I am sure that you have heard of the famous author, Charles Dickens. I am also sure that you have probably heard of the book he wrote called, A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens wrote this novel in London during the year 1859. The setting of this novel was in the outskirts of London and Paris. I think there are many themes that can be addressed in this book. Some of themes are resurrection, class struggle, fate, social injustice, and revenge. I could discuss all of them in detail, but for right now I want to talk about the classes and about how much injustice there was during the time of this book. Very different classes that all need new world control can cause much social injustice and conflict in a world that is all about hatred and revenge. This book might be fiction but it sure is something that really could have happened. I chose this passage that you can see in the next paragraph because I really feel like it explains almost all of the themes very well. Although it doesn’t directly state one of the themes being addressed, if you look within you can find them.
The passage I chose to talk about with my theme says, “The wine was red wine, and had stained the ground of the narrow street in the suburb of Saint Antoine, in Paris, where it was spilled. It had stained many hands, too, and many faces, and many naked feet, and many wooden shoes. The hands of the man who sawed the wood, left red marks on the billets; and the forehead of the woman who nursed her baby, was stained with the stain of the old rag she wound about her head again. Those who had been greedy with the staves of the cask, had acquired a tigerish smear about the mouth; and one tall joker so besmirched, his head more out of a long squalid bag of a night-cap than in it, scrawled upon a wall with his finger dipped in muddy wine-lees—blood” (A Tale of Two cities, 64).
This passage was taken from a scene in front of an old wine shop in Paris where a wine bottle had been broken and wine spilled everywhere. I think one of the things that Dickens wanted us to know as a reader is that these were very hard times to live in. There was extreme poverty and sickness, social injustice, and many other cruel things that apply to the themes of the book. In this passage, it shows that the people are not only physically starved but I also think it may symbolize that they are hungry for something new. They need something to change within their world so that they can have more justice, and to get away from all of their misery. A Tale of Two Cities really shows just how bad things got during this time in London and Paris, and so many innocent people were getting killed. The lower classes wanted revenge on the higher classes called the aristocracy. Like I said earlier, even though this passage does not address all parts of the book specifically, if you look into it you can see how it is significant to Dickens’ novel as a whole.
The imagery from this passage is very intense. When I first read it, I pictured people with blood all over them like they had just came from some sort of war. Even though what was on them was not blood, but in fact wine, the wine still resembles blood in a way. Part of the passage says, “Those who had been greedy with the staves of the cask, had acquired a tigerish smear about the mouth; and one tall joker so besmirched, his head more out of a long squalid bag of a night-cap than it in, scrawled upon a wall with his finger dipped in muddy wine-lees-blood.” The people were so poor and starving that they acted like wild animals. They were even compared to a tiger in this passage. This imagery relates to the theme in many ways.
As I read this part from the book over and over again, I can’t help but get such a clear mental image of what was actually going on at the time of the book, and what was going on with all of the injustice in the world. These people were probably the very lowest class. I am sure that many of the aristocracy in London and in Paris didn’t even know that this was going on. I don’t think they cared either. In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens gives us many examples and imagery of the world these important characters lived in. The tone of this passage can also tell us a lot about the theme of the book.
As the narrator is telling us the story of what happened to a broken wine bottle in the late 1700’s, he says it in kind of a sad and heartbroken tone. But he also acted like it was a very normal thing. Things like this probably happened all the time in these parts of the world at this time. Sad things like innocent people getting sent to the guillotine happened all the time. This was one of the main parts of this Dickens’ novel. Charles Darnay, just after marrying Lucie Manette, is sent through multiple trials for crimes he did not commit. Luckily, Sydney Carton looked enough like Charles that in the end he could take his place at the guillotine. Enough about the characters though, this example just shows even more about the theme of injustice. Sydney should have never had to take Charles’ place for death. No crime was committed by any of them, yet they were still punished.
Madame Defarge is another important character who also shows one of the themes of this book. Madame Defarge is a very revenge-stricken character. She knits names of people in the aristocracy who she has as victims. This woman is not a happy lady in any way shape or form. I think that Dickens is trying to show us a very important lesson with Madame Defarge. I think he wants us to realize that nothing good will ever come with wanting so much revenge. I think that even within this passage, if we look close enough we can see how it relates to the themes of this book. It shows how nothing good ever comes from acting like a savage. The people described in the above passage really are comparable to savages.
The passage I mentioned earlier really covers the themes of the book A Tale of Two Cities. The main themes in A Tale of Two Cities are just how much injustice there was at the time of this book and how all the different classes were treated. How the different classes were treated even goes right alongside with all of the social injustice. Very different classes that all need new world control can cause much social injustice and conflict in a world that is all about hatred and revenge. Nothing good ever comes from a world filled with angry and vengeful people. This book was a very interesting book that may seem scary at first, but once you get into it you can really learn a lot of important life lessons from it. I encourage you all to go read it so you can learn more about the characters and the real story of the book.
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