What is the theme of the story?

The most important theme in this novel is time. Fogg's wager is a race against time, and his adventures illustrate repeatedly that time is fickle, and either works for or against them. In many cases, time foils their plans, when the delays build up and ships and trains leave without them. In the end, though, time turns out to be what wins Fogg his bet, since they gained a day when crossing the International Date Line. The ultimate message is that no one can control time; time will work the way it wants to work, and humans are at its mercy.

Check out GradeSaver's theme page for additional information.