TALE OF TWO CITIES - WEEK 9 - BOOK 2 CHAPTERS 23 - 24 - BOOK 3 - CHAPTERS 1 - 2

TALE OF TWO CITIES by Charles Dickens

Woohoo! We crossed into Book 3 this week! That means we only have 3 more weeks of reading A Tale of Two Cities!

CHAPTER 23 - FIRE RISES

France

I find that I love the simple mender of roads that appears so often in this book. I find him to be the face of the peasant man in this novel- what he thinks, how he acts. There is an everydayness about him as he goes about his routine and thinks about the happenings.

Today, as he works and ponders, he notices the change that has come over the land since the death of the Monseigneur. The Monseigneur as a person and as a class (the aristocracy) caused this brokenness to happen everywhere he looks. Things were done and used up for his pleasure and the pleasure of the class, but that's not what the mender is paying attention to. He notices the change in the faces of the common person and the fact that they are now seen. As he thinks on these things, a figure comes walking down the road. They identify each other by "Jacques." They are both a part of the growing revolution. They sit and talk a few minutes, and we know something big is about to happen tonight. The man falls asleep and our mender of roads checks him out. Notice that after looking the newcomer over, the mender lifts his eyes to the horizon and in his mind's eye sees similar figures all around France about to do in other places what this man has come to do. That night, the village waits with bated breath. Four flames appear at the chateau held by four people named East, West, North, and South. Why are they named this way? Because they are spreading the revolution in all four directions of France. They light the chateau on fire and it burns to the ground.

One last thing to note in this chapter. We met Monsieur Gabelle. Gabelle is not an aristocrat. He works for the government which puts him on the villagers hit list. Remember his name, because we're going to speak about him again in a moment. After lighting the chateau on fire, the people gather around his house demanding to speak to him. He heavily bars his door and goes to his roof deciding if they break the door down, he will jump off to his death hopefully killing one or two in the process. Eventually, the people give up and go back to their homes.

CHAPTER 24 - DRAWN TO THE LOADSTONE ROAD

England

I find this chapter absolutely brilliant. We had to ask ourselves how Darnay was going to get drawn into the spider's web and here it is.

Three years have gone by. Dickens gives us the Monseigneur and the Devil paragraph solidifying the fact that the Monseigneur has created this monster and is now paying for it. Many of the nobles have fled France to get away.

I love, love, love how this chapter unfolds inside Tellson's Bank. Darnay has stopped by to visit Lorry who is preparing to head to France for bank business. Darnay admits that he wishes he were going. While they are chatting, Dickens tells us that a group of French nobles is talking together in a corner with Stryver. Here's where it gets fun. A soiled letter is handed to Lorry addressed to Marquis St. Evremonde (I just love saying that last name. It flows off the tongue so nicely. Ev-ruh-mond.) Lorry has been attempting to deliver it but with no success. No one knows who the new Marquis is. But Darnay does, doesn't he?! Lorry shows it to the French nobles. They don't know what the new marquis looks like. They know it's the old marquis' nephew. They have some choice things to say about the man. They look at him as a disgrace - one who "abandoned his post." Darnay speaks up saying he knows who the marquis is and will deliver the letter to him. Stryver jumps in and belittles the marquis as well to which Darnay responds that maybe they don't "understand the gentleman." He takes the letter and goes outside around the corner of the bank and opens it.

The letter is from Gabelle (remember last chapter). Even though he is not a noble, he has been looking after Evremonde's estate. Because of this, he has been arrested. Darnay takes responsibility for the action. Even though he renounced the title he never set up how things should be done. He just left. The only answer to all of this is to go to France. Here's where the title of the chapter comes into play. The story alludes to Arabian Nights and the tale about a ship that is drawn to the loadstone, a magnetic rock, that pulls all the nails from the hull. The ship breaks apart and goes down.

Our insides cry out as Darnay kids himself into the idea that he will be safe returning to France. Heck, he might be able to stop all this craziness. Dickens calls it a "mirage." Note that he decides not to tell Lucie and Little Lucie. After all, I'm sure they wouldn't have been as sure of his safety as he was.

Darnay steps back into the bank and gives Lorry a message for Gabelle. Tell him "he has received the letter and will come."

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

BOOK 3 - CHAPTER 1 - IN SECRET

France

I'm not going to spend much time on this chapter. It doesn't take long and Darnay is caught and taken to La Force prison.

-DeFarge takes him and talks with him as they go. He asks him if he married Dr. Manette's daughter.

-Note that in this chapter the guillotine is mentioned. It is personified as a female.

-Darnay asks DeFarge to deliver a message to Lorry at the bank. He will not help him.

-The king is in prison at this point.

-The part that caught my attention the most in this chapter was the juxtaposition when Darnay enters the prison. The prison is dark and dirty and placed side by side with this picture is the imprisoned aristocrats that stand to receive him with all of their refinement when he enters the cell. I was really struck by that mental image.

CHAPTER 2 - The Grindstone

France

This chapter opens in the French branch of Tellson's Bank where Lorry is. As he looks out the window into the courtyard he notices a large crowd of people around a grindstone sharpening their blades. Gruesome work is happening around it. Everything is bloody. The peasants, the grindstone, the knives, everything is covered in blood. The peasants look hideous as they wear the fake eyebrows and moustaches, silks and lace that they've obviously taken from the nobles. Note some of the women are drinking wine in the midst of all the blood, and we can't help but feel as if we are taken back to the scene in front of DeFarge's wine shop with the broken wine barrel. Now ,instead of being covered with wine they are truly covered with blood. (Do you think the baptism in it is purging their country of its sins?) Ironically, Lorry takes a moment and thanks God that no one he loves is here in all of this. At that moment, Lucie and her father come in and Lorry learns that Darnay is imprisoned here. Lucie goes to look out the window, but Lorry stops her from seeing the horror. He puts her in a backroom and sends Dr. Manette to La Force. Dr. Manette is able to travel freely since it is known he was wrongly imprisoned. We don't know the story behind that yet, but don't worry! We soon will!