Jules Verne was a well-known scientist long before he became a writer, and judging on the quality of his Around the World
in Eighty Days , he probably should have concentrated on his scientific meanderings instead of attempting to create a story that would entertain thousands of avid readers across the scions of time. The premise of the story is one that was used extensively during that era to inform and enlighten readers concerning their changing world, but should now probably be consigned to the junkyard of writing material that is no longer relevant. If the reader is reading strictly for pleasure, then be assured that nothing could be less pleasurable, and the advice to take may be that reading a different, and much more exciting book would be a much wiser choice. Now that the reader knows my personal opinion of this particular book, a more scholarly approach will be attempted. There are a number of adventures taking place throughout the story that give the reader a sense of the norms of society at that time. The storyline is centered around a huge bet made by a very rich, and a very reserved Englishman; Phileas Fogg, esq. Fogg is the epitome of what an English gentleman should be, and was perceived as such by those who he came in contact with throughout the story. Fogg was completely unflappable. This emphasized unflappability was quite ironic since he was convinced to make a seemingly senseless bet with very little prodding from his cohorts. The bet was that Fogg could travel from England, around the world, and arrive back in England before eighty days had passed, this at a time when
traveling usually involved a variety of delays and adventures getting across town, let alone around the entire world. The irony comes into play early in the book when on page nine it states Fogg “played for playing’s sake, not so as to win.” The game (whist) was for him “a challenge, a struggle against a difficulty, but one that required no action, no travel and no fatigue – and so perfectly suited his character.” If what Verne wrote was true about Fogg, then his character would be much more suited to staying at home, not attempting to travel around the world in a short amount of time, especially with such a large bet on the line. Fogg is accompanied on his trip by his servant Passepartout, a Frenchman, who seems much more apt, and physically capable, of traveling through the rigors of England, India, China, United States and other countries in 1872. Passepartout has experienced a number of odd jobs, each of them more rigorous than the last. The comparisons made between the two characters are classic Verne’s at his best. Each is portrayed in the way that English and French gentlemen have been portrayed for centuries and are now stereotypical of their particular cultures. Fogg, with his reserved attitude that all will be well, and Passepartout, who is a subservient and (at times) an awe- filled Frenchman are perfect likenesses of what those two country’s citizens have now been classified as for years hence. As the two men travel together, Fogg is mistakenly identified by a hard-nosed and persistent detective as a bank robber fleeing justice. Detective Fix makes up his mind to follow the gentlemen in order to apprehend them. The detective assumed he would accomplish his objective upon receiving a warrant listing the mysterious Fogg as the criminal. As he follows the travelers, Fix continually just misses the elusive warrant and is forced to take an unbelieving Passepartout into his confidence. At each stop along the way, various events conspire against Fogg and his companions, but his English stoicism lends him an air of invincibility, at least in regards to winning his bet. The adventures may have seemed to be excitement par excellence during Verne’s time, but now offer very little in the way of adventuresome characterizations and happenings. Readers can now travel around the world in a lot less than eighty days, and have far fewer mishaps. From a historical viewpoint, the book does offer the reader a glimpse of life in the year 1872 fast lane, but cannot compete in the least sense with the events of today’s world.