Costa Rica And The Lizard Attacks example essay topic

Jurassic Park From the story many questions arise about the condition of the future. With the introduction of biotechnology, what we all want to know is, will this technology be used for the good of mankind? Will it be used to create faster and easier methods of working? Will it be used to create bio-technological replicas of humans that will be able to do our work for us or will the technology be used too misguiding ly and lead to the downfall of humanity?

All the questions and more are what plague the minds of scientists when trying to perfect this technology. As we approach the 21st century we need to keep in mind that the condition of the world can only benefit from this technology if used properly. If we corrupt this new science field, and try to play God and create super humans we will be disturbing nature and this will bring about humanities down fall. If this technology is used to replace all human work, we as a people will forget the manual way to work. If we totally rely on computers in the future we will be making mankind obsolete. In the story, the mathematician Malcolm is the philosophical voice that questions the durability of the park and the accountability of the science used to re-create the dinosaurs.

He challenges the ideas of Dr. Wu and end up being right in the end about the animals. He also states that society will turn into an information society and thought will be banished. By this he is saying that if the world of technology continues on the path it is on now, the future will be run and determined by technology. Humans will leave everything to machines and we will have an era where humans, as I stated above will become obsolete. All humans will fall into a lazy phase and we will be in a mechanical era. In the early chapters of the book, Malcolm states that the whole Jurassic Park idea will not work because of the Chaos Theory.

The Chaos Theory states that first complex systems like weather have an underlying order and second the reverse of that the simple systems can produce complex behavior. I do agree with this theory, especially the second part because simple systems can be predictable to a point, but the slightest change in the system can throw off all predictions by a wide margin. The example used in the book about the pool table fits perfectly. A shot can be predicted mathematically given all the points in the system stay unchanged. The slightest change in the surface of the ball or the surface of the table can change the prediction of the shot.

This falls into the category of the human system. The author's point is that the human system can be considered a simple system, but the slightest change or disorder in a persons' life, can change the out come that the parents predicted for it. This is what went wrong with the creation of the dinosaurs; the tried to predict the simple system and control nature and it back fired. Malcolm brings up the point of intelligence. Intelligence is brought out through experiences in life, it also comes about through schooling and any other natural process of learning. Intelligence on the other hand is what computers are formatted with.

It is the intelligence that is programmed into machines and other computer like systems. Science claims it is seeking the truth. Malcolm claims that science is lying. Science is really seeking a way to control nature. Science is always trying to find a way to make nature predictable, and control her every move. As seen through many past experiences when mankind tries to control nature, she upsets us and has a kind of kick back.

Unfortunately when nature proves to us that we are wrong to try and control it, it results sometimes in human casualties. The question that all scientists fail to is not whether or not they could but whether or not they should. This is not a good approach to have because most scientists fail to consider the consequences of their choices and their experiments, and how will it effect the well being of man. Even though they say to make an omelet you have to break a few eggshells but sometimes science use more than just a few eggs and this sometimes can spell disaster for mankind. Malcolm expresses his opinion on the difference between scientific power and power resulting from discipline throughout the book. Scientific power is described as the easy way out.

It is just taking other peoples work and adding on to it, and in the end calling it your own. Its' like plagiarism, all you " re doing is taking some one else's hard work and attaching your name to it and taking undeserved credit. Power resulting from discipline comes through the original ideas and work of an individual. Putting in the time and effort needed to accomplish a goal and then taking the well-deserved credit.

Anything else would be UN - civilized. When he starts discussing the fact that we are witnessing the end of a scientific era is the result of the world becoming totally based on technology. Computers are going to be the basis for everything; human thought will become non existent. Machines will become the dominant forces in the world and this will be as I've stated before, the downfall of mankind.

He also discusses the destruction of the world and whether or not we have to power to control this. He says that we can't destroy this planet, we can't even come close. Our planet is 4 and a half billion years old and it has been through many geological changes, it has seen many a specie of animal and the fact that scientist say that the earth is in jeopardy of being destroyed is irrelevant. The earth has survived many plagues and he believes that it will survive long after the human plague. Finally the novel speaks about putting nature on the rack and forcing her to yield up her secrets.

When man tries to force nature hand and control it, we realize it at first but we are setting ourselves up for the big hurt. When we make attempts to control and predict nature we get events like the Titanic. Nature is a raging force and if left to take its course, the world would be better off, but when man tries to play God nature puts us back into our place. There are just something's man will not be able to concur, and nature is one of them. There are just some secrets, best left aloroduction-First Iteration Summary Introduction In the late twentieth century, the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering has positioned itself to become one of the great technological revolutions of human history. Yet, things changed when Herbert Boyer, a biochemist at the University of California, founded the company Genentech in 1976 to exploit the commercial potential of his research.

Since then the field has exploded into a global amalgam of private research firms developing frivolous, profit-hungry products, such as square trees tailor-made for lumber, without any sort of government regulation. The appearance of a company like International Genetic Technologies, then should come as no surprise. In Gen, as the company is informally known, apparently was the instigator of some sort of 'incident,' and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1989. The proceedings drew little publicity, but certain parties involved were amenable to discussing the events that transpired on a remote island off the shores of Costa Rica... Prologue: The Bite of the Raptor Roberta 'Bobbie' Carter, a doctor working in a medical center in Bahia An asco, Costa Rica, is on duty one stormy night with her paramedic, Manuel.

An 'In Gen Construction' helicopter lands nearby and a red-haired man named Ed Regis brings in a man who he claims was injured in a construction accident. Bobbie suggests Regis bring the patient, a young man around eighteen years old, to San Jos'e, the nearby capital city where better facilities are available. Regis resists, claiming the helicopter cannot make it any further in the bad weather. Bobbie looks at the boy's injuries, tear-like lacerations across his torso and thigh, and is skeptical they were really caused by construction equipment. She asks Regis to leave and takes a few photographs of the injuries, then the boy wakes up whispering, 'Lo sa raptor. ' Manuel is obviously distressed by the slippery, foul-smelling foam they have found on the boy's cuts and by the boy's eerie 'raptor's tate ment.

Nonetheless, Manuel claims he does not know what the phrase means. As the boy continues to whisper, Manuel states that the boy has been bitten by one of the raptors or 'hupka'-ghosts who, according to a local superstition, live in the islands offshore and kidnap children. The boy suddenly sits up, vomits blood and falls to the floor, convulsing. He is dead. Curious about the word 'raptor,' Bobbie looks it up in a Spanish dictionary and finds that it means 'abductor. ' She also looks it up in an English dictionary, which says that it means 'bird of prey.

' Almost Paradise Mike Bowman is on vacation in Costa Rica with his wife, Ellen, and their daughter, Tina. The family drives a Land Rover through Cabo Blanco Biological Reserve in search of a deserted beach. When they get to the beach, Ellen is worried about Tina encountering snakes, but Mike convinces his wife not to worry. Tina runs off to search for a three-toed sloth. While exploring, Tina spots lots of three-toed bird tracks and hears chirping sounds.

Instead of a bird, however, a small a green and brown-striped lizard emerges from the jungle. It stands on its hind legs, bobs its head like a chicken, and chirps. Tina notices it has three toes and makes tracks like those she saw in the sand. Just as the lizard begins to attack Tina, the perspective shifts back to Mike and Ellen down the beach, who are wondering where Tina is until they hear her screams.

Puntarenas At the hospital in Puntarenas, Dr. Cruz thinks Tina will be alright. Mike recalls that when he found Tina, her left arm had been covered in thumbprint- sized bites and a sticky, saliva-like foam. As Mike and Dr. Cruz look at the picture Tina has drawn of the lizard that bit her, the doctor admits that he is not an expert on lizards and has thus requested the help of a Dr. Guitierrez from across the bay. When Dr. Guitierrez, an American, shows up, he feels confident that the lizard that bit Tina was a Basiliscus, although he claims that a few of the details in Tina's picture, like the elongated neck and three toes, seem inaccurate.

On her way out of the hospital, Tina makes some keen observations concerning Dr. Cruz's change of clothing. Cruz then asks the girl if she is certain that the lizard had three toes, and she replies that she is. Seemingly convinced of the girl's clever memory, Cruz relates his encounter with Tina to Dr. Guitierrez, who is no longer sure that Tina was bitten by a basilisk lizard. The Beach Guitierrez is on the beach of Cabo Blanco, near the place where the lizards attacked Tina. He thinks about the recent reports of lizards attacking local babies and muses that basilisk lizards are not normally violent. He concludes that perhaps deforestation has driven a previously unknown species of lizard out of a more remote part of the jungle.

As Guitierrez is leaving the beach, he notices a howler monkey eating a green and brown-striped lizard. He retrieves the carcass and concludes that he will send it to Dr. Simpson at Columbia University, a leading world authority on lizard taxonomy. New York Dr. Simpson is in Borneo on field research, so the carcass is sent to Dr. Richard Stone, head of the Tropical Diseases Laboratory at Columbia. He does some analysis of the sample, concluding that there is no risk of viral or bacterial infection from the lizard. He sends a fax to Costa Rica that puts Guitierrez at ease.

Meanwhile, a midwife at Bobbie's clinic returns to a bassinet in the clinic one night to find three lizards eating the baby that is lying inside. The Shape of the Data Not wanting to get in trouble for neglecting the baby, the midwife reports the infant's cause of death as SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome. The lab that analyzed the saliva from Tina's bite wounds has discovered a primitive neuro toxin in it that is related to cobra venom. At Columbia, a technician named Alice Levin notices Tina's drawing and refers to it as a 'dinosaur. ' Dr. Stone corrects her, stating that it is a lizard. Levin argues with Stone, claiming that she should know, because her kids are obsessed with dinosaurs.

She suggests sending the lizard to the Museum of Natural History, but Stone wants to wait for Dr. Simpson. Analysis Crichton employs two literary techniques-dramatic irony and foreshadowing-to establish the beginning of Jurassic Park as a quickly unfolding mystery. Almost immediately, Bobbie is suspicious of the nature of the In Gen Construction worker's injuries, which foreshadows In Gen as a source of suspicious activity. Later, when the foamy saliva found on the worker's injuries also appears on Tina after her lizard attack, it is clearly implied that the worker was also bitten, rather than involved in a construction accident. As its operations are located on an island about a hundred miles off Costa Rica, In Gen is also associated with the 'hupka's pir its that are purported to dwell on offshore islands and kidnap children. The injured construction worker claims that a 'hupka' was responsible for his injuries.

These hupka are also the first significant symbols in the book: after Tina is attacked, Dr. Guitierrez's research indicates that several babies around Costa Rica have similarly been attacked recently. Considering these events along with the injured In Gen worker, we infer that the hupka are closely tied to In Gen and lizards. Of course, as Crichton has already allowed us to follow the perspectives of several different characters in several different settings, we have privileged information at this stage of the novel. Dr. Guitierrez does not know about the In Gen worker's accident, and thus has no way of knowing about the saliva on the In Gen worker's wounds.

Crichton employs this sort of dramatic irony to give the story an eerie, something-is-awry feeling that we vaguely feel has something to do with whatever In Gen is doing on the island off Costa Rica. Crichton also uses this dramatic irony to take a jab at the scientific community. In the introduction, he discusses how, over the last several decades, the scientific community has been increasingly divided by commercial interests. Even academic scientists sway with the business world these days, a trend that he claims has debilitated the entire scientific community.

Throughout this section, Crichton takes care to point out the inefficiency of the scientific organizations that are working in various capacities to investigate the situation in Costa Rica. Dr. Guitierrez ignores Tina's insistence that the lizard has three toes and proceeds to identify the lizard as a basilisk, which halts proper analysis of the saliva from her wounds. Instead, the saliva sample is sent to a different lab in San Jos'e. Meanwhile, though the lizard carcass Guitierrez sends to Dr. Simpson at Columbia is never properly identified because Simpson is in Borneo, a fax sent to Guitierrez misleads him into believing that his identification of the lizard as a basilisk is correct.

Finally, the lab technicians in San Jos'e notice unusual aspects of Tina's lizard saliva sample that link it to cobra venom, but then fail to note a genetic marker they have discovered&md ah; because the marker is not normally found in wild animals, they dismiss it as a lab contaminant. Crichton presents all of this data as dots the scientists fail to connect, which furthers our suspicion that everything, particularly the genetic engineering marker, is somehow related to In Gen. Most of the foreshadowing here revolves around the idea that dinosaurs are related to birds, an idea that Crichton will explore at length throughout the novel. At this point, the concept is merely hinted at: the injured In Gen worker used the word 'raptor' which Manuel associates with 'hupka. ' Bobbie looks the word up in two dictionaries, finding the definitions 'abductor' and 'bird of prey. ' Tina states that the lizard tracks looked like bird tracks and says the lizard chirped and bobbed its head like a chicken, furthering this connection between lizards and birds that hints at dinosaurs, the common ancestor of these two modern-day animal types. Second IterationSummaryThe Shore of the Inland Island Alan Grant, a famous paleontologist, is excavating fossilized dinosaur nests at a dig site in Snake water, Montana.

The site was formerly the shoreline of a great inland sea that spanned from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians eighty million years ago. Grant and his colleague, Ellie Sattler, meet with Bob Morris of the Environmental Protection Agency. Morris is investigating some suspicious activities on the part of the Hammond Foundation, an important source of funding for Grant's research. Recently, the Hammond Foundation has been sponsoring only cold-weather dinosaur digs, has built the largest stockpile of amber in the world, and has leased an island off Costa Rica, Isla Nublar, for use as a biological preserve. Morris also has learned from the Office of Technology Transfer that In Gen, Hammond's company on Isla Nublar, has been gathering extremely powerful computer and gene sequencing technology.

This suspicious behavior has the EPA concerned that In Gen may be engaging in irresponsible genetic engineering activity in Costa Rica, and causes Morris to recall a small rabies outbreak the Biosyn Corporation had caused in Chile several years before. Grant explains that, years ago, In Gen had asked him to act as a consultant regarding the eating habits of baby dinosaurs. Morris leaves and Grant and Sattler have a good laugh, not being able to imagine John Hammond, a goofy old man who likes dinosaurs, as some sort of villain. Skeleton Alice Levin, the lab technician at Columbia University, faxes Grant an x-ray of the remains of the lizard that bit Tina. Grant and Sattler are stunned to see that it is actually a dinosaur.

They think it is likely a Procompsognathus but wonder whether it could be a hoax. They discuss the possibility of an animal from the Triassic period, 220 million years ago, surviving undiscovered. Just then the phone rings and it is Hammond, who tries to convince Grant to visit his biological preserve on Isla Nublar. Grant is reluctant, explaining that he wants to pursue this discovery of a living -which greatly interests Hammond-but gives in when Hammond offers $60,000 each to Grant and Sattler. Cowan, Swain and Ross In San Francisco, Donald Gennaro, In Gen's lawyer, is discussing John Hammond with his boss, Daniel Ross.

Between the EPA investigation, workers dying in Costa Rica, and the lizard attacks, In Gen's investors are getting nervous. In Gen instructs Gennaro to investigate Isla Nublar along with Grant, Sattler, and another consultant, a mathematician named Ian Malcolm. Gennaro calls Grant and requests the location of the remains, supposedly so that he can have it sent to them while they are on the island. Plans Grant and Sattler receive what appear to be architectural plans for Isla Nublar. The island seems to consist of a resort and a giant zoo, which is fortified in a strangely extensive manner.

They return to the dig site, where they are trying to cover up the skeleton of an infant before leave for Costa Rica. Though a full-grown weighed only two hundred pounds, it was a quick and intelligent predator that hunted in packs and killed its prey with a six- inch-long, single-toed claw. Hammond As Gennaro leaves the In Gen office, Ross tells him that if anything is wrong with the island he should 'burn it to the ground. ' Gennaro gets on Hammond's plane and the two exchange pleasantries.

Hammond says that his island is nearly ready and that he has fifteen species of animals. Gennaro recalls his early work with Hammond, rounding up investors for In Gen. He remembers the nine-inch elephant Hammond used to carry around to fund-raising meetings. It was a mean little elephant, rodent-like in size and demeanor, but it helped them raise $870 million from people hoping to exploit the emerging technology of bioengineering. ChoteauGrant and Sattler wait at an airfield for Hammond's plane, thinking how much they despise having to raise the money for their research.

In the plane they meet Gennaro, whom they both dislike. Target of Opportunity The board of directors of the Biosyn Corporation is having an emergency meeting at their headquarters in Cupertino, California. Lewis Dodgson, a reckless geneticist, is the head of product development at Biosyn, which essentially means he steals competitors' products in order to make his own versions based on the originals. He explains to the board that In Gen is building a zoo for cloned dinosaurs on Isla Nublar and that he has a possible way of pilfering their dinosaur DNA. He asks the directors if he should proceed with his plan, and they all nod their heads. Airport Dodgson meets with his inside man from In Gen at the San Francisco airport.

He gives the man half his money, $700,000, and says he wants fifteen embryos, not just DNA. He gives the man a Gillette Foamy shaving cream canister with a secret coolant compartment that will be used to transport the embryos. The man says he will turn over the embryos to a boat that should wait for him on the east dock of the island. MalcolmHammond's plane picks up Dr. Ian Malcolm, a confident and chatty member of the computer-savvy, nonlinear-equation-based mathematical vanguard who is dressed entirely in black clothes. Malcolm makes a pass at Sattler and hands out a paper explaining why he thinks Isla Nublar is doomed. He says that, according to a new mathematical field called chaos theory, Hammond's island will quickly begin to behave in an unpredictable manner, despite the precautions that have been taken.

Isla Nublar The plane reaches San Jos'e where the group disembarks and boards a helicopter. They pick up Dennis Nedry, a fat and impolite computer technician, and fly to Isla Nublar, a mist-shrouded, hilly, and rugged island that has been formed by upthrusting volcanic rock. After a precarious landing, Ed Regis meets the group, who get their first glimpse of a living dinosaur. Welcome They have arrived at Jurassic Park. Ellie looks at the brontosaurus and thinks that it is more graceful than any depiction of the species she has ever seen in a book. The creature trumpets like an elephant and then three more dinosaurs appear.

Gennaro thinks that the dinosaurs will make him rich. Grant observes the animals, thinking that they are moving faster than they are supposed to. Two more appear and they remind Grant of giraffes. Analysis In these chapters Crichton abandons the novel's initial sense of hinting and mystery by filling us in outright that In Gen is indeed hiding some dangerous secrets. The protagonists and antagonists are now more clearly identified. Although several characters and settings are introduced in this section, the bulk of the narration takes place from the perspective of Grant.

He is the only paleontologist on Isla Nublar, and thus, presumably, knows more about the dinosaurs than anyone else there. While Morris visits with Grant and Sattler, his comments about gene-splicing equipment and Hammond lead us to believe that Isla Nublar is home to a shady genetic engineering lab. When Morris recalls an outbreak of rabies in Chile caused by an American biotech company, we recall Tina's father being concerned about her catching rabies from her lizard bites. Though the nervous discussion between Gennaro and Ross indicate that there could be something to fear from Hammond's operation with In Gen, the mystery seems a little less ominous once the reader discovers that Hammond has been engineering dinosaurs rather than some sort of deadly lizard-virus. Instead, Dodgson and the Biosyn Corporation, who are responsible for the rabies outbreak in Chile, take on the role of lead villain at this point. Although he is never named, process of elimination leads us to believe that the man Biosyn has hired to steal embryos from In Gen is Nedry.

Nedry thus becomes the novel's primary antagonist. There is little outright conflict at this point in the novel. Once we know that a dinosaur has in fact been biting children in Costa Rica, that mystery is solved. Grant is now the main character, but it does not appear as if Nedry's theft would have any effect on Grant, as the paleontologist has no real stake in In Gen. The issue that emerges now, however, is the safety and success of Isla Nublar itself. Gennaro and Ross's discussions are obviously skeptical speculation. Grant, Sattler, Malcolm, and Gennaro are all visiting the island to evaluate it and say whether or not they think it will work.

We can see Malcolm's intense skepticism based on chaos theory, then, as a kind of prediction that Hammond's island cannot be controlled. Now that the group has all arrive, they will get a first-hand look at whether or not Malcolm is right. Crichton maintains his bird-dinosaur blurring in these chapters. Morris says that Grant's dinosaur fossils look like chicken bones, while Grant describes as being about the size of a chicken and states that was 'as finely tuned as a bird. ' The reason for these comparisons do not become more until Grant and company have closer interaction with the dinosaurs on Isla Nublar, but even from their initial observations Grant and Sattler are obviously surprised at how deftly the dinosaurs move. At this point, the connection between birds and dinosaurs emphasizes that the creatures are not necessarily the lumbering beasts they are often depicted to be in popular culture.

Third IterationSummaryJurassic Park On their way to the rooms at the resort, Grant thinks about the controversy among scientists over whether dinosaurs were cold-blooded or warm-blooded animals. Sattler notices a poisonous variety of Jurassic-era fern carelessly planted next to a swimming pool. Once in their rooms, Grant and Sattler notice additional bars-which had not appeared in the construction plans-protecting the windows. When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth Before they depart on a tour of the island, Gennaro tells Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm that he wants to know whether they think the park is safe. He mentions the incident with Tina on Costa Rica, and then refers to reports of lizard attacks and increasing infant mortality rates in Costa Rican costal villages. Malcolm claims that chaos theory implies that animals have gotten off the island, which annoys Hammond.

A helicopter arrives with Hammond's grandchildren, an eleven-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl. The presence of the children annoys Gennaro. The Tour Tim Murphy, Hammond's grandson, is a dinosaur nut and immediately recognizes Dr. Grant. Ed Regis takes everyone to the laboratories, annoyed that he seems to have been put on babysitting duty. In the lab, Dr. Wu explains that they retrieve their dinosaur DNA from biting insects that have been preserved within ancient amber. In the nursery they see a baby, which looks like a small lizard that stands upright and has yellow and brown stripes.

The raptor jumps into Tim's arms. Dr. Wu explains that, to prevent breeding, their dinosaurs are sterilized and all of them are engineered to be female. Malcolm is skeptical. Control Malcolm asks Wu if they had engineered any, or comps-the animal suspected of biting Tina. Wu explains that they had, but that it would be impossible for the animals to get to the mainland because he had engineered all of them to be dependent on lysine, a key nutrient. Without the special supplements the dinosaurs receive at the park, they would go without lysine and die within twelve hours.

While visiting the raptor holding pen, Grant notices that one raptor is stalking them from within its cage. Suddenly two other raptors attack from the left and right, but are held back by the electric fence. The speed of the animal reminds Grant of the cassowary, a clawed ostrich-like bird from New Guinea. Version 4.4 Wu approaches Hammond at his bungalow and asks about creating another version of the dinosaurs that currently inhabit the park-version 4.4. Wu claims that the animals are too fast and difficult for the staff to handle, and that the people who visit the parks would probably prefer seeing slower versions anyway. Hammond scoffs at the idea, saying that if they were made slower they would not be real dinosaurs.

Wu claims that they are already not real, as they are engineered to begin with, a reconstruction of the past rather than a recreation. Hammond still adamantly refuses to consider the idea. Control In the control room, John Arnold, the chief engineer, explains that the animals in the park are monitored and tallied by a variety of computerized methods. Motion sensors cover ninety-two percent of the park and video surveillance equipment keeps constant visual tabs on the animals. Malcolm asks about data studies of the animals, so Arnold shows him a graph of height distribution that appears to be a normal distribution for a healthy biological population.

Malcolm states that the graph's seeming normality implies problems with the animals: since Jurassic Park is a controlled environment and not the real world, it should not contain a 'normal' biological population. The Tour Gennaro does not care for Malcolm's pessimism and is still annoyed about the presence of the children. Gennaro, Malcolm, Regis, Grant, Sattler, and the children are taken on a tour of the island in two electrically automated Land Rovers. The tour begin.