4.3 Around the World in Eighty Days
Jules Gabriel Verne:
He was a 19th century French novelist, poet, and playwright. Verne wrote widely popular series of adventure novels including Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).Verne is generally considered a major literary author in France and most of Europe, Verne has been the second most- translated author in the world.
Characters:
Major Characters:
1) Phileas Fogg –
The hero and chief protagonist in the novel. He is challenged by a fellow gambler to go around the world in eighty days and he takes up the challenge. His rationality, calmness, generosity and self-control appeal to the readers.
2) Passepartout –
He is the employee of Phileas Fogg. He is an honest as well as a comic French man. He is loyal to his master and yet gets into situations that makes difficult his master’s plans to travel around the world. Passepartout attracts the reader with his loyalty, warmth and his sense of humour.
3) Detective Fix –
He is the detective. He comes to the wrong conclusion that Fogg is the bank robber and is merely pretending to go around the world when his real purpose is to cheat the law. He tries to capture Fogg.
4) Aouda –
Aouda is a Parsee Indian princess who is orphaned at an early age. She has to marry an old King and when he dies, she has been asked to commit the sacrifice of her life as per the Hindu Tradition of that time. She is rescued by Fogg’s group. She goes back with them to England, as she is unable to find her relative in Hong Kong.
Minor Characters
1) Sir Francis Cromarty:
He is the Brigadier General. He accompanies Fogg from Bombay to Calcutta.
2) John Bunsby:
He is the master of the boat Tankadere, on which Fogg, Fix and Aouda travel. John is a skilled sailor who takes the trio from Hong Kong to Shanghai so that Fogg is able to board the San Francisco boat.
3) The Reform Club Members:
The engineer Andrew Stuart, the bankers John Sullinan & Samuel Fallentin, the brewer Thomas Flanagan and Gauthier Ralph and one of the governors Bank of England are Phileas Fogg’s partners at the Reform club.
4) The Parsee Guide:
A bright looking young Parsee, offers to be the guide on the elephant which will take the travellers to Allahabad. He is a brave and intelligent man and does his job well in conveying the passengers swiftly to Allahabad.
5) Colonel Stamp Proctor:
At San Francisco Fogg, Fix and Aouda find themselves in Montgomery Street, which is crowded, by the members of two opposing political parties. The opposing members become violent and Fogg’s group is caught in between. A huge fellow with a red goatee, a ruddy complexion and broad shoulders, raises his fist over Mr. Fogg. Fogg is very angry and later these two men even resort to duelling.
6) Elder William Hitch:
A priest boards the train from San Francisco to New York at Elko Station. He is a Mormon missionary, who gives a lecture on Mormonism in Car no. 117 of the train.
7) Mudge:
An American at Fort Kearney station, offers to transport Fogg and group on a sledge to Omaha station. This skipper of a land craft manages to transfer the group safely to Omaha station in a few hours.
Activities:-
1) Plot:
Arrange the incidents in correct sequence as per their occurrence in the extract.
a) Aouda accepted Fogg's proposal of marriage.
b) When set free, the first thing that Fogg did was he knocked Fix down.
c) As a part of duty, Fix arrested Fogg.
d) At the fifty-seventh second, Fogg entered the Reform Club Saloon.
Answer:
Correct sequence of the incidents:
c) As a part of duty, Fix arrested Fogg.
b) When set free, the first thing that Fogg did was he knocked Fix down.
d) At the fifty-seventh second, Fogg entered the Reform Club Saloon.
a) Aouda accepted Fogg's proposal of marriage.
2) Plot:
Arrange the incidents in correct sequence as per their occurrence in the extract.
(a) Fogg knocked detective Fix down.
(b) Passepartout had extinguished the gas burner, which had been burning for eighty days.
(c) Fogg ordered a special train to go to London.
(d) Detective Fix had arrested Fogg
Answer:
Correct sequence of the incidents:
(d) Detective Fix had arrested Fogg
(a) Fogg knocked detective Fix down.
(c) Fogg ordered a special train to go to London.
(b) Passepartout had extinguished the gas burner, which had been burning for eighty days.
3) Plot:
(i) Choose an appropriate reason from the following for Phileas Fogg starting his journey around the world.
(a) Fellow members bet Fogg
(b) Fogg bets his fellow members
(c) Fogg wants to marry Aouda
(d) Fogg committed robbery
(ii) There is a sudden twist in the climax of the novel. Give the line that brings this twist.
Answer:
(i) Appropriate reason for Phileas Fogg starting his journey around the world.
(a) Fellow members bet Fogg
(ii) Line showing a sudden twist in the climax of the novel:
At the fifty-seventh second the door of the saloon opened; and the pendulum had not beat the sixtieth second when Phileas Fogg appeared, followed by an excited crowd who had forced their way through the club doors, and in his calm voice, said, “Here I am, gentlemen!”
