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Satire
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—English Soil and Beyond:
Around the World in Eighty Days is set in the mid-19th century in many places around the world, including England, France, Egypt, India, China, Japan, and the United States. But despite first appearances, the entire world does not lie open at Fogg's feet. He is able to go around the world in 80 days in part because there is a route that is heavily comprised of English colonial territory. He passes through areas of India and China that are occupied by England. He goes through the United States, which is English-speaking and used to be an English colony. The part of Japan he goes to also has diplomatic ties with England, although Japan itself was an imperial nation as well. Britain and other European powers were heavily involved in Egypt in the 19th century and long into the 20th century as well. All these places are very different from one another, but it is relatively easy for an Fogg to travel through all of them because he is a British citizen.
Fix is always conscious of Fogg's passage through English or non-English territory. For example, in Chapter 6, Fix believes he has Fogg fairly well-cornered:
“Good,” said Fix. “If the robber is on board, he will no doubt get off at Suez, so as to reach the Dutch or French colonies in Asia by some other route. He ought to know that he would not be safe an hour in India, which is English soil.”
On "English soil," or soil that the English have colonized, Fix has jurisdiction to arrest Fogg. It is difficult but not impossible for Fogg to escape English jurisdiction, which speaks to the idea (brought up by one of Fogg's betting friends) that the world has become "too small" for a bank robber to escape the law. It's not just technology (particularly the railroad and steam ships) that have made the world smaller. It is also England's immense imperial reach. The arm of the law has gotten longer as the world has gotten "smaller." Still, there are places where Fix does not have jurisdiction, just as there are places where railroads haven't been built yet. The novel reveals its setting not to be a tiny world fully dominated by England, but rather a changing world that will never be quite as simple and orderly as Fogg first thinks it is.
Related Themes:
