I Wonder

Richard Holmes narrates the voyage of Captain James Cook and Joseph Banks to the island of Tahiti. Their journey is an exploratory voyage where they are able to appreciate the natives that live in the island. “This voyage may count as one of the earliest distinctive exploits of romantic science, not least because it involved a long stay in the beautiful but ambiguous version of paradise-Otaheite or the South Pacific island of Tahiti”. (prologue) I wanted to understand what romantic science was and by reading chapter one I realized it was finding answers in nature and understand the human life.

Banks and Cooks got to the island and they started to explore it. Most of what is narrated is Banks experiences that he recorded in his journal. As time passed Banks got more accustomed to the island and related with the natives. He found their life style fascinating. In The Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad describes a similar situation. His character Charlie Marlow narrates his own story about his journey to the heart of Africa. The novel revolves around Kurtz, a man who became part of the native tribe from the Congo. Both novels portray two different lifestyles. Let´s call them the civilized ones and the natives. And in each story there is a character that changes his lifestyle. Kurtz related very well with the colonized ones that he actually lived among them. And the Tahitian natives captivated Banks.

Besides the fact these novels have characters that are similar, they emphasize on the journey. Marlow was comfortable telling us his story because he was able to meditate on his experience while he told it. And through his diary entries Banks does they same thing. They both “find” themselves. Journeys are wonder. If you look up the word wonder in the dictionary the definition is the following: to think or speculate curiosity and to be filled with admiration or amazement. According to Plato “wonder was central to all philosophical thought, in wonder all philosophy began in wonder it ends but the first wonder is the offspring of ignorance and the last is the parent of adoration”. (Prologue) We humans do everything because of curiosity is what drives us and what leads us to new things. Banks Endeavor voyage originated an era of curiosity where he discovered things and shared them. Although Conrad´s novel is a work of fiction, they both reveal a truth about human nature: we all wonder for things we don’t know.