Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park: Deconstructing the Literary Launch of a Franchise – Chapter 9 “Plans” (Pages 59 – 66)

Chapter 9 returns us to Alan Grant’s velociraptor excavation site where he is provided information about Isla Nubar that lacks any context or clarity. He imagines the velociraptor they excavate as a living organism, hunting in packs and deadly to all. Humorously, he explains that they are likely pack animals and wonders if they will be led by an alpha male. Ingen, we learn later, has engineered all of their animals to be female to control the population.

Best Writing, Quotes:

“The cover was marked: ISLA NUBLAR RESORT GUEST FACILITIES (FULL SET: SAFARI, LODGE).”
Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, Page 59

This book is full of epistles, and this is a great example – it is referenced, but not part of the text. Also, Grant has no context for the document, it is simply a set of plans. How can Grant be any use auditing a site about which he knows nothing? It is also a lesson in human conceptualization and imagination – this idea is so foreign, how could anyone possibly imagine what InGen is doing, if one of their ‘trusted experts’ is himself totally unfamiliar with their plans?

How could anyone expect such activity to be safe, or to be vetted for ‘safety’ – if nobody outside of the set of people who profit from the idea – are even able to conceptualize what they’re attempting to do?

Page by Page Highlights:

“The cover was marked: ISLA NUBLAR RESORT GUEST FACILITIES (FULL SET: SAFARI, LODGE).” The blueprints are given to Grant ahead of his tour in a neatly folded book, serving as an epistle.

“I don’t get it,” Grant said.

How can Grant serve as a safety inspector at a site which he knows nothing about? The blueprint mean nothing.

“Is there an explanation for the codes?” she said.

The codes are abbreviations of dinosaur names.

“You know,” Ellie said, “some of these dimensions are enormous….”

She compares it to a zoo with the scale of a military fortification.

“Once you begin exposing a fossil you had to continue, or risk losing it.”

“But the kids claimed that within a few year it would be possible to generate an image so detailed that excavation would be redundant.”

“Pound for pound, a velociraptor was the most rapacious dinosaur that ever lived.”

“Perhaps the velociraptor hunting pack was also ruled by a dominant male.”