A TALE OF TWO CITIES BOOK CLUB - WEEK 7 - BOOK 2 - CHAPTERS 15 - 18

A TALE OF TWO CITIES by Charles Dickens

How's everyone doing out there in literature land? Are you able to keep up? Are you understanding the story alright? Hopefully, these recaps help!

CHAPTER 15 - KNITTING

We find ourselves back in France in the Defarge's wine shop.

Don't you just love the beautiful comparisons in the first few paragraphs to help us set the mood of the morning? Thin, sour wine matches the sour mood. Battered, defaced coins comparable to the peasants that produced them from their pockets. One of the neat things about Dickens' writing is we can see everything he describes. We've all held coins in our hands that we know will be pulled from circulation due to their shape. They are pockmarked and dented. They've been used and abused just like the peasants.

Defarge walks into the wine shop with Jacques (the mender of the roads), and tells Madame Defarge to pour him a stiff drink. Do you remember this guy? He's the one who spoke to the Marquis about the man attached to the Marquis" carriage the day the Marquis ran the child over. Now, he has come to tell the Defarges what he has recently seen. The man as arrested. As the man passes the mender of the roads their eyes meet, and they recognize each other. He is Gaspard, the father of the child killed under the wheels of the Marquis' carriage. Gaspard is marched into the prison where we get this beautiful imagery again. The prison gate swallows him, and he is gone. He is held in there for days. A petition is made to the king and queen. Defarge himself delivered it by jumping out in front of their carriage. He is hit repeatedly for doing this by the soldiers. Gaspard is not released. Instead, a gallows is built by the village fountain, the place where everyone gathers. On the day of his execution, he is made to look like a buffoon. His mouth is tied by a gag into a hideous smile, and he is marched to the gallows and hung over the fountain water where he poisons it. I can't imagine the horror of this scene for the villagers.

Beside this, there are two more things to note in this chapter before we move on. The first, a list of names is being recorded in a most unusual way. Did you catch it? Madame's making a list of names in her knitting. The second, later, after watching the aristocracy parade around like a flock of birds, Madame asks the mender of the roads if he would be able to "strip them of their feathers for his own advantage?" He affirms that he would.

CHAPTER 16 - Still Knitting

Small town rumors - you have to love them.. The sound of tongues wagging is prevalent as the people spread tales about the stone faces on the chateau. How they changed when the Marquis died, and how they changed again when Gaspard was executed.

Meanwhile, the Defarges have returned to their wine shop and a spy, John Barsard, walks in. The Defarges knew he might be coming and here he is. Madame Defarge is back in all her glory. Instead of clearing her throat at the entrance of an unknown visitor, she takes a rose and puts it into her hair. Everyone stops talking and one by one they drift out the door. You have to chuckle a bit as this guy tries to pump Madame Defarge for information, and she knits his name right into her register. He tries to get her to talk about Gaspard and give up her true feelings about his execution. She doesn't bite. Defarge comes in, and Barsard calls him "Jacques." Defarge tells him that's not his name. Poor spy can't get a word out of these two, but then he drops a bomb. He tells them Lucie Manette is to be married to Charles Darnay who is the current Marquis de Evremonde. Steady Madame Defarge keeps right on knitting, but Monsieur Defarge? It's all he can do to keep his hands from trembling and giving him away. The spy leaves.

Note the conversation at the end of the chapter. We have this continuing thread of fate/destiny that shows up again. Defarge hopes that Darnay stays out of France, but Madame Defarge says it will "lead him to the end that is to end him" as she knits his name into her list.

CHAPTER 17 - One Night

England

This chapter is an endearing scene between Lucie and her father sitting together under a tree talking. Lucie is about to be married to Charles Darnay. The main thing that happens is that for the first time, Dr. Manette makes mention of the dark times in his life. He mentions how he would look at the moon and think about how it was shining on "what he had lost." He thought of his unborn child. Did the child live or die? He would imagine the child, but now he sees the real one.

CHAPTER 18 - Nine Days

England

It's wedding day. Remember the Two Promises chapter? Remember what's supposed to happen on this morning? Darnay will tell Dr. Manette who he really is, and he does. Only Lorry notices the subtle change that happens in the Dr. He's pale, but Lorry detects an air of "avoidance and dread."

The wedding ends. Darnay and Lucie are off on their honeymoon. Miss Pross and Lorry are in charge of Dr. Manette while they are gone. Lorry has some business to attend to at the bank, and when he returns he finds Pross in a state. Dr. Manette is back at his workbench making shoes. They try with no success to get him to talk to them. He just continues making shoes. Two decisions are made: 1.) this must be kept from Lucie, and 2) this must be kept from everyone who knows Dr. Manette. For the first time, Lorry takes time off from the bank. This continues for 9 days, and with each day that passes, Dr. Manette's shoemaking skills increase.