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
Detective Fix waits nervously with the British consul in Suez, Egypt for Fogg to arrive on the Mongolia steamer, which travels between Italy and India via the Suez Canal. Fix hopes to find Fogg, follow him to his next stop in Bombay, India, and arrest him so that he can obtain the reward money for apprehending the bank robber.
Here, Fix is established as the story’s antagonist. Whereas Fogg is motivated by honor, Fix is motivated by money and greed. This will change as the novel progresses, but the reader is inclined to trust Fogg and root for him over Fix at this point in the story.
Themes
When the Mongolia arrives, Passepartout pushes through the crowd of passengers and asks Detective Fix where to find the British consul to have his master’s passport stamped. Realizing that the passport he is holding belongs to Fogg, Fix tells Passepartout that his master must go to the consulate in person to verify his identity.
Already, it is clear that Fix will try to use Passepartout in order to get closer to Fogg, suggesting that he may not possess the same upright morals as the very man he is pursuing as a criminal.
Themes
