LITERARY DEVICE USED

1. ANALYSIS SEATING

Phileas Fogg makes his home in the Richie Rich part of London. All bets are
off for the setting when he accepts the wager, though, as the whole world
becomes Jules Verne's literary playground.

Most of Fogg's stopping points are related in great detail, showing Verne's
massive knowledge of foreign places, as well as ships and railways. He
describes, mostly through Passepartout's eyes, places such as Paris¸ Suez,
Bombay, Calcutta, Singapore, Hong-Kong, Yokohama, San Francisco, New
York, Liverpool, and London. Whoa.

The narrative takes place in 1872 during the months of September to

December. It's definitely a novel of its time because of the extreme emphasis
on new, industrialized modes of travel and Phileas Fogg and Passepartout's
relationship as man and servant. The two spend lots of time on trains and
ships, but also take on strange new means of travel such as riding an
elephant and hopping in a vehicle called a sail-sled.

2. OF VIEW

Third Person (Omniscient)

Around the World in Eighty Days is definitely a story about Phileas Fogg,
but Jules Verne's involvement as narrator almost makes him one of the
characters. We see many things from Phileas Fogg's point of view, and even
more from Passepartout's, but Verne likes to weave in and out of other
characters' heads, too, such as Aouda's and Detective Fix's.

At times, Verne even talks directly to the reader, giving us insight, tidbits of
information and descriptions, as well as jokes:

The reader will remember that at five minutes past eight in the evening—
about five and twenty hours after the arrival of the travellers in London—
Passepartout had been sent by his master to engage the services of the
Reverend Samuel Wilson in a certain marriage ceremony, which was to take
place the next day. (37.1)

By switching from one character's mind to another, we're able to both grasp
the why and how of the bad guy, the inner determination and character of
the good guys, and still have room for a plot twist or two thanks to our
narrator speaking directly to us. At times, Verne does all three within the
same paragraph:
Phileas Fogg was in prison. He had been shut up in the Custom House, and
he was to be transferred to London the next day. Passepartout, when he saw
his master arrested, would have fallen upon Fix, had he not been held back
by some policeman. Aouda was thunderstruck at the suddenness of an
event which she could not understand…the young woman's heart revolted
against so heinous a charge, and when she saw that she could attempt or do
nothing to save her protector, wept bitterly. As for Fix, he had arrested Mr.
Fogg because it was his duty, whether Mr. Fogg were guilty or not. (34.1)

3. GENRE

Adventure; Historical Fiction; Quest

As adventures go, Jules Verne should fall directly between The Goonies and
Jumanji. While not exactly a Hollywood box-office thriller, Jules Verne
delivers his own exciting story about a man, a goal, and the entire world.

Being chased by someone who wants to put him in jail, up against

ridiculously tough obstacles, and having to choose between his head and his
heart, we'd say Phileas Fogg is every bit as good as Bilbo Baggins, and ever
so much more dapper. And, as the title suggests, it's no secret that Phileas
Fogg visits many far and exotic places on a quest to conquer global travel in
just eighty days.

Being one of the first of his genre, Jules Verne earns him some major
adventure street cred, as so many other adventure writers, novelists, and
filmmakers have idolized and copied his style. Heck, even Steven Spielberg
in Back to the Future gave him kudos by naming Doc Brown's kids Jules
and Verne.

As for the historical fiction bit, at risk of blowing your minds, this book isn't
true—and that means it's fiction. Since much of what we see as our
characters' journey is based on historical reality, though, it isn't just plain
fiction; it's historical fiction.

4. ADVENTURE AND EXCITEMENT

Just like the feelings we get when packing our bags to take an epic trip to
grandma's house, the excitement is non-stop in Around the World in Eighty
Days. As soon as Phileas Fogg and Passepartout board their first train to
London, not a second goes by without the scenery, obstacles, and conflicts
changing. Fogg is being investigated and tracked around the world for
robbery, and there's a constant "What if he doesn't make it" question lurking
in the back of our minds the whole time he's adventuring. Once you cut
through the vocab, this one's a nail-biter. Just check out this description of
the sea:
But the Red Sea is full of caprice, and often boisterous, like most long and
narrow gulfs. When the wind came from the African or Asian coast, the
Mongolia, with her long hull, rolled fearfully. (9.2)

The book is filled with high stakes moments like this. Seriously—just let the
book fall open to any random page and we think you'll see what we mean.
This isn't a journey undertaken out of fear or necessity, though; it's taken
for the fun and adventure of it, and this underlying excitement and whimsy
roots the entire narrative. So as the Mongolia "roll[s] fearfully," Fogg doesn't
so much as bat an eyelash.

ANALYSIS: WRITING STYLE

5. HIGH LITERATURE

When we say "high," we mean high vocabulary. Another word that comes to
mind is snooty. Jules Verne isn't one to use two words when fifty will do,
and he does it with all the flair of a Victorian gentleman.

Verne uses difficult and outdated words so much that we're forced to tie a
dictionary to the hand we aren't holding the book with. But the point isn't
just that he's an author writing during a specific time period (when a large
vocabulary proved how smart you were). It's the language of a gentleman—
an intelligent one at that. So we think the style works well for Phileas Fogg's
story. It's about a gentleman gambler, after all.

Still, Verne isn't against throwing in a comedic joke or a good old-fashioned

rumble in for fun. When these scenes come up, such as Passepartout
vaulting a somersault and breaking the planks of the dock in the process, or
the English and American insults thrown by Phileas and Colonel Stamp, the
gentleman vocabulary becomes sort of comedic.

During times of great stress for the characters, the wording becomes sparser
and sentences get shorter. The Sioux raid, Aouda's daring rescue, and the
Henrietta's survival of the hurricane all contain more intense, curt language.
The flowery gentleman voice becomes one that invokes more suspense than
a leisurely promenade through the city of Singapore.

In all, the writing style gives us the space to get to know our characters—
stiff, starchy, or comedic as they may be—but also gives us some
suspenseful scenes to keep us reading. Jules Verne would've been insulted
if his novels had been a snooze-fest.

MEANING OF THE STORY

In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet
Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a 20,000
wager )roughly 1.6 million today) set by his friends at the Reform Club. It is
one of Verne’s most acclaimed works.

AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS SUMMARY

Phileas Fogg never misses a beat (we're talking seconds on the clock here
rather than moves on the dance floor). He's punctual, practical, and more
than a bit obsessed with Father Time. Being a lonely bachelor in an old
mansion in London doesn't seem to bother him, though. With the peace and
quiet he is able to contemplate the more important things in life, like having
his shaving water brought to him at the exact same temperature each day,
or calculating precisely how many steps there are between his gentleman's
club and his front door. Yeah… awesome…

OCD aside, Phileas Fogg has two passions: playing whist and being right. So
when a debate between his homies at the club arises about how long it
would take to travel around the world, he dismissively states that of course
it could be accomplished in eighty days. With much scoffing and bwa-ha-ha-
ing, his friends politely tell him he's off his rocker. It's 1872 after all. But
Phileas sets down a bet and calls them out. He wagers 20,000 pounds (his
entire fortune) that he can do it. And because rich dudes in London have
nothing better to do, they all agree to the bet.

Meanwhile, a suspicious looking "gentleman" has robbed the Bank of

England. Oddly enough, he kind of sort of looks like Phileas Fogg—oh, and
he has that reserved, subdued quality which totally identifies him as a
gentleman. Hmm… now said gentleman is looking to quickly leave the
country. Detective Fix, a police officer from Scotland Yard (like the British
FBI) is now on the case to pursue and arrest Phileas Fogg for burglary, but
he has to catch him first.

Phileas and his newly hired servant, Passepartout, leave that night with
Detective Fix slyly following them. The adventure continues as Passepartout
makes constant goof-ups, they stop to help an Indian princess in distress,
and Fogg duels with an American colonel, all the while barely evading
Detective Fix.

It's around the world at Warp Tour speed as Phileas Fogg stops at nothing to
make it back home in time. He's down to use everything from ships, trains,
an elephant, or a sailing sled to get them to the right place at the right time.
His calm, logical, gentlemanly demeanor never freaks out or fusses over the
many delays, inconveniences, and dangerous modes of travel.

Fix is able to arrest Fogg at the worst possible moment, and now it's way too
late to collect on the bet. Instead of jumping off a bridge, Phileas agrees to
get hitched to his Indian Princess friend—so maybe this isn't the end of the
world as he had previously thought.

But Passepartout realizes something: Phileas Fogg, the most punctual man
in the world, did not account for the time gained by traveling eastward. So
they still have time to win a bet.

Phileas Fogg storms his club and astonishes his cronies by making the
journey around the world, just like he said. But what he's most happy about
(other than becoming filthy rich again) is finding someone to love and who
loves him back.