A Tale of Two Cities

PART A

Near the end of the novel, I found that Carton seemed to take on the properties of a Christ figure. He doomed himself by delivered himself to the guillotine in order to make sure that the person he cared for- Lucie- was able to stay happy, even though this cost him his own life. Christ also delivered himself to death in order for the people he and his father cared for were able to stay happy.

PART B

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...(page 1)

This quote, for me, was a great example of foreshadowing for the rest of the novel. There are so many parallels drawn throughout the novel- Darnay and Carton, London and Paris, blood and wine, just to name a few- that the first half of the first sentence having seven parallels (repitition!) really set the tone for the rest of the novel, and let me know to look for more parallels in the future.

PART C

I liked A Tale of Two Cities. It was dense and difficult to get through at times, but it was interesting and my attention was held to the very end. I especially liked the opening paragraph, where all the contrasting forces were compared. Even though it was a sentence to rival Hawthorne's, it gave me a good idea of the overall feelings of the books- positives and negatives, all wrapped up together.