Previous Next

Chapters 21–24

Summary: Chapter 21: A Dangerous Voyage on the Tankadere

Detective Fix feels embarrassed taking Fogg’s money for passage and food aboard the Tankadere but accepts anyway, settling on the idea that Fogg owes him for making him chase him all this way. Despite Fogg’s show of generosity, Fix still holds fast to his belief that Fogg is a criminal. On the second day of their voyage, a typhoon strikes. Captain Bunsby yells that they must seek harbor immediately. Fogg, undeterred and determined, pushes Bunsby to sail faster toward Shanghai. They arrive just as the steamer for Yokohama is setting out to sea. Fogg orders Bunsby to lower the mast, a signal that the ship is in distress. Bunsby complies, motivated by the reward Fogg has promised him for bringing him to Shanghai in time to make his connection. Bunsby even fires a cannon out to sea to capture the other ship’s attention.

Summary: Chapter 22: Passepartout Arrives Alone in Japan

Passepartout finds himself awakening from his drug-induced sleep on the deck of the ship, the Carnatic. He recalls in horror the events from the previous evening at the tavern with Detective Fix. The ship is 150 miles from Yokohama. Passepartout asks a crew member if Fogg and Aouda are on the passenger list of the ship. When Passepartout realizes they didn’t make the ship in time, he feels devasted. Passepartout worries Fogg might have even been put in jail back in Hong Kong. With no money and no master, Passepartout wonders what he’ll do next.

Summary: Chapter 23: Clowns with Long Noses

Passepartout walks around Yokohama, hungry. He decides he’s too well-dressed to beg for money, so he sells his clothes for a Japanese robe. He comes upon a troupe of acrobatic clowns called the Long Noses who dress in costumes with wings and wear long noses made of bamboo. The troupe is giving one last performance before they head back to America. Passepartout asks the group’s manager if he needs a servant. When the man learns that Passepartout has performed in the circus before, he offers Passepartout a job as a performer. Passepartout’s task is to help form the bottom of a human pyramid. When Passepartout spies Fogg and Aouda in the audience during the performance, he moves to peer further into the crowd to see if it’s really them, causing the pyramid to fall. Fogg pays the troupe’s manager for the ruined performance and rushes off with Passepartout to catch the steamer to America.

Summary: Chapter 24: Phileas Fogg Crosses the Pacific Ocean

In this chapter, the story flashes back to reveal that Fogg’s plan to capture the attention of the ship leaving for Yokohama worked and the steamer did come over to Bunsby’s ship, allowing Fogg and Aouda to board. Fogg and Aouda arrived in Yokohama only one day after Passepartout. While searching for Passepartout in Yokohama, Fogg decides their search is useless. Fogg and Aouda come across an advertisement for the circus and decide to attend the show. This is when Passepartout spied them in the crowd, causing the pyramid to collapse.

After they reunite, Passepartout decides to refrain from telling Fogg about his meeting with Detective Fix because he is ashamed for cavorting with Fix, even though he didn’t actually do anything to betray Fogg. Fogg, Aouda, and Passepartout set out for America on the General Grant, on which Fix is also hiding. Fix finally has the warrant for Fogg’s arrest but is careful now that Passepartout knows his true identity. The warrant is also now invalid since they are no longer on English territory. Passepartout runs into Fix on the ship and starts beating him. Fix entreats him to stop, saying they both share the same interests in getting Fogg back home. Fix can’t arrest him until he’s back in London. Passepartout lowers his fists, warning Fix that if there is any attempt to cause more trouble to them, he’ll attack. Fix says once they’re back on English shores, Passepartout will find out who Fogg really is. As Fogg quietly ponders his trip, Aouda realizes she has fallen in love with him. The General Grant arrives in San Francisco on time. Fogg, miraculously, remains on schedule.

Analysis: Chapters 21–24

Fogg becomes more daring as the journey goes on, taking higher and more dangerous risks to reach his goal. Throughout the journey, he has had to act outside his comfort zone, living a life against, instead of with, the clock. Fogg is learning that time is a slave to no one.

Fogg is pushed into situations where he must make harder decisions that put himself and others at risk. When he orders John Bunsby to persist in racing toward Shanghai during a typhoon, he goes against the captain’s expert judgment and puts not only himself but everyone else in danger. Fogg is clearly determined to reach his goal and “defeat time,” despite the cost. A more complicated picture of Fogg’s integrity and character begins to emerge at this point.

Similarly, Detective Fix also remains committed to his goals. In this way, he and Fogg are the same. Fix is determined to catch Fogg and collect the reward, and he’s willing to take risks to reach his goal. But while Fogg struggles between safety and chance, Fix struggles with his own sense of propriety and judgment. When Fogg offers to pay for Fix’s passage and food, he puts Fix in an awkward position ethically and challenges the image Fix has of Fogg as a clever criminal. If Fogg were truly a robber trying to escape, why would he go to such great lengths to care for Fix and, furthermore, spend money on him? Fix struggles between a sense of right and wrong and reality versus preconceived notions. He must reconcile Fogg’s growing image as a respectful, generous man with the false image he holds in his mind. Fix decides to circumvent the mental challenge altogether, settling on the idea that Fogg “owes” him for making him travel this far to catch him. Such a decision shows a crack in Fix’s character.

Passepartout is running into his own moral complications as well. While he has proven his loyalty to Fogg many times, he’s now embroiled himself in an ethical quandary by deciding to keep Fix’s identity from Fogg so he can enlist Fix’s help in getting Fogg home in time to win the bet. He’s also now partly at fault for Fogg missing the Carnatic. Passepartout wakes up from his opium-induced stupor on the deck of the Carnatic feeling deeply ashamed and vulnerable. He is reminded of his former life with the circus and other jobs, which Verne hints might have involved heavy drinking. Clearly Passepartout has adopted some of the strict values and judgments of Victorian England, which would consider drinking and opium-taking major vices. This idea was first introduced when Passepartout remarked that he was fired for chiding his former master for coming home drunk.

Previous section Chapters 17–20 Next section Chapters 25–28

Take a Study Break