Jurassic Park Book Review

“Jurassic Park” is a book filled with epic creatures and action-packed scenes. On an island filled with larger than life dinosaurs, they can seem like the main attraction. However, the people in the book also play a huge role in the drama and suspense of the story. With most of them being scientists or investors, they seemed like the last concern. They didn’t cause much trouble, except for a chubby computer nerd named Dennis Nedry. A major theme throughout the book is greed. One of the best examples of this is Nedry’s greed. His need to pay off his debts lead him to steal company property and sabotage the security system, ending in disaster. His actions were what eventually burned Jurassic Park to the ground, and taught us all a lesson about generosity and forgiveness.

Dennis Nedry was hired by InGen as a computer programmer for Jurassic Park. To combat his financial problems and low salary, he accepted an offer from Biosyn, a competing genetic engineering company. He was asked to steal dinosaur embryos, that Biosyn planned to later clone and use. This was a large task, but Dennis had planned it out. To make things easier for himself, he built a “trapdoor” into the computer program. This allowed him to access and shut down the park’s security system. “But later when he was approached by Lewis Dodgson at Biosyn, Nedry was ready to listen. And able to say that he could indeed get past Jurassic Park security. He could get into any room, any system, anywhere in the park. Because he had programmed it that way. Just in case.”(Page 195, Crichton) Choosing to leave the whole park unguarded and open cost many people and dinosaurs their lives, not to mention tons of money lost in the process. It was greedy to only think of himself and what would benefit him personally.

This wasn’t the end of his greed though. Dennis was only in it for the money, not caring about the wrong that he was doing. When he met with Lewis Dodgson at the airport, it was clear that Nedry was set on getting his fair pay. “Look, I’ve got it covered,” the man said. “Just relax, and get the money ready. I want it all Sunday morning, in San José airport, in cash.” (Page 78, Crichton) His greed forced him to make bad decisions that ended up killing many people, including himself.

Dennis was not the only person who was greedy. Jurassic Park creator and founder John Hammond looked past many ethical issues to make money and protect his precious dinosaurs. While he had little interest in the actual genetic engineering aspect, he was heavily focused on power and progress. Hammond used information and materials that weren’t his, to create a dinosaur that no one knew about. He took advantage of people and their skills to benefit him and make money. “One last thing, Morris said. Suppose InGen wasn’t really making a museum exhibit. Is there anything else they could have done with the information in the report you gave them?” Grant laughed. “Sure. They could feed a baby hadrosaur.” (Page 45, Crichton) Dr. Grant did not know that this was happening, but if he would have, a lot of lives would have been saved.

Given these points, it is clear that greed is a common theme. It influenced many people’s actions and decisions, highly impacting the course of the book. It taught us lessons about gratefulness and generosity. Though greed fuels hate and demise, it also helps us to realize how fortunate we are.

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