 According to Alexandre Tylski, like themes Bernard Herrmann wrote for "Taxi Driver", "North by Northwest", and particularly "Mysterious Island", it suggests human respiration.He further argues that the score's strongest motif is actually "the split, the rupture"—when it dramatically cuts off, as after Chrissie's death.The relationship between sound and silence is also taken advantage of in the way the audience is conditioned to associate the shark with its theme, which is exploited toward the film's climax when the shark suddenly appears with no musical introduction.