Fire and Knowledge

Introduction

I had more quotes from this three hundred and seventy page book than other books of triple the length.  Why?  Because Charles Dickens is a masterful author, spinning tales out of history that results in a gold-woven masterpiece.  His stories are made up of individual words that come together for a magnificent whole.  It seems as if every word was agonized over, making sure it fits in its proper place.  we are the beneficiaries of those labors, and we are grateful for them.

Main Themes

Privacy / State Secrecy

Reading A Tale of Two Cities can be, at times, like reading 1984.  No privacy, no fair trials, public executions, and the law of the Suspected all point us to the conclusion that privacy has been quenched and the state is more corrupt than it was.

Dissipation

Sydney Carton was the anthropomorphic Dissipation in the novel.  Yet, he is elevated into heroic status in the end by ceasing his former ways and dying for his great two causes—Lucie and Justice.

Substitution

The fantastic ending of A Tale of Two Cities has been applauded by many.  It strikes a nerve in us deep down, and there is a reason—it just feels right.  There is something about substitutionary death that we are wired to believe in and say “Yes!” to.

Yet it is the opposite in one sense of what happened at the Cross—Syndey Carton was the unjust (in terms of his dissipation) dying for the just (in terms of Darnay’s innocence).  But Jesus Christ (the just) died for the unjust (us!).

Buried Alive / Redemption

Many times throughout the novel the idea of being “buried alive,” especially in regard to Lucie’s father.  Redemption is portrayed through his redemption from prison and Darnay’s redemption from execution at the cost of Syndey Carton’s life.

Depravity

Dickens portrays, in typical masterful irony, that overthrowing oppression with no accountability makes life just as bad—no, worse—than if nothing had been done.  Yes, things were very bad in France before the Revolution.  But after things became even worse, and a horrible amount of blood was split in the name of that great barber, La Guillotine.

Revenge / Vengeance

This would, of course, be centered mostly around Mrs. Defarge who vows to revenge her sister and brother who were killed by Darnay’s relatives (the Evrémondes).  Consider what she says:

“. . . those dead are my dead, and that summons to answer for those things descends to me!” (pg. )

“But, the Evrémonde people are to be exterminated, and the wife and the child must follow the husband and father.” (pg. 356)

“. . . my husband has not my reason for pursuing this family annihilation, and I have not his reason for regarding this Doctor with any sensibility.  I must act for myself, therefore.” (pg. 356)

Also of Interest

Dickens mentions some early charismatics:

“As a promising way of setting them right, half of the half-dozen had become members of a fantastic sect of Convulsionists, and were even then considering within themselves whether they should foam, rage, roar, and turn cataleptic on the spot . . .” (pg. 108)

What is most interesting about it is the charismatic/Pentecostal movement has mainly been a 20th century movement, and while this is certainly not a positive light regarding the Convulsionists, it is interesting that Dickens knew of them and knew that they liked to foam and rage, much like hyper-charismatics today.  However, he could be misrepresenting them.

Memorable Quotes

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct the other way . . .” (pg. 7)

“There was a steaming mist in all the hollows, and it had roamed in its forlornness up the hill, like an evil spirit, seeking rest and finding none.” (pg. 11)

“A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it!” (pg. 16)

“Very orderly and methodical he looked, with a hand on each knee, and a loud watch ticking a sonorous sermon under his flapped waistcoat, as though it pitted its gravity and longevity against the levity and evanescence of the brisk fire.” (pg. 21)

“Perhaps second-hand cares, like second-hand clothes, come easily off and on.” (pg. 22)

“The beach was a desert of heaps of sea and stones tumbling wildly about, and the sea did what it liked, and what it liked was destruction.  It thundered at the town, and thundered at the cliffs, and brought the coast down, madly.” (pg. 23)

“But, indeed, at that time, putting to death was a recipe much in vogue with all trades and professions, and not least of all with Tellson’s.  Death is Nature’s remedy for all things, and why not Legislation’s?  Accordingly, the forger was put to Death; the utterer of a bad note was put to Death; the unlawful opener of a letter was put to Death . . . ” (pg. 56)

“The upshot of which was, to smash this witness like a crockery vessel, and shiver his part of the case to useless lumber.” (pg. 76)

“Mr. Lorry knew Miss Pross to be very jealous, but he also knew her by this time to be, beneath of surface of her eccentricity, one of those unselfish creatures—found only among women—who will, for pure love and admiration, bind themselves willing slaves, to youth when they have lost it, to beauty that they never had, to accomplishments that they were never fortunate enough to gain, to bright hopes that never shone upon their own somber lives.” (pg. 97)

“ ‘Never imagine anything.  Have no imagination at all.’ ” (pg. 98)

“Doctors who made great fortunes out of dainty remedies for imaginary disorders that never existed, smiled upon their courtly patients in the ante-chambers of Monseigneur.” (pg. 107)

“ ‘Detestation of the high is the involuntary homage of the low.’ ” (pg. 124)

“In the village, taxers and taxed were fast asleep.  Dreaming, perhaps, of banquets, as the starved usually do, and of ease and rest, as the driven slave and the yoked ox may, its lean inhabitants slept soundly, and were fed and freed.” (pg. 128)

“ ‘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.  Find out some respectable women with a little property—somebody in the landlady way, or lodging-letting way—and marry her, against a rainy day.  That’s the kind of thing for you.’ ” (pg. 141)

“Mr. Lorry, you cannot control the mincing vanities and giddinesses of empty-headed girls; you must not expect to do it, or you will always be disappointed.” (pg. 148)

“Mr. Cruncher was out of spirits, and out of temper, and kept an iron potlid by him as a projectile for the correction of Mrs. Cruncher, in case he should observe any symptoms of her saying Grace.” (pg. 162)

“ ‘Vengeance and retribution require a long time; it is the rule.’ ” (pg. 177)

“People who could lay hold of nothing else, set themselves with bleeding hands to force stones and bricks out of their places in walls . . . . Every living creature there held life as of no account, and was demented with a passionate readiness to sacrifice it.” (pg. 212)

“Villain Foulon taken, my sister.  Old Foulon taken, my mother.  Miscreant Foulon taken, my daughter.  Then, a score of others ran into the midst of these, beating their breasts, tearing their hair, and screaming, Foulon alive.  Foulon who told the starving people they might eat grass.  Foulon who told my old father that he might eat grass, when I had no bread to give him.  Foulon who told my baby it might suck grass, when these breasts were dry with want.  O mother of God, this Foulon.  O Heaven, our suffering.  Hear me, my dead baby and my withered father: I swear on my knees, on these stones, to avenge you on Foulon!  Husbands, and brothers, and young men, Give us the blood of Foulon, Give us the head of Foulon, Give us the heart of Foulon, Give us the body and soul of Foulon, Rend Foulon to pieces, and dig him into the ground, that grass may grow from him.  With these cries, numbers of the women, lashed into blind frenzy, whirled about, striking and tearing at their own friends until they dropped into a passionate swoon, and were only saved by the men belonging to them from being trampled under foot.” (pg. 221)

“The universal watchfulness so encompassed him, that if he had been taken into a net, or were being forwarded to his destination in a cage, he could not have felt his freedom more completely gone.” (pg. 245)

“ ‘In the name of that sharp female newly-born, and called La Guillotine, why did you come to France?’ ” (pg. 252)

“. . . that a man in good clothes should be going to prison, was no more remarkable than that a labourer in working clothes should be going to work.” (pg. 253)

“Troubled as the future was, it was the unknown future, and in its obscurity there was ignorant hope.” (pg. 253)

“. . . one added, ‘For the love of Liberty;’ which sounded in that place [the prison] like an inappropriate conclusion.” (pg. 254)

“. . . a law of the Suspected [was introduced], which struck away all security for liberty or life, and delivered over any good and innocent person to any bad and guilty one; prisons gorged with people who had committed no offence, and could obtain no hearing; these things became the established order and nature of appointed things, and seemed to be ancient usage before they were many weeks old.  Above all, one hideous figure grew familiar as if it had been before the general gaze from the foundations of the world—the figure of the sharp female called La Guillotine.” (pg. 272)

“It [La Guillotine] was the popular theme for jests; it was the best cure for headache, it infallibly prevented the hair from turning grey, it imparted a peculiar delicacy to the complexion, it was the National Razor which shaved close: who kissed La Guillotine, looked through the little window and sneezed into the sack.  It was the sign of the regeneration of the human race.  It superceded the Cross.  Models of it were worn on breasts from which the Cross was discarded, and it was bowed down to and believed in where the Cross was denied.” (pg. 272)

“Lovely girls; bright women, brown-haired, black-haired, and grey; youths; stalwart men and old; gentle born and peasant born; all red wine for La Guillotine, all daily brought forth into light from the dark cellars of the loathsome prisons, and carried her through the street to slake her devouring thirst.  Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death;–the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine!” (pg. 273)

“Looking at the Jury and the turbulent audience, he might have thought that the usual order of things was reversed, and that the felons were trying the honest men.” (pg. 280)

“ ‘In short,’ said Sydney, ‘this is a desperate time, when desperate games are played for desperate stakes.’ ” (pg. 298)

“ ‘How goes the Republic?’

‘You mean the Guillotine.’ ” (pg. 310)

“ ‘As to what is dearer to you than life, nothing can be so dear to a good citizen as the Republic . . . If the Republic should demand of you the sacrifice of your child herself, you would have no duty but to sacrifice her.’ ” (pg. 314)

“ ‘I am not afraid to die, Citizen Evrémonde, but I have done nothing.  I am not unwilling to die, if the Republic which is to do so much good to us poor, will profit by my death; but I do not know how that can be, Citizen Evrémonde.  [I am] such a poor weak little creature!’ ” (pg. 352)

“The night comes on dark.  He moves more; he is beginning to revive, and to speak intelligibly; he thinks they are still together; he asks him, by his name, what he has in his hand.  O pity us, kind Heaven, and help us!  Look out, look out, and see if we are pursued.

The wind is rushing after us, and the clouds and flying after us, and the moon is plunging after us, and the whole wild night is in pursuit of us; but, so far we are pursued by nothing else.” (pg. 355)

“Along the Paris streets, the death-carts rumble, hollow and harsh.  Six tumbrils carry the day’s wine to La Guillotine.  All the devouring and insatiate Monsters imagined since imagination could record itself, are fused into the one realization, Guillotine.” (pg. 367)

“ ‘But for you, dear stranger, I should not be so composed, for I am naturally a poor little thing, faint of heart; nor should I have been able to raise my thoughts to Him who was put to death, that we might have hope and comfort here to-day.  I think you were sent to me by Heaven.’ ” (pg. 370)

“ ‘It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.’ ” (pg. 372)