The Aquanaut: A Graphic Novel

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death and animal death.

The ocean is the central motif in The Aquanaut. Not only do most of its characters come from the ocean, but the plot is also centered around marine conservation, research, and The Right of All Creatures to Live Freely. The Aquanaut drives home the idea that marine life deserves more than just to live in a tank. By including the scene in which Sodapop and his father explore the ocean’s trash, the novel further underscores the need to improve the state of the ocean, these animals’ home environment. Additionally, humans rely on the ocean more than they know: “Seventy-five percent of our planet is covered in water. Our oceans are an essential source of life and a delicate part of our ecosystem” (44). 

The creatures who make up the aquanaut are under the false impression that by leaving the ocean for land, they will be safer and kept protected at a place called Aqualand. What they find instead is that there are different threats above ground and that they were never really meant to leave the ocean from where they came. When trouble ensues and the aquanaut frees the captive orca, they realize that living such a life is terrible compared to the freedom of the sea.