or eggs or fish. half below it. (i) People could get them by climbing the ropes. 3 Are these sentences from Chapter 12 true or false? Answers (a) Captain Nemo’s ship was a submarine. (i) They always had food for three or four days in (b) His ship was called Nautilus. the cave. (c) He came from India. (ii) They climbed up to it. (d) In 1857, the Indians fought the British and won. (iii) They made a hole in the rock above the fire. (e) Captain Nemo bought his ship from a clever (iv) They made it. man. (v) They made more windows. (f) Nautilus can’t leave the cave now. (vi) They made them. (g) Captain Nemo wanted Cyrus Smith to have (vii)They pulled them up when they were all in Cave Nautilus. House. 4 Discuss in pairs. How are these things important in (viii) They used two shorter ropes. the last chapter of the story? (ix) They went in and out through the front way. (a) Captain Nemo’s little boat 4 Work in pairs. Discuss these questions about the (b) maps events in Chapter 8. (c) smoke (a) Why didn’t the men want the pirates to see (d) families them? (e) stories (b) Why did the pirates probably come to the island? (c) Why did Pencroft swim to the pirate ship? (d) Why did the pirates fire at the rock wall? Activities after reading the book (e) Why did Pencroft say, ‘That’s bad.’? Work in pairs. Look at the table of contents page with (f) Why didn’t the pirates turn their guns on the cave the title of each chapter. Explain the title and try to window? remember the events in each chapter. 5 Complete these sentences from Chapter 9 with a suitable word from the box.

Published and distributed by Pearson Education Factsheet written by Terry Philips Factsheet series developed by Louise James © Pearson Education 2001