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
On December 17th, the real bank robber, James Strand had been arrested, and Fogg’s reputation in England went from that of a criminal to that of an “honorable gentleman” pursuing his journey around the world. Bets were laid again, and Fogg’s five friends at the Reform Club (along with the rest of London) waited in suspense without news.
The ease with which the public rejects and accepts Fogg suggests that the social status he has sought to maintain throughout the novel is ultimately empty and meaningless. The honorable actions that he, Passepartout, and others demonstrated throughout the journey are more indicative of what it truly means to be a gentleman.
Themes
On the night of Saturday, December 21st, Fogg’s friends wait in the Reform Club and are convinced that he has lost the wager. Finally, three seconds before the agreed time of 8:45 P.M., Fogg enters the saloon followed by an excited crowd and calmly states “Here I am, gentleman!”
Since the reader was under the impression that Fogg lost the wager up until this point in the novel, they are left wondering how Fogg could have possibly cheated time to make this possible. Verne uses this coup de théâtre technique in order to build suspense for the final chapter and draw the nature of man’s relationship with time into question.
Themes
