Book TWO - Book THREE (Chapters 22 - Chapter 2)

Chapter 22 starts out a week after Dr. Manette's letter was found while storming the prison where he was kept, called the Bastille. At this time, Defarge runs into the stor claiming a man named Foulon was found telling the starving people to eat grass. Foulon, like Robert Cly, faked his death to keep from being killed. I don't think it would have matter at this point though because Foulon is eventually hung anyways. The mob of people that were starving that Foulon tells to eat grass hang him. Madame Defarge says, "See the old villain bound with ropes. That was well done to tie a bunch of grass upon his back. Ha, ha! That was well done. Let him eat it now!" What is so great about the bunch of grass that is tied to his back? Why does she clap to this?

Also in this chapter, I think that there is another incident of resurrection. I think that Foulon is an example of resurrection because he was "dead," and then he was found alive like he came back to life like Christ did. Although it was not really him that was in the casket that was buried, it still seems Christ-like because he was buried and came back to life like Jesus's body was placed in a tomb with a huge boulder over the entrance and he also came back to life. What is the significance of the incidents of resurrection? Another example that Foulon is Christ-like is that, in the mob's attempt to hang him on a lamppost, the rope breaks twice before Foulon is successfully hung. By making him seem inhuman and immortal by not dying on the first attempts, Foulon is seen as more of a connection to Christ.

At the end of this chapter after Foulon is hung, the mob, who merely likes the amusement of seeing someone die, kills Foulon's son-in-law too even though he has no known connection to spying or anything that Foulon has done. After all of the excitement for the day, the members of the mob return to their homes seemingly satisfied.

Chapter 23 also has a connection to the bible. "For, in these times, as the mender of roads of worked, solitary, in the dust, not often troubling himself to reflect that dust he was and to dust he must return..." This passage is similar to the book of Genesis which is found in the bible. God created Adam and Eve from dust and blew the breath of life into them.

Also in this chapter, the place where Monseigneur once lived goes up in flames. Many of the residents watch as the fire engulfs the building but do not offer any help. This depicts how the people at this time sought out entertainment just as they found entertainment in seeing others suffer and die. At this time, Monsieur Gabelle is persecuted by the residents for his link to the tax collecting. They trap him within a building so Monsieur Gabelle is forced to the housetop. He claims that if they don't let him down, he will jump and crush the men beneath him. At this time, the mob lets Monsieur Gabelle escape.

Chapter 24 is titled Drawn to the Loadstone Rock because a loadstone is a type of magnet that is very powerful, and a magnet is something that pulls or draws other things toward it. Charles Darnay is drawn to Paris, France to reclaim his family name and relinquish the power back to the people. "But, he had oppressed no man, he had imprisoned no man; he was so far from having harshly exacted payment of his dues, that he had relinquished them of his own will, thrown himself on a world with no favour in it, won his own private place there, and eaned his own bread."

In Chapter 1 of the final book of the novel, Darnay is put in prison when he reaches Paris. Defarge, who is the hired escort of Darnay, refuses to help Darnay out. He only says that he knows Darnay, but will not help him because of his loyalty to his country.

"So strangely clouded were these refinements by the prison manners and gloom, so spectral did they become in the inappropriate squalor and misery through which they were seen, that Charles Darnay seemed to stand in a company of the dead." While Darnay is imprisoned, he feels that he is surrounded by ghosts because he is in the company of dead people. The other imprisoned people are thought of as dead people because they have been there for so long. "... all waiting their dismissal from the desolate shore, all turning on him eyes that were changed by the death they had died in coming there."

In Chapter 2, Mr. Lorry is in Tellson's Bank in Paris as he hears the roaring going on in the streets outside. He prays thankfulness that none of the people that he cares for are in Paris at the time. I think that this part is ironice because just as he says that Dr. Manette and Lucie Manette rush into his room and tell him that Charles Darnay is in prison. It is ironic because the people that Mr. Lorry cares about are Dr. Manette and Lucie Manette, and he is in Paris which means that they must also be in Paris. He obviously did not know that they were in Paris before they rushed into the room.

At the end of the chapter things turn around, and the crowd no longer wants to kill Darnay. They actually seem rather ecstatic to save him.

Book TWO (Chapters 16-21)

In chapter 16, Madame Defarge registers John Barsad as one of the men marked for death. Since John Barsad is not a part of the Jacques, she thinks that he is a spy and warns the customers of the wine shop of the spy by placing a rose on her bonnet. As she did this "the customers ceased talking, and began gradually to drop out of the wine shop. Also within the wine shop, "heaps of flies, who were extending their inquisitive and adventurous perquisitions into all the glutinous little glasses near madame, fell dead at the bottom. Their decease made no impression on the other flies out promenading, who looked at them in the coolest manner, until they met the same fate." Why did no one care that dead flies were landing in the glasses? Were they living that low of a standard of life that it didn't matter? I think that the flies dieing as they were is foreshadowing the many deaths that will occur in the near future during the French Revolution.

A customer of the wine shop compliments Madame Defarge on her knitting. "Decidedly. May one ask what it is for?" By this it seems that the customer is very well mannered, and, unlike others residing in the area, has good grammmar. She replies, "Pasttime." I don't think that this is completely true. She may knit as a pasttime, but I also think that she knits as a symbol of her hatred, her hatred of the government and, as it is shown earlier, spies.

In chapter 17, Lucie and her father spent time together. They sat together under a tree. Lucie says, "You are happy, my dear father?" Her father replies, "Quite, my child." I don't necessarily believe him because I don't think that any father is happy the night before their daughter is going to get married. Doesn't every father feel like they are losing their daughter, their little girl when they walk them down the aisle? I don't think that Lucie completely believes him either, that is why she went to her father's room when he was sleeping. She was making sure that he was asleep and not shoe making because she knew that his shoe making was his way of making his mind more content when he was mentally stirred.

In chapter 18, Darnay reveals to Dr. Manette what his real name is and that he is going to be the new Marqui because the late Marqui was stabbed and died. "The door of the Doctor's room opened, and he came out with Charles Darnay. He was so deadly pale--which had not been the case when they went in together--that no vestige of colour was to be seen in his face." This portrays to the reader that Dr. Manette is disturbed by this news that Charles Darnay just revealed to him. I think that he thinks that since Darnay is the new Marqui, Darnay will be able to take his daughter away from him just as what happened many years earlier before he went to prison. Because of what Darnay said to Dr. Manette, he starts his shoemaking again which shows his disturbed conscience about it.

In chapter 19, the shoemaking equipment is destroyed with Dr. Manette's permission. Dr. Manette refers to the shoe making tools as "such an old companion." Mr. Lorry insists to Dr. Manette that he should get rid of it and not use it anymore. He is against the idea until Mr. Lorry says, "I would recommend him to sacrifice it. I only want your authority. I am sure it does no good. Come! Give me your authority, like a dear good man. For his daughter's sake, my dear Manette!" Dr. Manette then replies, "In her name, then, let it be done; I sanction it. But, I would not take it away while he was present. Let it be removed when he is not there; let him miss his old companion after an absence." This shows the reader how truly important and how much he loves his daughter, even though the reader should already know this. Why does Mr. Lorry go from saying "you" to saying "he" or "him?" It seems as if he gets them mixed up.

In chapter 20, the reader see the best side of Lucie and that she is able to forgive. Also, by somewhat pitying Carton, Darnay does not get jealous, instead he becomes more attracted to her by her goodness and her virtuous qualities. Lucie doesn't only pity Carton though, I think that she respects him also. She respects him because of his love for her and his being able to pronounce his love for her even though he knew he could never be with her. Most of all, she wants Darnay to be nice to Carton because Carton promised Lucie that he would do anything for her even if he never got to be with her. To me, that would attract me to the person who said that. It would create an internal conflict and possibly complicate Darnay and Lucie's relationship. Do you think that Lucie is having internal conflicts about what Carton said? Or do you think that she has merely accepted that he loves her and only wants to be close friends?

In the final chapter of this week, chapter 21, the revolt in the French Revolution begins. By this time, Lucie and Darnay have had a child of their own. So it was a few years later. The echoes as it says in the title of the chapter are the footsteps that can be heard and felt from Paris to London because they are so extreme and real. Also in this chapter, Defarge discovers something at 105 North Tower where Dr. Manette prison cell was located. I think that this discovery will be another turning point in the novel. This revelation will be one of the more major ones in the novel because I think that it is something that Dr. Manette didn't mean for anyone to see until at least after his death. He thought that he would be in the prison until his death, but obviously it was not true.

Book TWO (Chapters 10-15)

In chapter ten, Doctor Manette continues his shoemaking, which must be because he is having mental troubles with his past. I still don't know what was so terrible about his past that he feels he does not want to remember it.
Comic relief is shown in chapter eleven when Mr. Stryver says that Lucie will marry him. He says, "...and perhaps will make you think me not quite as shrewd as you usually do think me. I intend to marry... Yes. And not for money..." This passage displays that most marriages were for money rather than love. People would marry so they could make and have enough money together to keep themselves out of debtor's prison. I think that it is sad that they married someone they didn't usually love just to stay out of prison. At the same time though, it is smart because if they were alone, didn't have anyone else, and they went to prison, then they wouldn't have anyone to make money and bail them out so they would be in prison long enough to be put to death. Even though Stryver does not want to marry Lucie for money, he doesn't want to marry her for love either; whereas Darnay does. Stryver merely wants to marry her because she has a high social status. I don't think that is right, that would basically be using her. Stryver also tells Carton that he needs to find a woman to take care of him because he is a drunk. He says, "Marry. Provide somebody to take care of you. Never mind your having no enjoyment of women's society, nor understanding of it, nor tact for it. Find out somebody..." Stryver doesn't know Carton very well obviously because Carton does want to marry. He wants to marry Lucie also, but he thinks that he is not good enough to do so. Stryver tells Carton to find a woman to marry because he has found his, and he wants to marry Miss Manette. Carton also wants to marry her, but he keeps quiet to Stryver because I don't think that he wants him to know; all Stryver would do is put him down and tell him that he is not good enough for her and that he is better.
The title of this chapter is a connection to Mr. Lorry because he is very "delicate" to Mr. Stryver when he tells him that she does not want to marry him. Mr. Lorry actually didn't ask Lucie but pretends like he actually did. He looks out for Lucie and tries to find her someone that would care the most for her because he cares so much for her. Mr. Stryver does not take the news of Lucie not accepting his proposal very well. He just goes on saying that it is her loss, not marrying him.
In chapter thirteen, the reader is shown who the real Sydney Carton is. Carton talks to Lucie and toward the end of their conversation he reveals something very important to her. He says, "... It is useless to say it, I know, but it rises out of my soul. For you, and for any dear to you, I would do anything. If my career were of that better kind that there was any opportunity or capacity of sacrifice in it, I would embrace any sacrifice for you and for those dear to you." I found this very heartening and disheartening at the same time. It was heartening because he finally tells Lucie how he really feels about her, but it was disheartening because, by saying this, Carton says that he has basically given up trying even though he never really tried to win her over in the first place. He has accepted his defeat, but I think by telling Lucie this, she will become attracted to him and find out who he really is and choose him.

Book TWO (Chapters 6-9)

In chapter 6, we are introduced to Miss Pross who is Lucie's caretaker. She has been Lucie's caretaker since Lucie was ten years old. Therefore, Miss Pross must care for Lucie deeply. I think that is why Miss Pross wants her brother Solomon to marry Lucies rather than another man because Miss Pross fears that if Lucie marries someone, then she will be taken away from Lucie, and Lucie will no longer need her. This also explains why Miss Pross is often jealous when the men come and visit Lucie.
Also, as I was reading, I noticed that there is a lot of shadows and darkness within Dickens writing. What is the specific reason for using such darkness? I think that the shadows and darkness are always foreshadowing something such as the French Revolution when people starved and were sent to debtors prison and even when they were killed by the guilletiene. An example of the darkness and shadows are when Tellson's Bank is being described.
Another significant thing that I realized while reading this section was the effect of imprisonment on the novel. Dr. Manette was a victim of imprisonment. He had been in prison for eighteen years before he was finally freed, and after he was let free, he was afraid to remember his past because he did not want to lose himself. When he would be overcome by his past, he would begin his shoemaking again. To him, shoemaking was his escape. He used it to escape from his thoughts.
Another thing that I discovered about Dr. Manette is that he has many internal conflicts. He is often seen pacing back and forth late at night in his bedroom. I think these internal conflicts foreshadow that it will be discovered what exactly happened in his past and why it is so hard for him to think about.
The beginning of chapter 7 seems to be somewhat comical the way it says, "Monseigneur was in his inner room, his sanctuary of sanctuaries, the Holiest of Holiests to the crowd of worshippers in the suite of rooms without... this morning's chocolate could not so much as get into the throat of Monseigneur, without the aid of four strong men besides the Cook." How could it take four men for someone to swallow something? I don't get it!! One man carried the chocolate into the room, one man stirred the chocolate, one man gave Monseigneur a fancy napkin, and the last man pour the chocolate. "It was impossible for Monseigneur to dispense with one of these attendants on the chocolate and hold his high place under the admiring Heavens." I think that this basically means that Monseigneur was of high class and status and if he would get rid of one of his servants he wouldn't be as "high." I think that is kind of pathetic.
The Farmer General is introduced in this chapter. The Farmer General is a wealthy upper class person who pocketed extra money he would collect from taxes. Monseigneur want his sister to marry the Farmer General so that she would never have to worry about money or going into debtors prison for money.
Also in this chapter something that I and most other people would call immoral happens. While Marquis is racing in his carriage through the streets, a child is run over. To make up for the loss of this child, he throws a couple of coins at the wine shop owner and the child's father. As he drives away, a couple of the coins are thrown back at him in anger, and Marquis just says that he would be willing to run over any of them. I don't understand how things such as this could happen. Someone's child was just run over and killed but no one does anything about it. Why??? Were the people afraid that if they did something then all of them would be killed by the guilletiene because they were of lower-class? I think that it is just unjust how something like that would happen. By nobody doing anything to stand up for the man, it reminds me of the Holocaust. The Jews would get taken away, but no one would stand up for each other until it was them that was picked and it was too late.
In chapter 8, I am rather surprised to find out that Charles Darnay is the nephew of Marquis. Marquis is the uncle of Darnay because he is Darnay's father's twin brother. Also within the next chapter, the reader discovers that Darnay suspects his uncle of being involved in putting him into prison for treason. Darnay says, "I have come back, sir,... pursuing the object that took me away. It carried me into great and unexpected peril..." By this, Darnay is speaking of his uncle, and he shows to the reader of his suspicion toward his uncle. But actually Darnay did not committ treason, he only went to France so often for family business and for his mother. I think that the family business that is spoken of is his name being changed.