On the train ride to New York, the train has some difficulties with buffalo herds. The train driver didn’t dare to run past them because the driver would’ve hit the first buffaloes so the driver decided to wait. It took 3 hours for the buffalo herd to pass and after that incident, the train driver tried to go faster to make up for lost time. Also during the train ride, Passepartout attends a mormon history lecture inside the train for multiple hours, though fix and fogg didn’t care to join in. After a while of good success time wise, the train starts to slow down due to the accumulations of snow that is blocking the wheel of the cars. To pass the time, they brought cards to the train so they can have fun while waiting. Then during the card game, Phileas is greeted by the American Colonel that attacked them earlier. He challenges Phileas to a duel in the train and Phileas Fogg accepts. Both of them were supplied with two six-barreled revolvers. When they were about to duel, they hear screams of terror that echoed through the interior of the cars.
The American Colonel and Phileas Fogg, with revolvers in hand, rushed towards where the noise was at and they see that the train is being attacked by a band of Sioux. The chief leader tried to stop the train but instead accelerated it with terrific velocity. The Sioux invaded the cars by getting on the roof of the train and opening the passenger doors to get in. When they get in, they would go into a hand-to-hand combat with the passagers. The travelers were able to defend themselves bravely and Aouda was like a true hero with the revolver. She was able to shoot the Sioux in the broken window when they passed by. Though, there were many tragedies, even though twenty Sioux were mortally wounded on the ground, several passengers were shot or stunned in their seats. The conductor who was fighting beside Mr. Fogg got shot and fell to the floor. At that moment, he cried, “Unless the train is stopped in five minutes, we are lost.” He said that because the train was about to pass through a garrison which would give the Sioux the advantage. Phileas offered to stop the train himself but Passepartout insisted that he would do it. Then, Passepartout uses his old acrobatic skill to work his way through the cars and made it to the front car. He was about to use the brakes of the train to slow it down so that it made a complete stop. Everyone became relieved and were grateful to Passepartout but Passepartout seems to have disappeared shortly after his heroic save. A couple passengers including Passepartout had disappeared and people suspected that they were taken prisoners by the Sioux. The American Colonel had been wounded so he was carried away into the station of wounded passengers. Aouda was safe with Phileas Fogg who had been in the middle of the fight but somehow didn’t receive a scratch. Fix was minorly wounded in his arm and Passepartout was nowhere to be seen. Phileas volunteered to go off and search for the couple of passengers by himself. This surprised the captain and he was touched by his bravery that he decided to pick 30 troops to go with him to rescue the missing passengers. Phileas asks Fix if we wants go with them and surprisingly Fix declines. Then, Phileas and the troops leave and Fix gets really mad at himself for not going. He questions why after following this thief step by step all around the world, why would he let him leave into a desert plain without him. He starts to give up hope on his quest because he feels like Phileas now has the perfect chance to leave and not come back. Couple hours later, the engineer and the conductor got themselves up and they got the train up and running. Then, they announce that they are ready to leave. Aouda runs up and protests that there is still the missing passengers who are still missing. The conductor insists that they are 3 hours behind and will have to leave as soon as possible. Everyone lines up to the train to board it except Fix and Aouda. Fix the detective is conflicted on what he should do. Should he go and abandon the mission to maybe take up another case? There has been no sign of Phileas in hours so it might be pointless to stay. He was ready to take his seat in the car but a irresistible influence held him back. The stations platform was burning his feet and he could not stir. Anger and failure plagued his mind, he wished to struggle until the very end. The injured passengers made their way to their seats and the train began their engine. The train had left, but the detective stayed behind. Several hours has passed since that decision. Fix sat motionless on a bench in the station and was on the edge of the platform, peering through the snow. As night approached, it became intensely cold. Absolute silence was rested on the plains but at dawn, there was some figures that could be made out in the distance. There was Phileas Fogg with Passepartout and the missing passengers! Apparently, Passepartout struggled with his captors but Phileas was able to come on time to save Passepartout and the others. They got reunited and started to head back to the station. Phileas and Passepartout reunite with the others and Aouda feels relieved. Though there is still the problem of the train, which luckily the next train arrives in the evening. However, Phileas is 20 hours behind schedule and needs to find a way to recover his remaining time. Fix the detective suggested that they will use a sledge with sails from a man he talked with the previous night proposed to him. Mr. Fogg examined the vehicle and then decided that the wind is strong in the direction they are going so they decided to use the sledge slide down the harden snow at 40 miles per hour. They flew about two hundred miles to their destination at Omaha. When they arrive, they immediately went to the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad to travel to their next destination. They breezed through many states with antique names, with the main goal in mind which was to get to New York. The train stopped in the station of at the very pier of cunard line and Phileas rushed for the China, for Liverpool but the ship had started three-quarters of an hour before he arrived. Phileas’s last hope, lost in an instant. They left the pier and slept for the night. In the morning, Phileas looked around with little hope left to find a way to make it to England and eventually he found a boat called the Henrietta. He went up to meet the captain to see if he can sail off to Liverpool. The captain declines but Phileas offers money, the captain still declines. Phileas Fogg has a hard time negotiating with the captain because the captain doesn’t want to go off his intended path. Phileas then offers to be dropped off at Bordeaux which is on the path he is taking. Phileas offers to give two thousand dollars apiece for the trip there and the captain accepts. When on board, the captain gets locked up in a room by his crew members because they didn’t like him that much. This was under the influence of Phileas because he took the wheel and decided to sail off for Liverpool because that would be the only way he could win his bet. If the captain wasn’t willing to sail off to Liverpool, then Phileas will just take his ship and sail off himself which is exactly what he did. The captain was furious and muffled screams of anger can be heard outside the room. Fix became confused and kinda amazed by these actions of Phileas bribing the crew members, locking up the captain, and using the wheel like a skilled seaman. Fix then hypothesized that Liverpool isn’t Phileas’s true intentions at all and Mr. Fogg would go to some part of the world where the thief, turned pirate, can quietly hide himself in safety. Hours has passed and they are halfway there but the coal for the fuel of the boat is running out. Mr. Fogg called the crew members to take the captain out so he can talk to him. Mr. Fogg gets lash out on by the Captain but after he calmed down, Mr. Fogg asked to buy the upper part of the ship for him because the vessel is about to be burned because the coal has given out. The captain freaks out and is furious that he lost a fifty thousand dollar vessel. Mr. Fogg offers sixty thousand to the captain which completely shocks the captain. Captain remained unmoved for a while until he agrees because the boat is old anyways and he made a big profit. He completely forgot all his anger and grudges against Phileas. The vessel burned up but they were able to make it to Queenstown Harbour. Despite making it back on English ground, Fix decided not to arrest Phileas right away. They boarded a train in Dublin and then they finally disembarked to the Liverpool quay. After a long and tiring journey, Phileas Fogg finally made it back to England, only 6 hours away from London. Phileas steps out of the train and as he does, Fix puts his hand on his shoulder, showing his warrant, and said, “You are really Phileas Fogg?”. Mr. Fogg says, “I am.” and he got arrested on the spot. The police held back Passepartout as Phileas was being taken away. Passepartout explained the situation to Aouda and all she could do was cry. After spending time in jail, he didn’t express any emotion at all. No anger or worry, just complete silence. He pondered if he was still out there to finish his journey, would he have made it? He looked at his watch and then to the Custom House clock, then he realized that his watch was 2 hours fast! If he was out there on the train to london, he would’ve made it there on time! An hour and thirty minutes later, the prison door opens and reveals that fix the detective was wrong on arresting him. The robber that looked like him was arrested three days ago so Phileas Fogg was free to go. His eyes brightened and he was suddenly filled with hope. Phileas Fogg and the others raced out of the prison and went into a ordered special train. Then, he finally arrived to London and he looked around the clocks all over London to find that they are all striking ten minutes before nine which means that his bet about the journey around the world in eighty days was ruined by five minutes. Phileas Fogg had lost the bet... Or so he thought. After his disappointment, he went to bed and woke up the next day. It was on that day that Phileas felt alone because he was now poor which means he would lose his other rich friends. He lost the bet and they wouldn’t respect him anymore. Aouda felt bad that he felt like that and she wanted to let him know that he wasn’t alone. She confessed that she loved him and asked Phileas if he wanted her to be his wife. Phileas exclaims yes and Passepartout arranges their marriage ceremony… or at least he tried. It was impossible because the day was actually Saturday which means he can still win the bet. Passepartout drags Phileas to the Reform Club and ends up winning the bet at the last minute. There was a huge crowd betting on who would win and they cheered long and loudly when Phileas Fogg arrived. The secret to his success was that he traveled eastward which he was traveling with the sun so that he was able to gain an extra day because of that. If he traveled westward, he would’ve lost the bet. Despite being rich again, his decision on marrying Aouda didn’t change and he was super grateful to Aouda in the end because if she didn’t propose, he would’ve never won the bet. Wow this was actually a much more interesting book then I remember. We actually had to read this during 6th grade but I completely forgot what happened in it and I didn’t expect it to be this interesting! I’d probably recommend this book to a friend because it can be very exciting to read how Phileas is able to make it through country to country despite the circumstances thrown at him. I thought the twist at the end which revealed that he only won because he went eastward was really interesting and creative. There was a lot of twist and turns in this book and it was enjoyable to experience them so yeah I think this is a good book to recommend to people! If I had to write a sequel about this book, I think I would have Phileas, Aouda, and Passepartout try to go around the world in 70 days or less. They had to go through so many situations that delayed their time and it seems possible that they could’ve made it faster around the world if they were under better circumstances. Phileas, Aouda, and Passepartout would probably be the main characters again because Phileas and Aouda could be doing the journey again for the memories or as a nice vacation. Also Passepartout is great and useful so of course he’s one of the main characters. It would be cool if Fix was able to have a major appearance in the book, maybe secretly helping Phileas and co on the way around the world. That would be pretty cool! I think the main conflict could be that they are actually chasing a criminal this time who is going around the world and it could be a happy ending for Fix at the end because he finally was able to catch his criminal and prove that he is a great detective. In the end of Around the World in 80 days, he kinda leaves in shame and is considered a failure in the police force so maybe in the sequel, he can redeem himself! I would think that would be a cool send off to the books and all the characters can be happy in the end. I think that would be a nice and cheerful ending which is probably what I would do if I wrote a sequel to this book. I will comment on Rachna's, Matthew's, and Maddy's amazing blogs!
2 Comments
Matthew Evans
3/3/2018 12:28:35 pm
I agree that this book was very suspenseful, really leaving you on the edge till the last minute, where he won the bet. Do you think they could actually go around the world in 70 days, because of different events stopping them from doing that?
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Maddy T.
3/3/2018 07:49:02 pm
I'm glad you enjoyed your book! How do you think the story would play out if Phileas lost the bet and why?
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AuthorI am a big video gamer and video game enthusiast. I love a lot of video games and I am currently playing Miitopia! Archives
June 2018
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