Previous
Similes
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Human Error:
In Chapter 1, the narration describes Fogg's reason for firing the servant Passepartout replaces. This moment is one of the first instances where the novel satirizes the industrialized world's expectation that human workers can and should behave like machines:
On this very 2nd of October he had dismissed James Forster, because that luckless youth had brought him shaving-water at eighty-four degrees Fahrenheit instead of eighty-six; and he was awaiting his successor, who was due at the house between eleven and half-past.
Fogg's reason for firing Forster is ludicrous, but it plays on real fears people had in the 19th century. With industrialization came mass production, intensified assembly lines, and the idea that human beings were only valuable if they could perform very specific jobs with machine-like precision. People feared—rightfully so, in many cases—that human workers would come to be seen as replaceable. First they would be replaced by one another, and later they would be replaced by machines like the cotton gin.
Forster is fired for not behaving more like a machine. But the novel also demonstrates that employers want human workers to act like machines for silly reasons. Machine-like workers aren't better, they are simply fashionable. It seems possible that the water may have cooled by as much as two degrees during the time it took Fogg to measure the temperature. A machine may be as exact as Fogg wants, but even that might be a stretch. Forster is clearly a detail-oriented servant if he gets the shaving water so close to Fogg's desired temperature, and it seems unlikely that Fogg is going to find anyone who can do a better job every single time. Furthermore, it seems unlikely that Fogg would be able to tell the difference between 84° shaving water and 86° shaving water were he not using a thermometer to check. What would have been perfectly fine to his human senses is a problem only once he involves technology. This early moment in the novel seems to suggest that Fogg's unrealistic expectation of Forster actually makes him more unhappy than he would be if he were to simply accept that his servant is human.
This early moment sets the tone for the novel's sustained satire on industrial society. A moment of situational irony at the end of the novel, in Chapter 37, punctuates the satire:
Phileas Fogg had, without suspecting it, gained one day on his journey, and this merely because he had travelled constantly eastward; he would, on the contrary, have lost a day, had he gone in the opposite direction, that is, westward.
Fogg's entire goal in the novel is to prove that he can operate like a machine, and that the entire world operates like a machine. But it is only due to random chance and human error that he succeeds at all. The irony of this resolution drives home the idea that pursuing machine-like precision is a fool's errand for humanity. Fogg barely makes a profit from his journey. Although he technically proves that he can travel around the world in 80 days, he also proves that humanity will always be fallible.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—A Regular Machine:
Passepartout first agrees to work as Fogg's servant under the impression that the job will allow him to settle down in London and embrace a predictable routine. In Chapter 2, Passepartout uses a metaphor to describe Fogg's predictability as an employer:
“This is just what I wanted! Ah, we shall get on together, Mr. Fogg and I! What a domestic and regular gentleman! A real machine; well, I don’t mind serving a machine.”
Of course, Fogg is a human, not a machine. But Passepartout imagines him as a "real machine" because he is so "regular." That is, he has an extremely precise routine that would almost be impossible for any human to maintain. Chapter 1 outlines this routine:
He breakfasted and dined at the club, at hours mathematically fixed, in the same room, at the same table, never taking his meals with other members, much less bringing a guest with him; and went home at exactly midnight, only to retire at once to bed.
In fact, Fogg does everything with such precision that he fired his last servant for bringing him shaving water two degrees colder than usual. Most people would find these working conditions too demanding. Industrialization was still fairly new when Verne published this novel in the 1870s. At the time, labor laws and labor unions were far less developed than they are in the 21st century. People had even greater fears then than they do now about the division of labor, the replacement of human workers with machines, and the expectation that human workers structure their lives around work. The idea that Fogg is a machine and expects his employees to behave as predictably as machines makes him, on the one hand, an employer who is far too committed to industrialization and technology to treat his employees as full humans who occasionally err and require grace.
On the other hand, Passepartout is excited to work for Fogg for the same reason people may be excited to work for a corporation in the 21st century: working for Fogg promises a stable routine to a man who, true to his name, has "passed through everywhere" and is ready for a more long-term position in one place. There is situational irony in Passepartout's metaphor for Fogg because the premise of the novel is that Fogg is about to break all Passepartout's predictions. He behaves entirely "irregularly" by leaving the "domestic" behind, and Passepartout must continue traveling everywhere in order to keep his new job.
But there is another layer of situational irony: in a way, Passepartout is right that Fogg will be a "domestic and regular gentleman" to work for. At least for a while, Fogg follows all the same routines abroad as at home. Fogg is traveling not for the adventure, but rather to prove his own mechanical ability to predict and manage time. He fails in many instances to experience the cultures of the new places he is passing through, so he may as well be at home. He expects Passepartout to fulfill all the same duties regardless of where they are. It is ironic that Passepartout gets both exactly what he wants (working for a "real machine") and exactly what he doesn't want (trailing his employer around the world without regard for the lifestyle he wants outside of work). This irony illuminates a truth that many people were grappling with in the newly industrialized landscape: work that provides stability often comes with strings attached.
Related Themes:
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—A Regular Machine:
Passepartout first agrees to work as Fogg's servant under the impression that the job will allow him to settle down in London and embrace a predictable routine. In Chapter 2, Passepartout uses a metaphor to describe Fogg's predictability as an employer:
“This is just what I wanted! Ah, we shall get on together, Mr. Fogg and I! What a domestic and regular gentleman! A real machine; well, I don’t mind serving a machine.”
Of course, Fogg is a human, not a machine. But Passepartout imagines him as a "real machine" because he is so "regular." That is, he has an extremely precise routine that would almost be impossible for any human to maintain. Chapter 1 outlines this routine:
He breakfasted and dined at the club, at hours mathematically fixed, in the same room, at the same table, never taking his meals with other members, much less bringing a guest with him; and went home at exactly midnight, only to retire at once to bed.
In fact, Fogg does everything with such precision that he fired his last servant for bringing him shaving water two degrees colder than usual. Most people would find these working conditions too demanding. Industrialization was still fairly new when Verne published this novel in the 1870s. At the time, labor laws and labor unions were far less developed than they are in the 21st century. People had even greater fears then than they do now about the division of labor, the replacement of human workers with machines, and the expectation that human workers structure their lives around work. The idea that Fogg is a machine and expects his employees to behave as predictably as machines makes him, on the one hand, an employer who is far too committed to industrialization and technology to treat his employees as full humans who occasionally err and require grace.
On the other hand, Passepartout is excited to work for Fogg for the same reason people may be excited to work for a corporation in the 21st century: working for Fogg promises a stable routine to a man who, true to his name, has "passed through everywhere" and is ready for a more long-term position in one place. There is situational irony in Passepartout's metaphor for Fogg because the premise of the novel is that Fogg is about to break all Passepartout's predictions. He behaves entirely "irregularly" by leaving the "domestic" behind, and Passepartout must continue traveling everywhere in order to keep his new job.
But there is another layer of situational irony: in a way, Passepartout is right that Fogg will be a "domestic and regular gentleman" to work for. At least for a while, Fogg follows all the same routines abroad as at home. Fogg is traveling not for the adventure, but rather to prove his own mechanical ability to predict and manage time. He fails in many instances to experience the cultures of the new places he is passing through, so he may as well be at home. He expects Passepartout to fulfill all the same duties regardless of where they are. It is ironic that Passepartout gets both exactly what he wants (working for a "real machine") and exactly what he doesn't want (trailing his employer around the world without regard for the lifestyle he wants outside of work). This irony illuminates a truth that many people were grappling with in the newly industrialized landscape: work that provides stability often comes with strings attached.
Related Themes:
Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—Elephants and Sledges:
There is a moment of situational irony in Chapter 11, when Fogg and his companions must charter an elephant to cross part of India:
Provisions were purchased at Kholby, and while Sir Francis and Mr. Fogg took the howdahs on either side, Passepartout got astride the saddle-cloth between them. The Parsee perched himself on the elephant’s neck, and at nine o’clock they set out from the village, the animal marching off through the dense forest of palms by the shortest cut.
Fogg's wager is built on the idea that modern technology and industrialization have made the world much faster to circumnavigate than ever before. When he discovers that part of India has not yet been penetrated by train tracks, one of the industrial technologies that is most important to his hypothesis, Fogg confidently finds another mode of transit. Having gained two days earlier in the journey, he is not worried about this setback. Still, it is ironic that Fogg relies on an elephant to transport him through this part of India. Native to India, elephants are a resource that would have been available to travelers long before the railroads existed. Moreover, the elephant is arguably more effective than Western technology at crossing the terrain. Whereas the railroad company still has to clear the way and build tracks through this region, the elephant can cut right through the "dense forest of palms." Even if the elephant helps Fogg stick to his itinerary, his reliance on this traditional mode of transport challenges the idea that railroads and steamships are what allow a quick journey around the world.
The limitation of modern technology comes up again later in the journey, in Chapter 31. When snow prevents the trains from moving along the tracks in the American Midwest, Fogg and company take a sledge instead:
During the winter, when the trains are blocked up by the snow, these sledges make extremely rapid journeys across the frozen plains from one station to another. Provided with more sail than a cutter, and with the wind behind them, they slip over the surface of the prairies with a speed equal if not superior to that of the express trains.
This moment confirms that it is not only India where modern technology isn't as reliable as traditional transportation. These repeated instances of traditional, regional knowledge prevailing over modern, imperial knowledge contributes to the novel's satire of industrialization and imperialism. Fogg manages to travel around the world in 80 days, but he would not have succeeded if he had insisted on using only the most "cutting-edge" industrial technologies that Europe is exporting all over the world.
Related Themes:
Chapter 31
Explanation and Analysis—Elephants and Sledges:
There is a moment of situational irony in Chapter 11, when Fogg and his companions must charter an elephant to cross part of India:
Provisions were purchased at Kholby, and while Sir Francis and Mr. Fogg took the howdahs on either side, Passepartout got astride the saddle-cloth between them. The Parsee perched himself on the elephant’s neck, and at nine o’clock they set out from the village, the animal marching off through the dense forest of palms by the shortest cut.
Fogg's wager is built on the idea that modern technology and industrialization have made the world much faster to circumnavigate than ever before. When he discovers that part of India has not yet been penetrated by train tracks, one of the industrial technologies that is most important to his hypothesis, Fogg confidently finds another mode of transit. Having gained two days earlier in the journey, he is not worried about this setback. Still, it is ironic that Fogg relies on an elephant to transport him through this part of India. Native to India, elephants are a resource that would have been available to travelers long before the railroads existed. Moreover, the elephant is arguably more effective than Western technology at crossing the terrain. Whereas the railroad company still has to clear the way and build tracks through this region, the elephant can cut right through the "dense forest of palms." Even if the elephant helps Fogg stick to his itinerary, his reliance on this traditional mode of transport challenges the idea that railroads and steamships are what allow a quick journey around the world.
The limitation of modern technology comes up again later in the journey, in Chapter 31. When snow prevents the trains from moving along the tracks in the American Midwest, Fogg and company take a sledge instead:
During the winter, when the trains are blocked up by the snow, these sledges make extremely rapid journeys across the frozen plains from one station to another. Provided with more sail than a cutter, and with the wind behind them, they slip over the surface of the prairies with a speed equal if not superior to that of the express trains.
This moment confirms that it is not only India where modern technology isn't as reliable as traditional transportation. These repeated instances of traditional, regional knowledge prevailing over modern, imperial knowledge contributes to the novel's satire of industrialization and imperialism. Fogg manages to travel around the world in 80 days, but he would not have succeeded if he had insisted on using only the most "cutting-edge" industrial technologies that Europe is exporting all over the world.
Related Themes:
Chapter 37
Explanation and Analysis—Human Error:
In Chapter 1, the narration describes Fogg's reason for firing the servant Passepartout replaces. This moment is one of the first instances where the novel satirizes the industrialized world's expectation that human workers can and should behave like machines:
On this very 2nd of October he had dismissed James Forster, because that luckless youth had brought him shaving-water at eighty-four degrees Fahrenheit instead of eighty-six; and he was awaiting his successor, who was due at the house between eleven and half-past.
Fogg's reason for firing Forster is ludicrous, but it plays on real fears people had in the 19th century. With industrialization came mass production, intensified assembly lines, and the idea that human beings were only valuable if they could perform very specific jobs with machine-like precision. People feared—rightfully so, in many cases—that human workers would come to be seen as replaceable. First they would be replaced by one another, and later they would be replaced by machines like the cotton gin.
Forster is fired for not behaving more like a machine. But the novel also demonstrates that employers want human workers to act like machines for silly reasons. Machine-like workers aren't better, they are simply fashionable. It seems possible that the water may have cooled by as much as two degrees during the time it took Fogg to measure the temperature. A machine may be as exact as Fogg wants, but even that might be a stretch. Forster is clearly a detail-oriented servant if he gets the shaving water so close to Fogg's desired temperature, and it seems unlikely that Fogg is going to find anyone who can do a better job every single time. Furthermore, it seems unlikely that Fogg would be able to tell the difference between 84° shaving water and 86° shaving water were he not using a thermometer to check. What would have been perfectly fine to his human senses is a problem only once he involves technology. This early moment in the novel seems to suggest that Fogg's unrealistic expectation of Forster actually makes him more unhappy than he would be if he were to simply accept that his servant is human.
This early moment sets the tone for the novel's sustained satire on industrial society. A moment of situational irony at the end of the novel, in Chapter 37, punctuates the satire:
Phileas Fogg had, without suspecting it, gained one day on his journey, and this merely because he had travelled constantly eastward; he would, on the contrary, have lost a day, had he gone in the opposite direction, that is, westward.
Fogg's entire goal in the novel is to prove that he can operate like a machine, and that the entire world operates like a machine. But it is only due to random chance and human error that he succeeds at all. The irony of this resolution drives home the idea that pursuing machine-like precision is a fool's errand for humanity. Fogg barely makes a profit from his journey. Although he technically proves that he can travel around the world in 80 days, he also proves that humanity will always be fallible.
Related Themes:
