Round the World
in Eighty Days is an travel adventure novel written by French writer Julis Verne.
Published in 1873, this creation is one of the most acclaimed work of Mr.
Verne.
I had wanted to
read this novel since a long period of time. But it is just recent that I
finished reading this book and would like to give a brief review of it.
Background of
the Novel
Phileas Fogg is
a well-to-do Londoner, who lives a lonely life. Nothing is known about him
beside a fact that he is a member of prestigious Reform Club. Mr. Fogg is less
communicative, with restricted social contacts, making him a more of enigmatic
character. Though Mr Fogg is rich, of which source is not known to anyone, he
is not lavish, nor a miser and prefers to use his resources for noble and
benevolent purposes. In the story, Fogg gets involved in a discussion
with his friends from the Reform Club based on a article in The Telegraph which
mentions that the circumnavigation across the world is possible in 80 days
because of extended Railway tracks in Indian subcontinent. Fogg believes that
the journey was possible within the stipulated time frame which his friends
deny. Thus more for prestige than for rewards, Fogg enters into a £20,000 wager with his
friends in Reform Club to circumnavigate the world in 80 days. The day of wager
was October 2, 1872 and Fogg was supposed to be back by December 21, 1872, 8:45
pm.
Following characters, circumstances make the novel really interesting that you
just want to finish it within one sitting.
Mr. Fogg a man of Enigmatic Personage
Mr, Fogg is a man of extreme mathematical precision, such
that he dismissed his servant, James Forster, for serving him water at
84 °F rather that 86 °F. Then after he appoints a Frenchmen named Jean
Passepartout, who accompanies him to the journey across the world. His
mathematical precision becomes instrumental for him to complete his journey in
time. Throughout the journey his personality traits like: calmness, cleverness,
benevolences, etc makes him a man of great mystery, making the readers believe
that he is the accused robber.
The itinerary of the journey is as follows:
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Source: Wikipedia |
Fix: The
Detective
They reach Suez
canal in time from where they embark journey to Bombay. While leaving Egypt,
they are marked by a detective from England, name Fix, who mistakes Fogg for a
bank robber in England who was in large after robbery of £50,000, for the latter had same
description like that of the bank robber. Because of failure to attain warrant,
Fix keeps following Fogg and boards the same streamer to Bombay and from Bombay
to Calcutta and infact the whole world, to realize at the end that Fogg was not
a bank robber.
Aouda: A young
Indian Women
The only ladies
described in the novel, Fogg and Passepartout, along with their guide meet her
while travelling a section of Bombay to Calcutta in an elephant. During the
journey, they come across a procession whereby a Aouda, who is a sutte(sati- a
widow), is to be sacrificed by burning in a pyre of wood along with her
husband. Passepartout wit-fully pretends to be the dead husband and scaring off
the priests, rescues her away. She now becomes the added member of the tour.
Circumstances
makes Aouda to remain in the Journey
Aouda was
supposed to be left to her affluent relative in Hongkong. But Fogg learns that
her relative have already left Hongkong and currently resides in Holland. As
such Fogg takes Aouda along with him to London.
Fix the
desperate detective creates obstruction
Failing to get
warrant, Mr. Fix tries to hold Fogg in Hongkong (last British soil in the
journey). To do so, he gets Passepartout drunk in an opium den. By this Fix
becomes partly successful in stopping Passepartout to not to tell his master
about the premature departure of the ship.
Undeterred Fogg
Throughout the
journey Fogg remains undeterred and only thinks of best possible way to win the
wager. The wager was a matter of pride to him and he was very careful of not
making any mistakes along the journey. On way from Suez to Bombay, he paid good
reward to streamer engineer to advance their journey by two days. In India he
purchased an Elephant at a heavy sum of money and in the end gifted it to his
guide who remained faithful in performing his job with utmost sincerity.
In Hongkong, having missed the journey, Fogg hires a boat to escort him
and Aouda to Sanghai for a hefty sum of money. The plan was to catch a streamer
to Yokohama from Sanghai Similarly to travel from Hudson, US to Liverpool-UK in
time he purchases a whole ship for a hefty sum of $60,000 and similar stories
continues. Upon reaching to London, he would put himself in a position whereby
he would already have had spent as equal to the amount of wager.
Passepartout: A
faithful servant
Passepartout
remains very obedient to this master Mr, Fogg. He risks his life to rescue
Aouda from a sacred procession, amidst a risky situation. In another
circumstances, though Fix tells him that his master is a bank robber,
Passepartout doesn't believe on him. He feels very sorry for his master when he
knows that because of him his master missed the ship in Hongkong.
Fogg gets
arrested, gets clean chit but losses the Wager
It was not
necessary for Fogg to delay his journey by saving life of a unknown Indian
women (Aouda). But he risks his wager and his life to save her. Similarly when
Passepartout was captured by Indian in America, he takes help of American
soldiers to rescue him alive. What can be learnt of Fogg is that he was morally
correct and kind person. Upon arrival to Ireland, Fix arrests Fogg in
charge of Bank robbery, later to realize that the original bank robber had
already been caught. Disappointed Fogg reaches London just five minutes late
thinking he lost the bet.
Passepartout
makes Fogg win the lost Wager
Fogg was
disappointed as he thought that he had lost the wager and apologized Aouda for
having brought her to London in a situation where circumstances had made him
poor. Then Aouda confesses her love to Fogg and asks him to marry her. Fogg ask
Passepartout to take appointment from Minister. While Passepartout goes to take
appointment the next day, he realizes that the date was December 21 and not
December 22. The fact was that they gained one day travelling eastward.
Passepartout hurries to inform Fogg who comes in the last moment to claim that
he has won the wager.
The story ends
whereby Fogg wins the wager and gains £20, 0000. But to the end of his journey he spend
about £19,000
on the way. He divided the remaining amount between Passepartout and detective
Fix.
Though Fogg didn't really earn any amount from the wager,
he was happy and content that he held his pride high. Most importantly the
biggest gain to him from the journey was to get beautiful Aouda as his wife.
Conclusion
Overall these characters and plots make the whole novel very interesting and
worth reading. As the story flows, writer also describes the plot in a
wonderful way. The writer has really done a good research and made the whole
sequence of the story very lively and moving. At times I felt that I was
also travelling with Mr. Fogg across the globe. This book would be a nice read
and would like to rate it 8/10. To get book for free flip through "free
books section" of Kindle books download it. If you are lazy enough
to read the book, there is a movie based on same
story.