Around The World In Eighty Days: Summary Essay, Research Paper

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.