This is a quick book summary and analysis of Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne.
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This is a story about a man named Phileas Fogg, a rich man in London who is quiet and studious. He is very punctual and keeps to a very strict schedule, appearing at the local Reform Club at precisely the same time each day.
Fogg proposes that he could travel around the world in eighty days, upon which several colleagues take him up on a wager of 20,000 pounds.
Fogg leaves at once, taking his assistant, Passpourtout. As the two of them head east, they are unknowingly followed by Detective Fix of Scotland Yard, who suspects that Fogg stole a large sum of money from a British bank.
Fogg and Passpourtout travel through Asia Minor with no setbacks until they reach India, where the train rail has yet to be built. Instead of walking or waiting for another mode of transportation, Fogg buys an elephant and they travel forward. As they are travelling, they rescue an Indian woman, Aouda, from being sacrificed and she joins them.
Fix grows anxious as he continues to follow Fogg, knowing that he can only arrest Fogg on British land. Fix tries to keep Fogg in Hong Kong by separating Passpourtout and Fogg, but they somehow get united in Japan before sailing to America.
Once in America, Fogg travels by train, often stopping to see the different sites of America, like San Francisco and Utah. But in the Midwest, their train is attacked by Native Americans and Passpourtout is taken. Fogg goes after him, even if it means losing the wager. Meanwhile, Fix begins to have a change of heart towards Fogg as he sees that he is a good man.
All seems lost, both Passpourtout and the wager, but Fogg returns with Passpourtout. And even though they miss the train to the East Coast, they travel by sledge and arrive in New York.
Because of the delay, Fogg misses his boat to Liverpool, but takes control of a smaller vessel to make the trip. The boat runs out of coal, but Fogg buys part of the boat just to burn it for fuel.
They arrive in Ireland and Fix surprisingly still arrests Fogg. Things look bad, as Fogg is so close to making it back in time. However, Fogg is released as they arrested the real robber in London.
Fogg gets to London, but he thinks it is too late. Saddened, Fogg marries Aouda, but discovers that they arrived one day early.
In the end, Fogg enters the Reform Club on time and wins the wager.
As always, a lot can be said about this story, but what draws my interest and attention is the idea that a story can serve to be both entertaining and informative. This story reads almost like a modern travel book since it details foreign places by conveying sights and sounds of cultures and peoples.
The story serves as entertainment with the drama of Fogg trying to win his wager and how he overcomes all of the obstacles. He uses his money, wit, and determination to solve the many problems of travel and time. There is even a love story between Fogg and an Indian woman.
Yet, this story also is a documentary, of sorts, of the world beyond Europe. At the time of publication, most of the readers would have never known about these different places around the world. It’s particularly interesting to see how Japan and America are described by the narrative voice. There is a slight bias tone towards the East and an almost patronizing attitude towards America.
With today’s technology, we can learn about different places through the Internet and high definition pictures and video. But back then, before the 1900s, they really didn’t have much to go by besides slow travelling news and second hand stories.
Still, there is value in travel writing, as a genre, even today. It’s both entertaining and informative. Because I probably won’t be able to climb glaciers or swim deep in the ocean, I can still read about those experiences through others if I so choose.
And therein lies the value of writing: to be able to experience things that might not otherwise be possible, like traveling around the world in eighty days in the 1800s.
