Around The World In 80 Days

1. Author

1.1. Jules Verne

1.2. Birth Date:11/29/1918 Death Date: 9/6/2006

1.3. American

1.4. Madeleine L'Engle November 29, 1918 – September 6, 2007 was an American writer best known for young-adult fiction, particularly the Newbery Medal-winning A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels: A Wind in the Door, National Book Award-winning, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time. Her works reflect both her Christian faith and her strong interest in modern science.

2. General Info

2.1. 1/1/1963

2.2. Novel

2.3. English

2.4. a high-school-aged girl who is transported on an adventure through time and space with her younger brother Charles Wallace and her friend Calvin O'Keefe to rescue her father.

3. Plot

3.1. Initial situation

3.2. Conflict

3.3. Complication

3.4. Climax

3.5. Falling Action

3.6. Conclusion

4. Themes, Allusions & Symbols

4.1. The theme of the novel is perseverance is the best motivation towards success. Phileas Fogg shows his perseverance by finishing what he has started and no matter how difficult the obstacle is, he always gives his best effort and overcomes the difficulty.

4.2. Symbols- I will use the tesseract as a symbol. "Well, the fifth dimension's a tesseract. You add that to the other four dimensions and you can travel through space without having to go the long way around. In other words, to put it into Euclid, or old-fashioned plane geometry, a straight line is not the shortest distance between two points."

4.3. Allusion- There are a lot of allusions to the Bible.Mrs. Whatsit cites Jesus as the fighter against the Dark Thing. The whole battle between light and darkness is figuratively similar to that in the Bible.

5. Characters

5.1. Meg Murry

5.2. Charles Wallace

5.3. IT

6. Vocabulary

6.1. Section 1

6.1.1. Subnormal- below the normal; less than or inferior to the normal

6.1.2. Preliminaries- preceding and leading up to the main part, matter, or business; introductory; preparatory:

6.2. Section 2

6.2.1. Serenely- calm, peaceful, or tranquil; unruffled:

6.2.2. Earnestly- serious in intention, purpose, or effort; sincerely zealous:

6.3. Section 3

6.3.1. Fourscore- another way of saying number eighty

6.3.2. Blandly- pleasantly gentle or agreeable:

6.4. Section 4

6.4.1. Peculiar- strange; queer; odd:

6.4.2. Despondency- state of being despondent; depression of spirits from loss of courage or hope; dejection.

7. Summary

7.1. Section 1- On a dark and stormy night, Meg Murry tosses and turns in her attic bedroom. Knowing that she does not fit in. Upon awaking the next morning, Meg wonders whether the irrational events of the previous night were merely a dream, but her mother assures her that "you don't have to understand things for them to be. Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin return to the Murry home, where Mrs. Murry huddles over her Bunsen burner, preparing a dinner of thick stew. Calvin is deeply moved by the warmth and love that permeates the Murry household, and exclaims to Meg that she is very lucky to have such a wonderful family life.

7.2. Section 2- Meg suddenly feels herself torn apart from Charles and Calvin and thrust into silent darkness. She tries to cry out to them but finds she does not even have a body, much less a voice. Suddenly, she feels her heart beating again and sees Charles and Calvin shimmer back into material presence. Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which inform the children that they are on the planet Uriel. When Calvin inquires into their mode of travel, Mrs. Whatsit explains that they do not travel at any one speed, but rather "tesser" or "wrinkle" through space. She explains that they travel by tessering, which involves taking shortcuts through time and space. The Happy Medium next uses her crystal ball to show the children a battle between the Dark Thing and the stars. Mrs. Whatsit explains that they have just witnessed a star sacrificing its life to fight the Dark Thing. The children are deeply moved by her sacrifice, and Charles Wallace kisses her in token of their gratitude.

7.3. Section 3 -Meg rushes forward to her father in his column, but she cannot penetrate its surface, and her father cannot see or hear her. In frustration, she hurls herself at Charles, but he punches her in the stomach. Finally, at wit's end, Meg remembers Mrs. Who's spectacles. By putting them over her eyes and throwing herself at the column, she successfully gets through to her father and stands by his side. As Meg regains consciousness, she feels icy coldness all around her and finds herself unable to move her body or speak. She hears the voices of Calvin and her father discussing her condition, but she has no way of communicating with them. In answer to the tentacled creatures' questions, Calvin explains that he is a young man from a planet engaged in fighting off the Dark Thing. The beasts seem surprised that Calvin and the Murrys are not used to meeting beings from other planets. They tell their guests that they must entrust Meg to their care because she is extremely vulnerable and weak.

7.4. Section 4 - As Meg regains consciousness, she feels icy coldness all around her and finds herself unable to move her body or speak. She hears the voices of Calvin and her father discussing her condition, but she has no way of communicating with them. In answer to the tentacled creatures' questions, Calvin explains that he is a young man from a planet engaged in fighting off the Dark Thing. The beasts seem surprised that Calvin and the Murrys are not used to meeting beings from other planets. They tell their guests that they must entrust Meg to their care because she is extremely vulnerable and weak. Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which materialize on Ixchel in response to Meg's summons. However, they insist that they can do nothing to help save Charles Wallace. Mr. Murry requests that they help him with his tessering so he can try to retrieve Charles from Camazotz, but Mrs. Which tells him he will not be successful. Next, Calvin asks to be sent after Charles, but he, too, is refused. After a long silence, Meg realizes that everyone expects her to go back to Camazotz and rescue her brother. Terrified and overwhelmed by the weight of this responsibility, Meg yells that she cannot go back. She gradually realizes, however, that she is the one who is closest with Charles and the one who is therefore most likely to get through to him, to bring him back successfully. Although her father and Calvin do not want to let her go, the Mrs. W's ultimately convince them that it is for the best.