Around the World in 80 Days

Describe Passepartout's interview with Mr. Fogg.

novel

Asked by
Last updated by jill d #170087
Answers 1
Add Yours

Unlike most interviews, Passepartout was observing his prospective employer and assessing Fogg's attributes and mannerisms, rather than the other way around. He wanted the perfect employer.... a man after his own heart, whereas, Fogg simply needed to fill a vacancy.

During his brief interview with Mr. Fogg, Passepartout had been carefully observing him. He appeared to be a man about forty years of age, with fine, handsome features, and a tall, well-shaped figure; his hair and whiskers were light, his forehead compact and unwrinkled, his face rather pale, his teeth magnificent. His countenance possessed in the highest degree what physiognomists call "repose in action," a quality of those who act rather than talk. Calm and phlegmatic, with a clear eye, Mr. Fogg seemed a perfect type of that English composure which Angelica Kauffmann has so skilfully represented on canvas. Seen in the various phases of his daily life, he gave the idea of being perfectly well-balanced, as exactly regulated as a Leroy chronometer. Phileas Fogg was, indeed, exactitude personified, and this was betrayed even in the expression of his very hands and feet; for in men, as well as in animals, the limbs themselves are expressive of the passions.

As for Passepartout, he was a true Parisian of Paris. Since he had abandoned his own country for England, taking service as a valet, he had in vain searched for a master after his own heart.

Source(s)

Around the World in 80 Days