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The title of the novel, Around the World in Eighty Days, is pretty much self explanatory. An Englishman, Phileas Fogg, places a wager that he can circumnavigate the world in 80 days. The events that occur throughout the novel describe his journey around the world. Phileas Fogg, the protagonist, was a lonesome person who lived with his paid servant. Mr.Fogg was thought to be rich although no one knew where his riches came from. Jean Passepartout, Fogg’s paid servant. A strange fellow who had held many different jobs, such as fireman and gymnast. Detective Fix, an English detective who followed Fogg around the world because he suspected that Mr. Fogg was a bank robber. Aouda, a Parsee woman who was saved from a Setee by Fogg and Passepartout.
The antagonist of the novel was time, Mr. Fogg was pressured to arrive back in London within 80 days or otherwise lose his fortune. My favorite character in the novel is Passepartout. Passepartout was an innocent Frenchman that just after being hired as Mr. Fogg’s servant was told to pack for a trip around the world. Throughout the entire novel the reader is informed of all the peculiar habits of Fogg that Passepartout had to support. My least favorite character is Fix the detective. He followed Fogg around the globe, he missed arresting him in India and Hong Kong through incompetence, and as soon as they arrived back in London, he did arrest Fogg but erroneously. The main conflict of the novel was time. Time caused a lot of pressure on Fogg; he had to get back to London on time or he would lose the money he wagered. Mr.Fogg and Passepartout were confronted many times with the problem of lost time; when time was lost extra effort and work had to be put in so as to make up for the lost time. The incident that made me happy was when the real bank thief was caught and Fogg was let out of jail with exactly enough time left to arrive in London on time.
While Fogg and Passepartout were in the India jungle, they saw a woman, Aouda, who was going to be burned alive as a sacrifice. Fogg decided to attempt to save her. The actions taken by Phileas Fogg would probably not happen in society today due to lack of compassion for other human beings. In such an instance, society would watch this inhumane behavior take place. The moral the author tried to convey is that with human effort and willpower, enormous obstacle can be overcome. This message was expressed in the way in which Fogg pushed himself to the limit just to succeed. Since the novel was about a trip around the world there was no main setting established. The importance of a constantly changing setting is to show the contrast between one country and another. The importance of the setting to the plot is that while reading a novel, such as this, with a constantly different setting it helps the reader realize the customization that the protagonist must go through adjusting from country to country.