Around the World in Eighty Days · Chapter
In which a conversation takes place which seems likely to cost Phileas Fogg dear explained
Phileas Fogg visits the Reform Club, where he learns of a bank robbery.
What happens
Phileas Fogg visits the Reform Club, where he learns of a bank robbery. During a game of whist, he argues that the world has grown smaller due to modern transportation and wagers £20,000 that he can circumnavigate the globe in eighty days. He plans to depart that very evening.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This chapter marks the dramatic climax because it presents the highest physical and symbolic point of the jour…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Time and Punctuality
Fogg's precise calculation of the journey in hours and minutes, and his insistence on mathematical timing.
- Adventure and Exploration
The wager itself is a bold adventure to circumnavigate the globe in record time.
- Technology and Progress
Discussion of railways and steamships making the world 'smaller' and enabling the journey.
Characters to notice
- Phileas Fogg
Proposes and accepts the wager to travel around the world in eighty days, remaining stoic throughout.
- Andrew Stuart
Argues against the feasibility of the journey and eventually accepts the wager.
- Gauthier Ralph
Discusses the bank robbery and supports the idea that the world has grown smaller.
- John Sullivan
Provides the estimated travel times from the Daily Telegraph.
- Samuel Fallentin
Participates in the whist game and the wager discussion.
- Thomas Flanagan
Inquires about the bank robbery and joins the whist game.
Key passages
“The unforeseen does not exist”
Unexpected events are not a factor in my planning.
Fogg's belief in total control and preparation.
“A true Englishman doesn’t joke when he is talking about so serious a thing as a wager”
An Englishman is earnest about a bet.
Fogg's serious attitude toward the wager.
“The world has grown smaller, since a man can now go round it ten times more quickly than a hundred years ago”
Travel is so fast now that the world seems smaller.
Ralph's comment on technological progress.
