Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Charles Darnay

Charles Darnay, a character in A Tale of Two Cities, is a mysterious man. Up until the last few chapters we have read you haven't known much about him. But after reading these chapters, you actually know more than you think. Firstly you know that being of the lower class is a choice for him. " 'This property and France is lost to me,' said the nephew sadly; ' I renounce them' " ( Dicken's 117). You soon find out that Charles Darnay is related to Monsuier Marquee. But why doesn't he live there white them? This quotes gives you evidence of just how he is related to the Monsuier. Charles Darney is his nephew making him his uncle but why would he not want this life? Darnay not living with his rich family shows you a lot about his character. Just the fact that he is downright completely more than just money. He hated the way that his uncle and his people treated the people on the streets and he would not take it and or live with it. Darnay cares about the way that the lower class is being treated. This could be foreshadowing him maybe being involved in an uprising in the French Revolution. Who knows? Secondly you find out about his soft side. " Miss Manette I am a man of business. I have a business charge to acquit myself of. In your reception of it. Don't heed me anymore then if I was speaking machine truly, I am not much else, I will, with your leave,..." (Dicken's 36) Charles Darnay is a man of business to quotes his fictional self. Throughout the book you can get a certain pattern that he is almost always working. His job is usually all he cares about but know he cares about Lucie. That's it! That's his sweet spot. Lucie he is in love with Lucie and hasn't told her yet. He has opened up to Lucie and maybe this is foeeshadowinf a future between the the two of them. 

Monday, November 9, 2015

Light and Dark setting the Tone


Charles Dickens uses light and dark to set the tone of hopefulness and a happy future for Lucie and Dr. Manette’s relationship in the A Tale of Two Cities. Firstly, When Lucie first walks in the room, Dickens describes her using the word light, “…on her fair young face that it looked as though she passed like a moving light” (Dickens 32). This foreshadows how important Lucie is going to be to her father. At this point in the book, Dr. Manette didn’t even know if the baby was a boy or a girl or if he/she even lived into adulthood. The usage of the word light when describing Lucie sets the tone of hopefulness because Lucie is going to be there for her dad and help her dad get out of his state of darkness or depression after he was falsely accused of a crime and out into jail for 18 years by the aristocracy. Another time when Dickens used light and darkness is also when they first walked into the room. “…they gradually forced themselves into the room and through the blackness that had fallen on them” (Dickens 32). In this moment it is the first time that Lucie had ever seen her father and she was afraid on the travels to France, that her father wouldn’t be the same person he was before he was in jail. Dickens’s symbolizes Dr. Manette as darkness because he is depressed and on the edge of insanity. At this moment he still doesn’t even know that this is his daughter. The last way Dickens uses this to set the tone is when he is describing her hair. When Dickens is describing her hair he isn’t directly stating that her hair is the light but her hair can be used as a symbol for the light in Dr. Manette’s and Lucie’s relationship. “Her golden hair, which she wore in long curls, had been hurriedly pushed aside…” (Dickens 33). This definitely sets the tone of hopefulness because Dr. Manette finally pieces together the pieces when he recollects his wife’s hair and the distinct similarity to the woman sitting in front of him. After he says this, he takes off a necklaces that has a lock of hair in it, a golden piece almost identical to Lucie’s hair. The word golden can be synonymous to light in some ways and has a significance in Lucie and her father’s relationship because there is so much light between Lucie and his memories of his wife, Lucie’s mother, that you can see a happy future and is hopeful that Lucie can help pull her father out of his depression. Therefore the use of light and dark create a strong tone of hope and happiness in this chapter. There is a light at the end of the tunnel for Dr. Manette and with the help of his daughter the tunnel is a lot shorter and the light is a lot closer.

Thursday, November 5, 2015

This picture is a scene from Charles Dicken's A Tale of Two CitiesIn this chapter I think Charles Dicken's is foreshadowing the later topic of poverty and the reasons for the French Revolution. Dicken's writes, "All the people within reach had suspended their business or idleness, to run to the spot and drink the wine" (Dicken's 20). After a barrel of wine had fallen and broken, everyone in he streets stopped to drink it off of the ground. These people are so desperate they jump at the chance to drink wine off of the street. Another example is when Dicken's writes, " ... And the forehead of the woman who had just nursed her baby, was stained with the stain of the old rag she wound about her head again." (Dicken's 21). This shows how desperate these people were. This mother took her head wrap off of her head, soaked it in wine, and then wrung it out into her baby's mouth. She gave wine to her baby because she had no way of getting water and her baby needed something. The last example, " It had stained many hands, too, and many faces, and many naked feet, and many wooden shoes" (Dicken's 21). These people living on the streets in Paris don't have she's and if they do they are wooden. Probably made poorly by themselves or friends. These people are among the many poor in Franc at this time and as we already know the French Revolution was a poor people uprising resulting in beheading s of the King and Queen. This scene is most likely foes adoring the start of the French Revolution :