Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Around the World in Eighty Days, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Modernity, Time, and Control
Imperialism
Chance, Adventure, and Human Connection
Honor, Reputation, and Duty
Summary
Analysis
As he, Fogg, and Aouda ride in a carriage to the International Hotel in San Francisco, Passepartout curiously observes the Anglo-Saxon architecture and the diverse crowd of the “great commercial emporium” that has arisen out of a once-wild Western city. They run into Detective Fix at the hotel, and Fogg accepts his request to accompany them on their impending journey back to Europe.
Though Verne has been critical of British imperialism elsewhere in the novel, here he holds a favorable view of manifest destiny and the United States’ takeover of the West. The novel continues to treat imperialism as a nuanced issue that has both positive and negative consequences.
Themes
As Fogg, Passepartout, Aouda, and Fix walk around San Francisco, they happen upon a rowdy political rally where two candidates for justice of the peace, Mr. Mandiboy and Mr. Camerfield, are dueling with revolvers. They are swept up by the crowd, and Fix steps in to shield Fogg when a man named Colonel Stamp Proctor attempts to hit him with his cane. They escape the mob, and Fogg vows to return to America to find Colonel Proctor since he considers his casual violence an attack on his honor.
Fogg’s reaction to Colonel Proctor demonstrates just how important honor is for his character. Just as Fogg is circling the globe merely to maintain his reputation among his friends, he is also willing to travel thousands of miles back to the United States just to defend his honor against a random detractor.
Themes
