Jurassic Park

Arnold still cannot find Grant and the kids or the T-rex on the monitors. Malcolm suggests that the motion sensors probably do not cover the roads or river, and the dinosaurs may be using those routes to avoid detection. Arnold scoffs at this, stating that the animals are not that smart, but Malcolm insists “it’s not clear how stupid the animals are” (310). He asks if Grant and the kids might be on the river heading back, and Arnold hopes not because the aviary that the river passes through houses four “fiercely territorial” (311) cearadactyls. These dinosaurs are a bigger pterodactyl with “fifteen-foot wingspans, furry bodies, and heads like crocodiles” (312).

Sure enough, that is exactly where Grant and the kids are headed. They arrive there and come to a clearing near the aviary where the massive bat-like dinosaurs are flying and swooping. Grant’s instincts fail him, as he believes the dinosaurs to be harmless. As he walks the kids across the clearing, one of the cearadactyls swoops down and bites Lex on the finger. They begin running and leaping when the dactyls swoop, but one gets hold of Lex and begins nipping at her head. Unable to lift her up, it struggles, and Grant throws himself at the dinosaur and fights it off. The dactyl walks away on the tips of its wings, much to Grant’s surprise. The four dactyls are scared off and dissipate, and Grant realizes that time is running out for him to reach the lodge in time to alert them about the raptors on the boat. They get back on the raft and continue down the river. A few minutes later, they hear what sounds like owls, and are most likely poisonous dilophosauruses, in the trees. Thankfully, they are busy performing a mating ritual, and do not bother the humans as they pass through.

Meanwhile, in the control room, Malcolm and Sattler are discussing the nature of science. Malcolm feels that the pursuit of science and discovery “is an aggressive, penetrative act” (318) which destroys the natural world.

Gennaro and Muldoon get a message from Arnold regarding the Tyrannosaur’s location. They track it and find it rustling the palm trees ahead of their path. Arnold reminds them of the importance of the T-rex as a tourist attraction, and they laugh at his short-sightedness. Muldoon downs a bottle of whiskey, drives as close to the dinosaur as possible, and fires a rocket tranquilizer at it, but misses.

Grant and the kids are drifting down the river when the current begins to speed up. They realize they are headed straight for a 50-foot waterfall and can do nothing to stop it. The raft spins, and they plummet down into the pool below. The T-rex is waiting there. With the T-rex distracted by Lex’s life vest, they swim for safety and head for a dirt path behind the waterfall. To their surprise, it leads to a series of rooms filled with machinery. Grant starts looking for a phone, and heads down a pitch-black hallway. The kids are too scared to follow him, and the door shuts behind him with the kids on the other side and the T-rex still nearby. Suddenly, its head charges through the waterfall directly at them and begins trying to bite. When it realizes it is no use, the dinosaur sticks its tongue out and grabs Tim, pulling him into its mouth. Lex tries to pull him back, but “she was no match for the muscular power that held him” (333). At the last possible second, the T-rex falls backward, biting its own tongue in half.

It turns out Muldoon hit the T-rex after all, but it took almost an hour for it to feel the effects. It goes down just in time for Tim and Lex to escape its jaws. Arnold watches from the control room in satisfaction. He announces that “the park is now completely back to normal” (335) with unironic confidence, and in the same minute, the computer system begins flashing red. The power is failing again because it is set to auxiliary. Arnold forgot to switch the main power back on after the reset. The group of men realize that with the auxiliary on, it meant the fences were off for about five hours. They believe the raptors may have escaped and are loose in the park.

In a panic, Muldoon sends Arnold to turn the power on, orders Dr. Wu to maintain the computers, and demands that Hammond retreat to the lodge and lock himself there. He asks Gennaro to accompany him to go attempt to gas the nests. As they make their way outside, they see Arnold near the power shed surrounded by three raptors. Muldoon escapes, but Arnold and Gennaro are killed.

Tim and Lex are relieved to be safe, and Tim hopes the same for the T-rex despite just being attacked by it. The power grid shuts down as they stand under the manmade waterfall. The door holding Grant swings open, and he says, “Good work, kids. You got the door open” (336); funnily, they had not done anything.

Back in the control room, Malcolm and Hammond begin arguing again. Malcolm goes on another philosophical rant about the horrific nature of Hammond’s creation. He observes that Wu, the man who creates the dinosaurs, knows next to nothing about them. He accuses Hammond of bringing creatures back to life which he knows little about and which he foolishly believes he owns. Malcolm then preaches about the dangers of science, stating that scientists “stand on the shoulders of giants” (343) and obtain their power very quickly by working off the previous work of others.He believes that science will become so powerful and commercialized that it will be in the hands of every man, woman, and child, but that it will never be able to answer the question, “What should I do with my power?” (351). As a result, massive change will occur, but Malcolm points out that, like death, it is impossible to see what is on the other side of that change until one is in the midst of it.