Round the Moon · Chapter
The End explained
The three travelers return to Earth to a hero's welcome, embarking on a grand tour of the United States by train, celebrated by the entire nation.
What happens
The three travelers return to Earth to a hero's welcome, embarking on a grand tour of the United States by train, celebrated by the entire nation. Their observations of the Moon are published, and the Gun Club organizes a nationwide banquet in their honor. The chapter concludes with the formation of the National Company for Interstellar Communication, a joint-stock company aimed at future space travel.
Themes in this chapter
Human Audacity and Ingenuity
The travelers' return and the subsequent establishment of a company for interstellar communication highlight the audacity and ingenuity of the human spirit in pushing the boundaries of exploration.
National Identity and Rivalry
The nationwide celebration and the formation of an American company for space travel underscore national pride and the competitive drive of the United States in the realm of scientific achievement.
Characters to notice
- Impey Barbicane
Returns to Earth and is celebrated as a hero; his travel notes are published; becomes President of the National Company for Interstellar Communication.
- Captain Nicholl
Returns with Barbicane and Ardan; participates in the nationwide tour; appointed Vice-President of the new company.
- Michel Ardan
Returns as one of the three heroes; joins the tour and is appointed Director of the National Company for Interstellar Communication.
- J. T. Maston
Secretary of the Gun Club; rides in the special locomotive saloon during the tour; appointed Secretary of the new company.
Key passages
“The president’s travelling notes were ready to be given up for publicity. The New York Herald bought this manuscript at a price which is not yet known, but which must have been enormous.”
Barbicane's travel journal was sold to the New York Herald for a reportedly huge sum.
Highlights the commercial value and public appetite for the explorers' story.
“Thus they went from one town to another, finding the population in crowds upon their passage saluting them with the same acclamations, and showering upon them the same “bravoes.””
They traveled from city to city, greeted everywhere by cheering crowds.
Illustrates the nationwide adulation and the scale of the celebration.