Around the World in Eighty Days study guide

Fogg

Fogg is a wealthy, reserved Englishman whose strict routines give way to a wager on circling the globe in eighty days. His decision to risk the journey for Passepartout shows care beyond punctuality, while his eventual victory includes marriage to Aouda.

Key chapters: 1, 3, 30, 37

Passepartout

Passepartout seeks quiet employment as a valet in Fogg's orderly household, but his actions repeatedly require courage. He rescues Aouda, risks himself to stop a runaway train, and discovers the calendar error that saves the wager.

Key chapters: 2, 13, 29, 37

Fix

He becomes an uneasy ally during the Pacific crossing, but his eventual admission of error shows how damaging certainty can be.

Key chapters: 5, 24, 34

Aouda

Aouda is an educated Parsee orphan whom Passepartout rescues from a threatened sacrifice, and her attachment deepens during the journey. She proposes to Fogg when he faces financial ruin, and they marry after her proposal indirectly helps save his wager.

Key chapters: 13, 24, 35, 37

Sir Francis Cromarty

Sir Francis Cromarty is a brigadier-general traveling to Benares who questions Fogg's judgment but accepts a ride on Kiouni. His warning that Aouda remains unsafe in India shows that her rescue does not remove every danger.

Key chapters: 11, 14

Andrew Stuart

Andrew Stuart is an engineer and whist partner whose challenge turns a disputed travel estimate into Fogg's test. His later insistence that schedules and a passenger list prove defeat shows how confidently evidence can be read.

Key chapters: 3, 36

John Sullivan

John Sullivan is a banker who reads the newspaper itinerary and warns that one delay could cost Fogg his stake. As a wager opponent counting down the time, he keeps attention on the narrow margin between success and failure.

Key chapters: 3, 36

Time and risk

Fogg's wager turns time into a measurable risk, and the missed steamer at New York shows how a connection can threaten the whole undertaking. The calendar discovery suggests that even a journey governed by deadlines depends on correctly understanding what those deadlines mean.

Where it shows: chapters 3, 31, 37

Loyalty in action

Passepartout's refusal to betray Fogg shows loyalty as a choice made under pressure rather than simple obedience. Fogg's decision to risk the journey for Passepartout makes that loyalty reciprocal and suggests that a person's safety matters more than the wager.

Where it shows: chapters 19, 30

Appearance and suspicion

Fix's identification of Fogg as a robber and Passepartout's belief that Fix is a club spy show suspicion working in different directions. Fix's eventual admission of error suggests that a convincing explanation can remain false even when someone acts on it with confidence.

Where it shows: chapters 5, 17, 34

Practical generosity

Fogg's gift to the guide and his payment of bail show generosity through concrete decisions involving money and protection. Aouda's proposal when he faces financial ruin suggests another kind of value, a shared future that does not depend on keeping a fortune.

Where it shows: chapters 14, 15, 35

Order and adaptation

The quiet household that pleases Passepartout suggests an ideal of life made predictable through order and routine. The unfinished railway and the need for a pilot boat show that keeping a larger plan alive requires changing the means of carrying it out.

Where it shows: chapters 2, 11, 20

Passport

Fogg's accepted passport works as a sign of official recognition without ending Fix's suspicion. Fix's dismissal of passports suggests a gap between documents and the judgments people make about their holders.

Chapter 7

Banknotes

Banknotes work as a means of turning wealth into movement, securing bail and helping keep a vessel moving. These payments suggest that Fogg treats money as something to use when the journey demands action.

Chapters 15, 33

Whist cards

Whist cards link the wager's social beginnings with an attempt to distract Fogg during danger. They work as an image of orderly play beside risks that cannot remain confined to a game.

Chapters 3, 28

Phileas Fogg, Chapter 3. Fogg speaks during the discussion that leads to his wager. His denial of the unforeseen shows confidence in calculation and raises the question of how certainty will meet risk.

Phileas Fogg, Chapter 12. His offer of spare time shows compassion expressed through the same precise calculations that govern his journey.

Passepartout, Chapter 19. Passepartout answers Fix's test of his loyalty by appealing to Fogg's generosity and goodness.

Phileas Fogg, Chapter 30. Fogg speaks as he commits himself to rescuing the missing Passepartout.

Aouda, Chapter 35. Aouda speaks when Fogg faces financial ruin.