Around the World in Eighty Days is a novel written by French writer Jules Gabriel Verne. The protagonist of the story, Mr. Fogg, once had an argument with a friend in a club. He bet 20000 pounds, half of his family property, that he could circle the earth in 80 days. In 1872, transportation was so backward and too many people think this trip was doomed to be a bad one. The British National Bank had been stolen a large sum of money before Mr. Fogg started the trip. The detective of Scotland Fix found that the characteristics of Fogg were exactly the same as those of the police officers who had investigated the thief. So, Fix set up obstacles on Fogg’s journey to try to arrest him. However, Fogg was not trapped by setbacks, and experienced many extraordinary experiences along the way, such as: Taking the elephant as a walking tool; Rowing the sled to get rid of the chase of wolves; Risking their lives to save the captives robbed by the Indians; After several twists and turns, he crossed the North American continent. With victory in sight, Fix arrested Fogg in the name of “the Queen’s government”. The drama is that the real thief was arrested three days ago, and Fogg was released. After all kinds of difficulties, Fogg finally returned to London, but he was five minutes late. Fogg assumed he was defeat, but unexpectedly found that he won because he circled the earth from west to East, which would save one day. Fogg won the bet.
Based on the whereabouts of the protagonist Fogg, the writer Verne connects the topography, climate and architectural features of Europe, South Asia, East Asia and North America. Like the book of Geosciences, Verne combines the local conditions and customs with the ups and downs of the story, and integrates the strange religious customs and local power struggles in different parts of the world, making the whole story structure colorful. There is an India scene in the novel. The protagonist Fogg doesn’t know the culture that slippers are not allowed to enter the temple, which leads to the opportunity for fix to encourage the evil monk to sue Fogg in Calcutta. The novel skillfully narrates the cultural differences. Verne describes Fogg’s escape from the temple in a humorous way, which avoids the readers from mistaking him as discriminating against culture. The novel portrays Mr. Fogg as strong and brave, silent, upright and just. He dares to insist on the truth. Although almost everyone thinks that it is impossible for him to circle the earth in 80 days, he believes in his accurate calculation and dares to prove it. This is such a valuable character.
