A Tale of Two Cities Book III, Chapters XI- XV

[Zulfiya]

This is the final installment of this discussion. These final chapters conclude the novel with one of the most satisfying end, not the most pleasant one, but possibly the most emotionally redeeming chapters.

Sydney Carton is undoubtedly one of the most complex and memorable characters that Dickens ever created. His complexity and his atonement are amazing but somehow believable. He takes the place of Charles Darnay because of their uncanny similarity and saves his life and the happiness and any future for Lucie.

In this novel, Dickens deals with the dubious and ambiguous religious themes. Darnay is punished because of the sins of his father. "You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.” Exodus 20:5

On the other hand, Carton's final decision is triggered in its entirety by the quote '“I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die'

The second message is obviously more powerful than the first because revenge plotted by Madame Defarge fails and Darney is saved through Carton who sacrifices his life to save him and Lucie's future.

1. So here is my question. Why involve religious motives and show preference towards one but not the other even if all of them should be sacred for spiritual people of Christian denomination and both were clearly played out in the novel?

2. Dickens also involves elements of Greek and Renaissance tragedies - a father-in-law is an unwitting condemner of his son-in-law (destiny) or Carton buying a drug that will put Darnay to sleep (very Shakespearean, isn't it). Is the novel a tragedy, and if yes, do we go through an emotional purging?

3. Dickens also treats revolutions and any terror associated with it with caution. After reading the final chapter, I have a feeling that the death of so many people was a certain purging, a revolutionary purgatory after which we can still hope to see a better future not only for Lucie, her daughter, her husband, and their unborn son, but also for the whole nation. Am I unique in that perception?

4. Revolutions have been a popular topic in literature for a while. Does this topic reflect our inability to handle transformation peacefully or it is a litmus test for fiction writers because they expose in the grotesque form the good, the bad, and the ugly of the human race?

P.S. Please rate the book and explain your choice of you have a couple of minutes to spare :-)

Meanwhile I think August 04 could be a good day to start the most ambiguous novel, Great Expectations. Don't you think?

[Robin P, Moderator]

On a lighter note, Carton fills the role we see in pop culture in the movies. Rick in Casablanca seems to be uninterested in world events, just looking out for himself, but at the end he does the noble thing. The same with Rhett Butler who, perhaps unbelievably, joins the Southern army, after being a war profiteer. And Han Solo comes back to rescue Luke Skywalker, after claiming he has no attachments. The "bad" boys turn out to have a heart of gold and a larger view, though only Carton puts in a Christian context.

[Feliks]

Here at last then, are my impressions on some of the most exciting scenes at the very end of the novel.

DON'T follow this link if you haven't reached the very end of the book; because it examines in detail a fiery, edge-of-your-chair sequence I'm sure you would rather not have spoiled!

But anyway yes, here is me beaming, overflowing, and ebullient about how much I love the way he wraps up this fantastic saga:

http://tinyurl.com/ozjp28y

[Margaret]

Spoiler if you haven't reached the end:

The wrestling match between the venerable Miss Pross and the tigress Therese Defarge is one of my most favorite moments in all literature. Film can't depict the way these two hurl insults at one another each in her own language and not understood.
Ah, Miss Pross! Red-heads vindicated!

[Frances, Moderator]

Margaret-that was one of my favourites as well-a masterful idea to have them arguing in different languages without understanding each other-a great comic touch shattered by the death of one of the participants and the subsequent hearing loss of the other.

Equally masterful was his choice to finish the novel focussed on what had been up to this point a minor character making the supreme sacrifice for his rival in love. We learn the fates of the principals through Carton's imaginings of how their lives will go on, and he clearly feels his life has finally found worth and meaning. The character of the seamstress, demonstrating both the excesses of the Revolution in sweeping up such obvious innocents in its path and allowing Carton to demonstrate his good heart, was a nice added touch.

Zulfiya, I agree with your assessment of Dickens view of the Terror-that in the end a balance will be achieved and both Paris and France will rise the better-and Dickens is equally or more firm in his condemnation of the excesses of the Aristocracy and their degradation of the poor, a lesson he no doubt is preaching to the English as well.

This is the first Dickens I have read which moved me to tears at the end-I had of course heard the last lines quoted often, but had never known the context. Quite an achievement for any book, to have its opening and closing lines enter the collective consciousness of a culture!

[Frances, Moderator]

One more thought-what did you think of Mme Defarge dying before she could enjoy her final triumph-the death of Evremont? Was this simply required as a plot device (and the suspense as she is walking ever closer to those two comic characters, Cruncher and Pross, was brilliant) or was it a comment on the ultimately soul-destroying quest for revenge (she dies because she insists on rounding up the entire family, not satisfied by the death of the son only).

Zulfiya-I felt the religious question beautifully illustrates that dichotomy between the Old Testament of the stern and jealous God vs the New Testament of love and forgiveness. Perhaps that is somehow mirrored in the choice between Revolution in which revenge and retribution predominate, and reform which often involves a much slower transition to equality and requires a certain degree of forgiveness (such as in the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission). Clearly Dickens advocated for, and England ultimately followed, the latter path.

[Abigail]

Carton’s act seems psychologically believable to me. He views himself as a hopeless sinner (though that view seems a bit egocentric to this reader), the only chance of redemption in his life being his love for Lucie. With his sacrifice of his (mostly) worthless self, in his eyes, he can give her the lasting happiness of being reunited with her husband. And in his essentially arrogant mind-set, he gets to equate his sacrifice with Jesus’! A bonus. Meanwhile, Dickens gets his moments of literary apotheosis, with Darnay as well as Carton dying and being reborn. I kid, but it was an emotionally satisfying ending.

As for Frances’s question, “What did you think of Mme Defarge dying before she could enjoy her final triumph . . .”—I’d say that Dickens is being consistent with Christian doctrine here: Grace must always triumph. We’ve seen a rather explicit instance of the irresistible power of Grace in South Carolina over the past month.