Around the World in Eighty Days

“His name was strange to the scientific and learned societies, and he never was known to take part in the sage deliberations of the Royal Institution or the London Institution, the Artisan’s Association, or the Institution of Arts and Sciences.”

An example of historical context and characterization, Phileas demonstrates several behaviors that stand out within a Victorian context and mark the main protagonist as different. Here, the narrator notes that the main protagonist lacks membership to many important societies. With the rise of an educated middle class, Victorian England emphasized social and moral responsibility. In turn, several associations and clubs emerged that Victorian men and women were expected to join as a demonstration of social awareness and advocacy.

“You are four minutes too slow […] Now from this moment, twenty-six minutes after eleven, A.M., this Wednesday, 2^nd October, you are in my service.”

This passage introduces the juxtaposition of Phileas and Passepartout, an important aspect of characterization that develops the theme of Punctuality, Time, and Time Management and introduces Passepartout’s watch as a symbol. Phileas’s announcement that Passepartout’s watch is four minutes behind schedule emphasizes Phileas’s precise punctuality and rigid adherence to time. These traits contrast with Passepartout’s whimsical lifestyle and attitude.

“‘Faith,’ muttered Passepartout, somewhat flurried, ‘I’ve seen people at Madame Tussaud’s as lively as my new master!’”

This passage that develops Phileas’s characterization as a phlegmatic, Victorian Englishman requires further contextual awareness from the period. Passepartout is referencing Madam Tussaud’s popular waxwork exhibits as a hyperbolic representation of the rigid self-control that epitomized men of the period.