from the fountain to the sea

Perched on the seawall to the north of the band rotunda, along the promenade of Oriental Parade, our final monument of the current festival has been installed. After the initial gale force winds tested the strength of our intervention, curious locals are venturing out for a peep over the edge.

"The most famous part of the novel, the battle against the school of giant squid, begins when a crewman opens the hatch of the boat and gets caught by one of the monsters. As he is being pulled away by the tentacle that has grabbed him, he yells "Help!" in French. At the beginning of the next chapter, concerning the battle, Arronax states that: "To convey such sights, it would take the pen of our most famous poet, Victor Hugo, author of The Toilers of the Sea." The Toilers of the Sea also contains an episode where a worker fights a giant octopus; and there, the octopus symbolizes the Industrial Revolution. It is probable that Verne borrowed the symbol, but used it to allude to the Revolutions of 1848 as well: After all, the first man to stand against "the monster" and the first to be defeated by it is a Frenchman."