The Lost World

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1912

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-10

Chapters 11-16

Character Analysis

Themes

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Important Quotes

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Character Analysis

Edward “Ned” Malone

Ned is the narrator of the novel. He describes himself as having an overpowering fear of seeming afraid,” and of being “too imaginative to be courageous” (132). When the story begins, Ned is on the verge of proposing marriage to Gladys Hungerton. She dissuades him, leading him to embark on Challenger’s adventure.

Ned is a reporter who knows that he can get a good story out of the adventure. Over the course of the book, he proves his bravery and overcomes his insecurities. Ned is self-aware—he understands both his limits and abilities.

When he returns to London and finds Gladys married to someone else, he understands the absurdity of his situation and returns to the plateau with Roxton. Ned’s character arc progresses from a man who would risk his life to impress a woman, to a brave man who can seek adventure for its own sake.

Professor Challenger

Challenger is the brilliant, abrasive, commanding figure who leads the expedition to South America. His name signals one of the most salient features of his character: he challenges everything and everyone at every chance. When Ned originally approaches him in a letter, he responds with condescension: “I should have thought that only a sub-human intelligence could have failed to grasp the point” (15).

Challenger believes that it is his destiny to bring great discoveries to the world, belittling and discrediting his scientific enemies in the process. He tells Ned: “The individual must not monopolize what is meant for the world” (38). Like Roxton, he frames his actions as part of a larger struggle.

As the novel concludes, Challenger has proven that his former claims about the plateau are correct. He wishes to create a private museum with the money from the diamonds.

Lord John Roxton

Roxton is a dashing, Irish explorer. He is the type of man that Gladys described when telling Ned about her needs. Roxton is a famous hunter, a lauded adventurer, and harbors a great love for South America. He views risk and danger as necessary ingredients to an exciting life. Anything else, for him, would constitute mere existence.

Ned admires Roxton’s love of danger. Roxton describes himself as being “like an old golf-ball—I've had all the white paint knocked off me long ago. Life can whack me about now, and it can't leave a mark. But a sportin' risk, young fellah, that's the salt of existence” (57).

Roxton is a loyal man, as he shows when coming back to the camp to rescue Ned after the humanoids attack. He is also generous, as demonstrated by his willingness to share the diamonds. At the end of the novel, Roxton is already planning a new adventure, as he probably always will. He seems incapable of resting for long.

Professor Summerlee

Professor Summerlee begins as an enemy and skeptic of Challenger. He is a single-minded academic with a love for chalk fossils. He takes issue with Challenger’s claims because there is no proof of them. On the expedition he views himself as Challenger’s judge, not his colleague.

As the story progresses, and Summerlee realizes that Challenger was telling the truth, they become allies. Summerlee is devoted to science and hates anything that dilutes his search for truth. When he speaks about their defense in the final speech, he has become one of Challenger’s most staunch supporters. He understands Challenger’s contributions to the world’s body of knowledge.

Summerlee represents a closeminded academic who requires empirical standards of proof. He is unwilling to believe in anything he cannot see.