Around the World in Eighty Days is an early example of an adventure novel written by Jules Verne (1873). Although now best known for his science fiction, this adventure novel set at the time of its publishing was Verne’s most popular work during his lifetime (Lottman, 1995). This story glorifies the recent advances in transportation and brings the newly opened world, now made smaller and more assessable, to the attention of a popular readership. It is difficult in this time of globalization and instant ability to communicate anywhere in the world to try to perceive how adventuresome and amazing this story would be to read in 1873. However, to fully appreciate the inventiveness and spirit of this story, that effort should be made. Although certainly tinged by colonialism and prejudice, the positive spirit of adventure and amazement in the power of the inventions of the industrial age makes Around the World in Eighty Days an enjoyable, light story that can transport the reader back to the Gilded Age of the late 1800s.
The plot of this book follows the traveling adventures of Phileas Fogg and his loyal French servant, Passepartout. Spurred on by a newspaper article that reported the opening of a train line in India, and the resulting possibility of traveling around the world in eighty days, Fogg bets his gentlemen’s club acquaintances the large sum of 20,000 pounds (approximately 2 million dollars in today’s money) that he can fulfill the article’s itinerary. This bet provides the primary conflict of the book and the deadline for arrival back to London acts as a continuous ticking time bomb, moving the plot of the book relentlessly forward. The plot chronicles the travels and adventures of Fogg from London, across Europe, into India, through Asia, to the American West Coast and across it, before finally crossing the Atlantic to arrive back in London again. Almost every form of transportation available then is used including “steamers, railways, carriages, yachts, trading vessels, sledges, [and] elephants” (Verne, 1872, p. 150).
One important plot point is that while in India Fogg takes the time to save a Parsi woman, named Aouda, from being sacrificed. She accompanies Fogg and Passepartout through the remainder of the story and becomes the plot’s love interest, despite Fogg’s reputation for being the ubiquitous solitary Englishman uninterested in those around him. Interestingly, the book ends with the scheduling of Fogg’s and Aouda’s marriage, reflecting Fogg’s growth in character during the novel. Another very important point to the plot is that Fogg travels eastward. At the end of all of his travels, it appears that Fogg that has arrived in London literally five minutes too late to make the bet. But when Passepartout goes to fetch the minister for the upcoming nuptials, the servant learns that the party had gained a day through that eastward travel. Therefore there was still time for Fogg to make it to his club and collect his money, and supply a doubly happy ending to the story.
Unfortunately, not all the themes of this book are positive. In particular, there is an ugly Eurocentric superiority theme that runs through the book that is quite jarring to someone in these politically correct times. Invariably, all natives are disparaged and any non-European actions are described in the coarsest terms. For example, religious Brahmans in India are described as “stupid fanatics,” the inhabitants of Papua New Guinea are described as the “lowest scale of humanity,” and in America, Sioux Indians rob and attack the train, taking hostages. Although there was some sabotage of the train in that time period, understandable given the disruption of the European settlers on the Native Americans’ lives, there is no evidence of the Sioux acting as train robbers (Native Americans and the Transcontinental Railroad, n.d.). This aspect of the book is something that would definitely not make it past a modern editor.
However, there are many themes of the book that are much more positive and exciting. Specifically, a more positive theme of the book is the idea that in this age of enlightenment given all the fantastic advances industrial advances, anything is possible – even something so improbable as being able to travel around the entire globe in the span of eighty days. The continued ability of Fogg and his party to meet the deadlines, given enough money and tolerance for discomfort, is reflective of this theme. Certainly this attitude is one that was pervasive, particularly in England, during this time this book was published.
A final point about the book is the narrator point of view. The book is written in third person limited omniscient. Thus, the point of view shifts from Passepartout and Aouda and others but, tellingly, never to Fogg. This makes him more mysterious but also more distant. When added to his stereotypic English solitary character, it makes Fogg rather unsatisfying as a main character. This point of view technique is reflective of books of this time period and has definitely fallen out of favor in more modern writing. Thus, Jules Verne’s classic, Around the World in Eighty Days, is an adventure novel that celebrates the optimism and fascination with technological advances of the Gilded Age. It also reflects some of the less than positive characteristics of the time, including the self-superiority of citizens of the English Empire over foreigners. But the well-paced detailed plot and interesting final twist makes for an entertaining, if slightly dated, adventure story.
References
Lottman, H. (2005). Around the World in Eighty Days. Introduction. 1873. New York, NY: Signet Classics.
Native Americans and the transcontinental railroad (n.d.). American Experiences. PBS.com. Retrieved from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/tcrr-tribes/
Verne, J. (1873). Around the World in Eighty Days. 2005. New York, NY: Signet Classics.
