Student Question
In "The Twenty-One Balloons," what statement from Professor Sherman caused a five-minute applause?
Quick answer:
In "The Twenty-One Balloons," Professor Sherman receives a five-minute applause after stating, "I haven't been away very long, but I have certainly missed..." This excites the audience because it signifies his record-breaking journey around the world, completed in 40 days, far surpassing the 80-day record popularized by Jules Verne. The crowd's enthusiasm is fueled by anticipation and the extraordinary nature of his achievement during the late 1800s.
Professor Sherman gets settled in his bed, propped up with pillows, and makes two statements that make the crowd go wild. First he says, "I am happy to be home again!" (38). The crowd cheers for four minutes. Then he says, "I haven't been away very long, but I have certainly missed..." (38). It is at this point that the crowd applauds for five minutes. They are applauding wildly because the professor's statement reminds them that the Professor has broken the record of traveling around the world in eighty days by a full forty days, and this is an incredible and exciting thing to have accomplished. It should also be noted that the crowd has been anticipating this talk by Professor Sherman for five days now, and all of the preparations that the city has done in preparation have created a buildup of excitement.
What does Professor Sherman say to make the audience applaud in The Twenty-One Balloons?
In Chapter 3 of
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In Chapter 3 ofThe Twenty-One Balloons, when Professor Sherman begins addressing the audience in the auditorium of the Western American Explorers' Club in San Francisco, he actually doesn't say very much to elicit five minutes of applause, but receives the applause simply because the crowd is excited about his experience.
He opens his address by saying how happy he is to be back home, which gets four minutes of applause. Next, he says, "I haven't been away very long, but I have certainly missed" before being interrupted by five more minutes of applause (38). The reason why this sentence excites the audience so much is because it reminds audience members that Professor Sherman has just traveled around the globe in the shortest amount of time possible for this time period.
The book is set in the late 1800s, soon after Jules Verne published his 1873 adventure novel, Around the World in 80 Days, based on growing beliefs about how fast one could travel the globe via railway lines. In fact, in 1870 the Erie Railway Company published statements, based on its train routes and times tables, predicting one could travel the globe in 77 days (The Kansas Tribute, 1870). In The Twenty-One Balloons, Professor Sherman started his voyage across the Pacific Ocean and was picked up in the Atlantic Ocean 40 days later, which means to Professor Sherman's audience that he had traveled around the world40 days faster than what the acclaimed Jules Vernes predicted to be possible.