Jules Verne
Doctor Ox's Experiment is a satirical science fiction novel by the famous author Jules Verne. It tells the story of an extremely calm and traditional town that is plunged into chaos and war overnight due to a secret experiment by the scientist Dr. Ox. The book illustrates how dangerous science can be in the wrong hands.
Under the guise of a project to light the city, Doctor Ox secretly administers high doses of oxygen to the people of Quiquendone to prove his perverse scientific theory, transforming their centuries-old lethargic nature into a completely chaotic and aggressive frenzy, leading to a loss of control.
The fictional and insular town of Quiquendone, located near Oudenaarde and Bruges in Belgium (Flanders region), which does not appear on maps.
19th century. The text contains references to the year 1837 and the scientists and chemical discoveries (hydrogen and oxygen decomposition) of that period.
Initially, the town is defined by an atmosphere of extreme calmness, stagnation, lethargy, and absolute silence. With the introduction of oxygen gas into the system by Doctor Ox, this atmosphere suddenly transforms into something hysterical, chaotic, aggressive, exuberant, and unbearably noisy.
An omniscient, sarcastic, humorous third-person narrator who enjoys exaggerating descriptions and occasionally speaks directly to the reader (e.g., 'as our readers will know').
The world rules ostensibly belong to 19th-century reality, but they contain elements of science fiction and satire. The townspeople have become biologically dependent on the oxygen level in the air they breathe. With the gas, both physical (plants grow to giant sizes) and behavioral universal rules change with scientific disproportion.
A conservative bourgeois culture where Flemish temperamental traits (phlegmatism, cautiousness, gluttony, peacefulness, and thrift) are treated in a parodic and exaggerated manner, and traditions remain unchanged for generations.
Characters are arranged at equal intervals on a circle; you can read the relationship type and dynamics by clicking on the lines.
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Initially, they are two lethargic companions who do nothing but nod to each other in silence and fear making decisions. Under the influence of oxygen, their dynamics reverse completely; they begin to have harsh political arguments and insults, and become so hostile that they fight physically in the tower over a decision to go to war and challenge each other to a duel.
In the scuffle on the dark stairs of the tower, they pull each other's hair while calling each other 'We shall see, you foolish animal' and 'dull fool'.
Ox is dominant, visionary, and ruthless; Ygène is the obedient but more anxious party who eventually feels remorse. Although Ygène wants to turn off the valve upon seeing the dangerous results of the experiment, Ox refuses to abandon his arrogance and tries to silence him with violence.
Just as Ygène is about to shout the truth to the crowd, Doctor Ox throws himself at him with indescribable rage and covers his assistant's mouth with punches.
Initially, in accordance with their Flemish nature, they experience a romance for ten years while fishing, separated and without uttering a single word; under the influence of the gas, they transform into passionate, hasty, and violent individuals.
Frantz, who used to wait for hours for a bobber on the water, initiates a 75-pace duel with pistols against his rival, Simon, to win Suzel.
While normally extremely respectable, mind-their-own-business, and peaceful professionals, they engage in a political war of words as the first visible sign of the mass hysteria in town, eventually leading to a polarization that goes as far as a duel.
Doctor Custos makes a dangerous provocation to his rival by saying, 'it seems to me that you are going a bit too far and you are not weighing the words you use'.
In the private and strictly regulated town life, subconscious urges are unleashed at a ball that goes out of control due to the gas; Tatanémance passionately embraces the Commissioner in the chaos.
The Commissioner cannot remember who he waltzed and embraced that night, but in fact, the hero of that passionate embrace that entered his dreams was the dear Tatanémance.
They have a routine marriage devoid of emotion where they never argue; they are bound by the rule that the widowed marry among themselves. Under the influence of the gas, the mayor cannot manage to silence his wife as she turns into a capricious, irritable woman who constantly scolds and attacks the household help or her sister-in-law.
The mayor laments in the face of his wife's shouting, 'In the end, you will kill me before yourself and overturn all the family traditions!'
Orbideck, a confectioner, becomes militarized in extraordinary circumstances, while Van Tricasse, normally an administrator, appoints him as supreme commander of the army under the influence of the gas. Military hierarchy and absurdity dictate their dialogue.
Mayor Van Tricasse appointing the confectioner Jean Orbideck as supreme commander of the army after he promises to kill the most people (seven thousand) in the contract to slaughter the people of Virgamen.
Two young men, who were not even rivals in the previous peaceful environment, transform into each other's potential killers for the sake of Suzel, driven by an explosion of testosterone and passion brought on by the gas.
Young Simon's passionate devotion to Suzel and his plan for a pistol duel with the submissive Frantz, neither wishing to yield.
