Dicken's CLAQ

A Tale of Two Cities

 

1. Summary: In the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, a social turmoil spreads over France and England. In the beginning Jarvis Lorry is given a message to meet a young women, the lady's name is Lucie Manette. She is a orphan with a father who was put in prison, but then later found in France a man driven mad by his 18 years in prison Charles Darnay is accused of treason and is set on trial, Lucie and her father, Doctor Manette, watch the proceedings. Carton is Darnay's colleague that assisted him in court, but carton resents and despises him. Darnay's Uncle later arrives and on the way killed a young pelbian on the street, he has no remorse over the poor, this upsets Darnay and he reveals he is setting off to England. Later that night, his uncle is murdered, a note is left signed, "Jacques". Years pass and both Darnay and Carton confess their love to Lucie. Darnay asks Manette for Lucie's hand in marriage and during this time major problems result; In London, Jerry Cruncher got stuck in a funeral procession for a spy and later steals and sells the body of him, known as a "Resurrection-Man". In Paris, a spy named John Barsad, is hoping to find evidence on the mounting revolution which is still in its covert stages. In 1789, The revolution begins and a man of the Evrémonde estate is imprisoned, and being part of that family, Darnay rushes back to France. When coming back to France, he is arrested for the accusation of being an emigrant, he is put into jail and Carton arrives back to bail him out. Two brothers of the Evrémonde happened to rape and murder Madame Defarge's brother and is wanting revenge out to Darnay. Carton arranges the Manette's and Darnay's escape out of france. He disguises himself as Darnay in jail and he is later executed and Madam Defarge is killed by her own gun, leaving the others free.
2. Theme: The possibility of resurrection and sacrifice. Example: "A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. 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 room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imagin-ings, a secret to the heart nearest it! Something of the awfulness, even of Death itself, is referable to this." Carton sacrifices himself for the love of Lucie and to gain a meaning for himself in life.
3. The author's tone is sentimental and sarcastic/ satirical.

• Satire example: "That, for these reasons, the jury, being a loyal jury (as he knew they were), and being a responsible jury (as THEY knew they were), must positively find the prisoner Guilty, and make an end of him, whether they liked it or not. That, they never could lay their heads upon their pillows; that, they never could tolerate the idea of their wives laying their heads upon their pillows; that, they never could endure the notion of their children laying their heads upon their pillows; in short, that there never more could be, for them or theirs, any laying of heads upon pillows at all, unless the prisoner's head was taken off." A description of the court case in England of Darnay and the lawyer's argument. It is suppose to be a serious subject but then gets over the top and humorous.
• Example of the sentimental side: "One year and three months. […]Every day, through the stony streets, the tumbrils now jolted heavily, filled with Condemned. 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 into light from the dark cellars of the loathsome prisons, and carried to her through the streets to slake her devouring thirst. Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death;--the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine!" This excerpt isn't comical or have any satirical tone, rather it talks about a sad violent subject.
• When Carton is about to be put to death, there is the repetition of "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." This example shows the hope and peaceful side of the story to the reader.

4. Five literary elements/ techniques I observed that strengthened my understanding of the theme and the sense of the tone were anaphora, irony, foreshadowing, personification, and paradox. "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 to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way. . " This is the example of Anaphora, repeating It was throughout. Irony was in the novel when Jerry is called an honest man. "Jerry you honest tradesman..." In fact he turns out to be in the end of the book a sneaky man. Another example of Irony is when Charles Dickens write about the Revolution, the readers and the people in the book think the Revolution will make things better when actually is a reign of terror. Foreshadowing was in the novel for example: When a wine cask shatters and the description of hands, feet, and mouths stained red from the spilled wine, Dickens says the time will come when the people will be stained red with another substance, blood. An example of personification is when Dickens conveys the concept of hunger through the chimneys of the poor and the rattling of the dry bones. Last, paradox was used to help strengthen the theme and tone in the very beginning of the novel with the example: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

Great Expectations

1. The plot involves a mysterious man named Gatsby. He is known by many, but personally known by few. Gatsby throws lavish, grand parties frequently. He does this in order to impress an old love named Daisy, and try to get her back. When an opportunity arises to get her back, Gatsby jumps on it and they rekindle their love. However, Gatsby's pursuits eventually end in his murder

2. The theme of the novel is love. All of Gatsby's actions were driven by love. For example, he threw parties, went out of his way to meet up, and took the blame for a hit and run to win Daisy's love. Love is the reason why Gatsby was living in the past, and couldn't look to his future. Ironically, love is also what ended his life.

3. The author's tone is solemn. Examples include when Tom breaks his mistress' nose when she disrespects him, when Gatsby is shot dead in his pool, and when Myrtle is run over. The book consists of tense, serious scenes. There is almost no humor or happy experiences in the novel.

4. Five literary elements/techniques that helped my understanding of the theme/tone were imagery, characterization, setting, symbolism, and diction. An excerpt of symbolism is the green light on Daisy's dock. "A single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock." It. represents the hopefulness and longing for love. Although Gatsby cannot reach it, it is always there- just like his devotion for Daisy. An example of setting was East Egg and West Egg. The two both represented wealth, but it also demonstrated that Daisy and Gatsby were disparate; they had grown apart. An instance of imagery is the valley of ashes. "This is a valley of ashes--a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight." This quote uses vivid imagery for the reader to visualize.