The book is divided into seven sections, each labeled as ‘Iterations’. This chapter begins “First Iteration.” Crichton leads up to the theme park, to Jurassic Park by creating multiple stakes. Here the stakes that he’s establishing is that the dinosaurs will escape. Then we get to the park, the stakes are, “can our heroes survive?” Their stakes are preventing more dinosaurs from escaping to the mainland, and in these first two chapters we see the dangers of that not happening.

Best Writing, Quotes:

“Tina was looking idly at the tracks when she hard a chirping, followed by a rustling in the mangrove thicket.”

Jurassic Park, Page 14

Active Voice: Tina looks at the tracks and hears chirping, then a rustling in the mangrove thicket.

Page by Page Highlights:

“At the earliest drawings of the fractal curve, few clues to the underlying mathematical structure will be seen.” – Ian Malcolm, Page 9

“Of course they’d had a huge fight.” Page 11

Crichton is using the actions of the visitors to Costa Rica to pull the reader in, to have them see the world of Jurassic Park through their eyes. By doing so, this ups the stakes later on in the book when the tension gets real with the dinosaurs.

“Suddenly, a small black shape flashed across the road and Tina shrieked, “Look! Look!” Page 12

First siting of a dinosaur in the book by a child with parents on a vacation.

“What about snakes?” Ellen Bowman, Page 13

Crichton again brings up reptilian imagery to ramp up the disgust, tension and realism of the dinosaurs.

“Tina was looking idly at the tracks when she hard a chirping, followed by a rustling in the mangrove thicket.” Page 14

The author uses all five senses to make the dinosaurs real – and he does so in ways that were atypical for dinosaurs at the time. Crichton is going to sacrifice a child early in the book to show that the bad guys – InGen – have been negligent in their introduction of the bad guys they created – the dinosaurs.

“Then, from down the beach, carried by the wind, they heard their daughter’s voice. She was screaming.” Page 15