Detective Fix Character Analysis

The antagonist of the novel. Detective Fix is an inspector from the Scotland Yard who suspects Phileas Fogg of robbing the Bank of England. Fix believes that Fogg’s wager of traveling around the world in eighty days is a cover-up for his escape from London, and decides to follow him and his servant, Jean Passepartout, on their adventure. He is continually waiting on an arrest warrant to arrive in each country they pass through, since he can only legally arrest Fogg on British territory (England, India, Hong Kong, or Yokohama). Fix manipulates Passepartout by pretending to be his friend in an attempt to gain information about Fogg and delay their travels, and eventually confesses his true identity and motivations to him. Passepartout refuses to believe that Fogg is the robber but agrees to ally himself with Fix since they both have the same goal of helping Fogg reach England as quickly as possible. As Fix gets to know Fogg better throughout the journey, he begins to feel conflicted about arresting him since he observes that his suspect is a generous, courageous, and honorable man. Even when the offer of reward money for catching the bank robber has expired, he is still motivated by a sense of duty to uphold the law and resolves to arrest Fogg regardless of if he is guilty or not. Fix is finally able to place him under arrest when they reach Liverpool, England on the last day of the wager, but is apologetic to Fogg when he learns that the real bank robber was apprehended three days before.