56 pages • 1 hour read
Michael Crichton, James PattersonEruption
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Surfing
In contrast with the volcano, which represents the fear and terror that exists in a conflict between man and nature, surfing in Eruption represents man’s harmony with nature. As described in Chapter 1, surfing requires an understanding and healthy “fear in the ocean” (18); if you act with inexperience you can end up underneath the board—or worse. However, if you learn to read the waves, as Mac teaches the local boys, including Lono, to do, you can “flawlessly [ride] the inside curve of the wave” (18). For Mac, surfing with the boys is symbolic of the beauty and joy that is at risk of being destroyed by Agent Black and the volcano. He demonstrates its importance to him when, amid the crisis, he takes a break to go surfing with Lono. In that moment, he thinks “This is what we’re trying to save” (332). In Mac’s final scene in Eruption, after the crisis has passed, he is once again at the beach, surfing with Lono. As he walks into the water, he thinks to himself, “Just another day in paradise” (418). This is emblematic of the connection between surfing and the enjoyment of nature in the novel.
Surfing is also symbolic of the Indigenous culture and language of Hawaii. Modern surfing was invented in Hawaii and is an important pastime there. In Eruption, Mac goes surfing with the local boys, demonstrating his connection to Hawaiian traditions even though he is a white man from the mainland. In one of his first lines of dialogue, he uses a Hawaiian term, telling one of the boys, “How about you don’t go all kūkae on me, if that would be all right with you” (17). The use of the Indigenous Hawaiian language while surfing illustrates the relationship between the sport and Hawaiian culture in Eruption.
Volcanoes
The volcanoes on Hawai‘i, and in particular Mauna Loa, are a recurring motif throughout Eruption that represents the theme of Man Versus Nature. The volcano acts as the main antagonist of the novel and the characters respond to the conflict in various ways. For some of the Indigenous Hawaiians, and most notably Lono’s mother, the volcano is a representative of “the goddess Madame Pele, the force behind volcanic eruptions” (263). As Lono’s mother tells him amid the eruptions, “It is Pele’s will at work now. […] You must have faith” (401). In this view of the conflict with nature, people should trust and respect rather than fight with the volcano. To Mac, Rivers, and their teams, the volcano represents the ultimate threat. While they recognize the improbability of being able to combat a force of nature, they are determined to fight it with everything they have at their disposal: bombs, seawater, dikes, and walls.
Mac reflects on their relative weakness in this conflict with the volcano several times. For instance, just before the volcano erupts, he thinks to himself, “the magma was rising toward the summit, operating on the only timetable that mattered to the volcano—its own” (326). Mac and the other scientists’ understanding of the volcano shows their respect and fear for it. In contrast, Brett and the Cutlers act with arrogance and indifference. They believe that they have control in the conflict between Man Versus Nature; they do not appreciate the volcano’s strength and power. As a result, they do not take any precautions. The volcano kills them, the ultimate representation of nature’s triumph in this conflict.
Tremors
The tremors felt throughout the island in the lead-up to the eruption are symbolic of the impending destruction. They build narrative tension and provide a glimpse of the catastrophe on the horizon. The more frequent and more destructive the tremors become, the closer the volcano is to erupting and potentially dooming the entire world.
The tremors frame the narrative in the lead-up to the eruption. In the opening chapter, Mac is surfing with the boys when they hear a rumble and the beach shakes “making them both stagger” (19). Only Mac knows that what just happened was a “volcanic tremor, often associated with degassing” (19). It is likewise felt at the hula competition in Hilo, worrying the crowd. Later, when Mac goes out to rescue Jake Rogers and the videographer who have crashed, there is another tremor that “felt like the hum of a giant bass” (175). Rick notes that it is as if the volcano is “sending a message […] You people get the hell off my island” (175). In this way, the tremors are a symbolic message from the volcano to humanity about the impending dangers it has in store for them.
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