Questions for “Book the First” of Charles Dickens’ “Tale of Two Cities”
1) As we begin this novel, what is your experience with it? Is this a first time read, or a re-read? Have you seen a film or play version? What are your impressions and prejudices about the novel and about the plot?
2) The book opens with arguably the most famous opening lines of a novel. A reviewer on Goodreads (I think that was where I saw it) pointed out that no character is introduced in the first chapter. Do you think the lines and this first chapter are effective? Did you note the lack of characters in the first chapter?
3) This book (section) is filled with foreshadowing of the coming storm of the French Revolution. What foreshadowing did you notice in these first chapters, and was it effective for you?
4) In Chapter II, Mr. Lorry begins using the term “recalled to life.” Discuss this motif in these chapters and how it was used. Do you feel that it has been fulfilled by the end of the first section?
5) What did you think of Mr. Lorry’s introduction to Miss Manette? Did you agree or disagree with the way he told the story of his errand, “I to identify him if I can: you, to restore him to life, love, duty, rest, comfort.” (Chapter IV)
6) Chapter V describes wine being spilled outside a wine shop, the crowd’s reaction, and foreshadows another to be spilled on the streets of France. It also introduces the specter of Hunger that haunts the French peasantry. Discuss the themes of this chapter and your reaction to them.
6) Chapter V describes wine being spilled outside a wine shop, the crowd’s reaction, and foreshadows another to be spilled on the streets of France. It also introduces the specter of Hunger that haunts the French peasantry. Discuss the themes of this chapter and your reaction to them.
7) The last chapter of this section, Chapter VI, we see Mr. Manette recalled to life. What did you think of his reaction to his daughter and how he answered the question, “what is your name?”
8) Anything I missed that you noted?
Book The Second is comprised of 24 chapters. Questions will be posted for the first 12 about this time next week. I look forward to your thoughts and the conversation that evolves!
posted by Mimi @ 3/10/2011 02:59:00 PM
7 Comments
7 Comments:
1. Yes, I'd read it years ago, and tried again about 3 years ago but couldn't get into it. I used to be a huge Dickens fan back in my late teens/early twenties. Haven't seen any film adaptations.
2. The first paragraph is so familiar its hard to say how effective it is, though it must be since its still quoted. :-) and NO, I didn't notice the lack of characters and now I'm chagrined. LOL
3. The first chapter was dark, chilling, filled with despair and almost horror. Yes, I found it effective in creating the dynamic needed.
4. I loved the phrase. Though the "life" was not quite accurate yet, since the poor guy seemed to wish to be "buried" still.
5. I guess he thought that seeing the daughter would restore the man? And of course in true Victorian (?) fashion, she seemed to have no feelings about it other than to serve.
6.Dickens' use of words, many words, to create a scene is unparalleled. The spilled wine scene was described so well I can see it, can almost sense the despair of people who would suck mud to taste wine, their lives were that empty and bereft. It was horrifying (and a scene I actually remember from the time I read this in my teens and that was a long time ago). And yes, the intended reminder of the blood running in the streets was effective.
7. Once again, I quibble at saying he is "restored to life" yet. The way he answers the question about his name tells us that.
8. this whole section of the book was dark, foggy, filled with a creeping sense of horror, deliberately shrouded and clouded I guess to mirror the mood of the country at the time.
1) I have never read “Tale of Two Cities” or seen a movie adaptation. I am only vaguely aware that it focuses on The French Revolution.
2) I do like the contrasts drawn in the opening lines – I think it sets the stage for the fact that there are no absolutes in the novel (or in life) and that is going to be the topic of Dickens’ novel. I also hadn’t noted the lack of characters, but felt chagrined when I read that too. I think it is interesting to begin a novel without the focus on the characters, and it made me wonder if the main characters are going to be people or the setting?
3) The foreshadowing was fabulously done, I thought. The way that the wood and the steel were introduced in the beginning chapter was folkloric, and I really liked that, it reminded me of pious tradition about significant items in Christian history. While I can see the argument that he can be “heavy handed” in his foreshadowing, I think it adds a nice richness to the plot.
4) I thought the repetition of “recalled to life” was haunting. It has resurrectional undertones, and it sets the stage very well for the plot unfolding.
5) I agree with Marsha, there is a bit of a Victorian assumption that Miss Manette will jump at the chance to take care of an obviously very damaged man, joyfully and cheerfully. I didn’t like the way that he worked up to a “big reveal” – that had some tackiness for me.
6) The language and the mental pictures in this chapter were absolutely haunting and gorgeous. The foreshadowing of the revolution in the spilled wine, the personification of Hunger haunting the French, and DeFarge answering as “everyman” was very well done and very effective.'
7) I think Mr. Manette is introduced as very broken, and his answer shows that he no longer sees himself as human. It’ll be interesting to see how his character unfolds given this background. I was particularly struck by the fact that the thing that he recognized in his daughter was her golden hair, and the way he saw that a remnant of his wife. Sniff, sniff.
Your answers are awesome! I have nothing to add to the questions as you highlighted the scenes so well. I'll just say that Dickens' view of the ideal woman in Miss Mannette is a bit off-putting. I'm in the next section now and the way she clings to Mr. Lorry is a bit pitiful, but there are enough other things going on to keep me reading. And I have not read AToTC before or seen a movie. I do know the famous last last line though, and look forward to learning more about the speaker and his circumstance.
1) I read it in English class as a Freshman in high school. We also read Great Expectations that year. I wasn't the kind of kid where reading something is school would turn me off of it--there were often times when I read authors in school and got very excited about them or loved the books. However, Dickens wasn't one of those authors. I've never been a big fan. I find him too wordy and wandering, but I haven't read this since then so I'm curious to see how I'll perceive it now.
2) I think the words are very effective at laying out an important theme of the work--contrasts and conflict, especially between rich and poor, but I don't feel like it draws me in as a reader. I'd rather be shown rather than told.
3) Well, in the first chapter it flat out tells us the year the book takes place, and that the Revolution occurs, though the language to convey this is rather flowery (perhaps arboreal is more apt than flowery) He's pretty heavy-handed a about the wine in the streets, too. I think we could have figured out what the wind pre-figured without being told. I find it kind of frustrating that he doesn't give the reader any credit, but leads us by the nose.
4)We see unjust captivity as a metaphor for death, and being freed from it as being recalled to life. I think we're seeing signs of a possible resurrection for the former prisoner, but I'd say he's not quite alive yet. He's so accustomed to captivity is still clinging to it. He can't accept that he might really be free. Very sad and scary thought in terms of the metaphor: that we can become so accustomed to death, that it should seem the natural state of things, so that we can't accept the Resurrection and reject it when it comes.
5) Mr. Lorry seemed determine to disassociate himself from the situation, to treat it as a mere matter of business, yet he was unable to truly do so. He was affected by the child he once helped grown into a young woman, and by the tragic situation. I find his posturing kind of annoying, but also sad.
6) This chapter is chilling. The people seem very fatalistic, and accepting of their situation, but the foreshadowing of the blood in the streets is a grim reminder that the acceptance won't last. Things are about to erupt.
7)I think to be in a situation where your father essentially only recognizes you as your mother would be really uncomfortable, and I find Miss Manette's grateful acceptance of this overly servile, so actually I found this kind of creepy. I did think his clinging to his captivity was tragic and touching, though.
In number three, that should be what the wine pre-figured, but I'm trust you could tell that from context :)
Logging on very belatedly, and I don't have that much to add to the impressive thoughts already here :-) So I'll save it for the second set of questions.
Two things I will throw in, though, both under the #7 Anything I Missed category:
* As a Good Orthodox Girl(tm), I found the relationship that the odious Jerry has with his wife to be too chilling to be comical, even in a dark way. Here's a completely immoral husband -- a thief, a grave-robber and a wife-beater -- and he goes to great lengths to make sure his wife can't *pray*?? Not that the book doesn't give you lots of other things to get outraged over, but I thought that was a chilling look at how a completely rotten soul views even the remote chance of redemption
* One of the balancing acts that Dickens is going to have to keep up through the whole book, it seems, is being disgusted with the abuses of the nobility and yet disgusted with what those poor folk do when they gather together as a mob. It's almost as if he views individual poor people and a mob of poor people as two different characters.
@Sarah - Since I read your comment about Lucie (who I don't think is named in this section) I've been pondering it a lot - how does it affect her to be not recognized for herself, but to be recognized as her mother?
It is interesting to me, and something I think that you bring up well, how some of the action is very subtle and the allegories are very blatant. I keep missing action, but I'm certainly not missing the allusions.
@Grace - As a Good Orthodox Girl (tm) that's a very good point about Lorry and his wife regarding religion. It seems to come up again and again in his life, too.
I also very much agree with your comment about individual characters vs mobs of people. It's something that was pointed out in the preface if my edition, and speaks to Dickens assessment of the current politics of the time he was writing in as well.
@Andrea, thank you, blush! It is great to have you along!
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home