Essay/Term paper: Around the world in eighty days: summary

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Literary Essays

Around the World In Eighty Days: Summary


The title of the novel, Around the World in Eighty Days, is pretty much
self explanatory. An Englishman, Phileas Fogg, places a wager that he can
circumnavigate the world in 80 days. The events that occur throughout the novel
describe his journey around the world.
Phileas Fogg, the protagonist, was a lonesome person who lived with his
paid servant. Mr.Fogg was thought to be rich although no one knew where his
riches came from.
Jean Passepartout, Fogg's paid servant. A strange fellow who had held
many different jobs, such as fireman and gymnast.
Detective Fix, an English detective who followed Fogg around the world
because he suspected that Mr. Fogg was a bank robber.
Aouda, a Parsee woman who was saved from a Setee by Fogg and
Passepartout.
The antagonist of the novel was time, Mr. Fogg was pressured to arrive
back in London within 80 days or otherwise lose his fortune.
My favorite character in the novel is Passepartout. Passepartout was an
innocent Frenchman that just after being hired as Mr. Fogg's servant was told to
pack for a trip around the world. Throughout the entire novel the reader is
informed of all the peculiar habits of Fogg that Passepartout had to support.
My least favorite character is Fix the detective. He followed Fogg
around the globe, he missed arresting him in India and Hong Kong through
incompetence, and as soon as they arrived back in London, he did arrest Fogg but
erroneously.
The main conflict of the novel was time. Time caused a lot of pressure
on Fogg; he had to get back to London on time or he would lose the money he
wagered. Mr.Fogg and Passepartout were confronted many times with the problem
of lost time; when time was lost extra effort and work had to be put in so as to
make up for the lost time.
The incident that made me happy was when the real bank thief was caught
and Fogg was let out of jail with exactly enough time left to arrive in London
on time.
The one part that I would change is when Passepartout and Fogg are
separated on India and then they meet up again coincidentally in Japan. I know
that this is science fiction, fiction being the important word but still it is
to something that is almost impossible to happen in real life.
While Fogg and Passepartout were in the India jungle, they saw a woman,
Aouda, who was going to be burned alive as a sacrifice. Fogg decided to attempt
to save her. The actions taken by Phileas Fogg would probably not happen in
society today due to lack of compassion for other human beings. In such an
instance, society would watch this inhumane behavior take place.
The moral the author tried to convey is that with human effort and
willpower, enormous obstacle can be overcome. This message was expressed in the
way in which Fogg pushed himself to the limit just to succeed
Since the novel was about a trip around the world there was no main
setting established. The importance of a constantly changing setting is to show
the contrast between one country and another. The importance of the setting to
the plot is that while reading a novel, such as this, with a constantly
different setting it helps the reader realize the acustomization that the
protagonist must go through adjusting from country to country.