[F2F Book Discussions] July 2014: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens | Moderators: Ycel & DC

[Ycel]

GWAXA: (view spoiler)[

Recall that Dickens introduced the Jackal chapter as follows:

“Those were drinking days, and most men drank hard. So very great is the improvement Time has brought about in such habits, that a moderate statement of the quantity of wine and punch which one man would swallow in the course of a night, without any detriment to his reputation as a perfect gentleman, would seem, in these days, a ridiculous exaggeration. The learned profession of the law was certainly not behind any other learned profession in its Bacchanalian propensities; neither was Mr. Stryver, already fast shouldering his way to a large and lucrative practice, behind his compeers in this particular, any more than in the drier parts of the legal race.”

So Dickens is already telling us that people drank a lot in those days and that the amount of alcohol that a man back then could drink in one night and still remain respectable would seem ridiculous to people today. Lawyers drank as much as people in any other profession. So Carton has this all-night drinking binge, and he keeps wet towels wrapped around his head so he can stay sober (as explained in the glossary) because he has to prepare the legal briefs and all the legal paperwork for his lion. Carton, in a strict clinical sense, is an alcoholic.
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TIN/MONIQUE: (view spoiler)[
And with you two around, I should have seen that a GoT/ATO2C crossover is coming…
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[Gwaxa]

YCEL: HAHAHA. It's in the glossary that I haven't read yet. Grabe. Sorry poooowww. ;)

[DC]

[Reading Plan Day 11: Book 2, Chapters 14-15]

In these chapters, we meet an honest tradesman, and a mender of roads. There seems to be some eeriness in these chapters, perhaps all the more because we just read about some musings on, well, love. Nevertheless, foreboding.


Glossary
Book 2, Chapters 14-15: (view spoiler)[
“…Old Bailey Spi-i-ies!”
(view spoiler)[
The Old Bailey spy whose funeral procession Jerry Cruncher pursues turns out to be Roger Cly, one of the spies who informed – together with the man named Barsad – against Darnay at his trial. Just as Darnay’s trial is based on that of Francis Henry de la Motte, the figure of Barsad is based on de la Motte’s accomplice, Lutterloh, who informed against him (see Glossary for Book II, Chapters One to Three). Roger Cly is based on a spy named Roger who also participated in the de la Motte trial.
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“…my wenturs goes wrong tonight…”
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When Mr. Cruncher, who tends to pronounce “w” like “v,” insists that his “wenturs” are going wrong, he is describing his “ventures” – the pursuits of “a honest tradesman.”
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“If I don’t, you’ll have short commons to-morrow,” returned that gentleman, shaking his head.
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“Commons,” in this sense, are provisions – rations, food. The threat of “short commons” is the threat of an insufficiency.
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“…a jinte of meat or two…”
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Jerry’s “jinte” of meat is a “joint” – one of the portions into which a carcass is divided by the butcher, consisting of one or more bones (e.g. that of the leg or shoulder) with the meat thereon; especially as cooked and served at table.
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The honoured parent steering Northward, had not gone far, when he was joined by another disciple of Izaak Walton, and the two trudged on together.
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Izaak Walton (1593-1683) wrote an early fishing manual known as The Compleat Angler, or, The Contemplative Man’s Recreation: Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing for the Perusal of Anglers (1653).
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“Father, … What’s a Resurrection-Man?”
(view spoiler)[
A “resurrectionist” or “resurrection man” was an “exhumer or stealer of corpses”; the corpses were mostly sold to medical practitioners as cadavers for dissection. An Act of 1540 had allowed only four cadavers a year (of executed criminals) to the Company of Barber Surgeons, which meant that medical schools were woefully under-stocked (“barbers” originally included surgeons and dentists; the Company of Barber-surgeons was incorporated by Edward IV in 1461, afterwards to be known as the Company of Barber Surgeons). The result was the rise of “resurrection men,” who furnished cadavers illegally. “Resurrection” reached epidemic proportions in the late 18th century, and continued well into the 19th. In 1828, however, a Select Committee of Parliament acknowledged the severity of the problem, and in 1832, the Anatomy Act ensured a sufficient supply of cadavers to doctors and medical students.

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Day 5 Question
Do you dig Dickensian literature so far? Love it? Hate it? Why?

[Monique]

Day 5 Question:
(view spoiler)[I'm currently in the middle of Chapter XIV, and so far, so good. I think I got the hang of it - the prose I mean - but there are parts I just don't have any idea about. Haha. Keri lang. :) (hide spoiler)]

[Tin]

Day 5 Question:(view spoiler)[ I am liking it so far. He has a penchant for long sentences, but usually they are filled with awesome descriptive words that create a really vivid image in my mind. O, ang haba ng sentence ko, nahawa na din ako ni Dickens. I really enjoy his humor too, and his exaggerations, and the repetition of certain phrases for impact. Just like....(view spoiler)[Game of Thrones! (hide spoiler)](view spoiler)["If I Look Back I am Lost"; "Where Do Whores Go"; "What Is Dead May Never Die."....obsessed. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Monique: Salut! I bet they don't have anything as fine as Arbor Gold in Defarge's wine shop. Baka mala Dornish red lang yung meron nila. :)

Ycel: Haha. Obsessed na kasi.

[DC]

Monique: Haha, yeah, sometimes I think the references could be difficult at times, but I think the prose itself can take you away in a sea of blood. :) In addition, (view spoiler)[naalala ko nung naguluhan ako sa Honest Tradesman chapter... Na-gets ko lang talaga siya sa may dulo ng book :) (hide spoiler)]

Tin: LOL, Dickensian ka na rin? :)

[DC]

[Reading Plan Day 12: Book 2, Chapters 16-18]

The chapters seem to get controversial, and, lo, a connection is somehow made. Moreover, something happy seems to affect Doctor Manette in a way that appalls Mister Lorry.

(I also think that, in my personal reading, this was the part when I appreciated how Dickens wrote this as serial fiction. I could, with little qualms, literally put down the book after every chapter.)

Glossary
Book 2, Chapters 16-18: (view spoiler)[
“…he is Mr. Charles Darnay. D’Aulnais is the name of his mother’s family.”
(view spoiler)[
Phonetically, “Darnay” is a close equivalent in English to the French “D’Aulnais”: In French pronunciation, the “D” and the “A” of D’Aulnais are run together and the “s” on the end of the name is not pronounced.
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“…during the next fortnight, while you are in Warwickshire and thereabouts, even Tellson’s shall go to the wall (comparatively speaking) before him.”
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“Fortnight,” an abbreviated version of an Old English phrase for “fourteen nights,” means two weeks, and comes from the Germanic method of reckoning time by the number of nights (Oxford English Dictionary). Warwickshire, in which the Darnays’ marital fortnight is to be passed, is a county northwest of London, in the English Midlands. And the expression “to go to the wall” is an old phrase – the first use recorded in the OED dates from the 16th century – originally meaning “to give way, succumb in a conflict or struggle,” and later, in 19th-century usage, “to fail in business.” The later meaning, though not yet current in the 1780s, would have a special aptness for Dickens’ 19th-century readers (since Mr. Lorry is speaking hypothetically of a failure in Tellson’s prosperity, and calls himself and Miss Pross two “formal folks of business”).

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(This will actually be our last glossary for this book. We will still, however, be posting some references as we go along, as Ycel had noted in her post. Nevertheless, should you have any other questions about the references and what not, let us know; we'll try our best to help you out. :D)

[Meliza]

Day 5 Question
(view spoiler)[Compared to other books, this is difficult for me to read but this is a classic so it's a given. I don't hate it. But I read another book after Book 2, a breather. Hehe! After finishing that book, I'm back and currently at Book 3, Chapter 7. Let's say that I got used to the prose. As you said, there are some references that I don't understand. Sometimes I use Google. Sometimes I just continue reading and hope that I'll understand them in the next pages or chapters, as long as I understand the main plot of that chapter.

If that is the last glossary, does that mean that the remaining chapters are easier to read? (hide spoiler)]

[Ycel]

MELIZA:
Book I is the toughest part so if you got past Book II, you are doing great! Yay! We have notes for Book III but these are mostly about the French Revolution and the major events that occurred during the period. We will post timelines to mark the events in the novel vis-a-vis the historical events for your appreciation.

[Louize]

Day 4 Questions:
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1. What is the significance of the “echoing footsteps” in Chapter 6?

Before this was mentioned in Chapter 6, Dickens had a winded description of Soho; so, I thought it had something to do with how this place would someday be a place of business –restaurant district, theater district, and red district –in the future. Until, Lucie mentioned that those echoing footsteps might be a foreshadowing of people that may come into their lives, (view spoiler)[which turned out to be a foreshadowing of a bloodthirsty horde. (hide spoiler)]

2. What are your thoughts about Monsieur the Marquis, and of the consequent unfortunate event that befell him?

The Monseigneur was a clear illustration of a French aristocrat –hollow-hearted and arrogant. I can't say if it was unfortunate that he died. Frankly, I thought it was due retribution for what he has done; but then again, it was murder. So… I do have mix feelings about that.
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Day 5 Question
(view spoiler)[
Do you dig Dickensian literature so far? Love it? Hate it? Why?

I don't love it, nor do I hate it. I dig Dickens –his literature, his philosophy, his arguments. Okay lang.

He is good in taking inanimate objects and turning them into something vividly horrible, alive, and striking to drive his arguments home(view spoiler)[(e.g. grindstone, gate, saw, knitting needle). (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

[Angus]

Day 4 Questions:
(view spoiler)[
1. Foreshadowing, and it's a pretty nifty one because there can't be an echo without a sound, noh?
2. He is the personification of evil. And he's dead already. Makes me wonder if there will be a more evil character in the few chapters to come (currently on Chapter X, slow reading is slow).
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Day 5 Question:
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1. But this is the most unDickensian novel daw. Considering that, I will put off answering the question until I read more Dickensian novels (I have Bleak House and The Pickwick Papers).
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[Gwaxa]

Day 5 Question

(view spoiler)[So far, dig might be a strong word. I like his humor, I actually feel so smart whenever I get his jokes, haha. But will I read his other works? I'm not that inclined to say yes. The long sentences and the archaic vocabulary is a little off putting for me. And as always, whenever I can't understand what's happening (the Honest Tradesman was a piece of work), I just trudge on and hope for the light to come to me. Lels. (hide spoiler)]

[DC]

Louize: (view spoiler)[
Frankly, I thought it was due retribution for what he has done; but then again, it was murder. So… I do have mix feelings about that.

I too think about how this is unfair. It's like shouting, "Death to the murderer!", or something in that effect. Events get even more difficult to delineate as the mob goes wild.


He is good in taking inanimate objects and turning them into something vividly horrible, alive, and striking to drive his arguments home[(e.g. grindstone, gate, saw, knitting needle).

Wow, great observation, per usual :)
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Angus: (view spoiler)[
He is the personification of evil. And he's dead already. Makes me wonder if there will be a more evil character in the few chapters to come.

This is an interesting note, because this book has an interesting line between good and evil. I suppose all is fair in love and war? But let's see how your opinion goes as we push through :)
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Gwaxa: (view spoiler)[ Pero nevertheless, good job! Considering mahirap ito para sa'yo, I'm glad you're still pushing through with the work :D Just have a breather book ready (like Meliza!), I guess, after ATO2C XD (hide spoiler)]

[DC]

[Reading Plan Day 13: Book 2, Chapters 19-20]

There is a continued concern, and more than one secret is hidden between the characters. I suppose we should relish this comparatively peaceful time, because after these chapters, England and France will finally meet, and the sea of blood will finally flow.


Day 6 Question
(view spoiler)[
Why do you think Dr. Manette cobbled for nine days after Lucie and Charles were married?
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[Meliza]

Day 6 Question
(view spoiler)[At first, I thought that Dr. Manette cobbled for 9 days just because her daughter is now married. But they will still live in the same house, so why? But his strange behavior started after he talked to Darnay on the morning of the wedding, when they came out of the room and "he was so deadly pale". SPOILER! (view spoiler)[I finished the book so...(view spoiler)[We weren't told at this chapter what their conversation was about. I believe that they talked about Darnay's family, a big part of why Dr. Manette was imprisoned, that caused him to be back in his queer after-prison-behavior for 9 days. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

[DC]

Meliza: Yay, good job on finishing the book :D I hope you'll still join us in watching the film on July 25? :) Also: (view spoiler)[I have stalled from finishing my reread of ATO2C. I can't yet bring myself to read about (view spoiler)[Sydney's self-sacrifice. Trying to hold in tears until later :( (hide spoiler)]
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[DC]

[Reading Plan Day 14: Bastille Day Reading Break]

225 years today, French peasants, who were filled with rage over their society, stormed the Bastille.

To prep ourselves for the road ahead (and to do some catching up, if necessary), we are proposing for today to be a reading break. We'll also leave just one activity for the day.


Day 7 Activity
During the French Revolution, some people would be called not by their names, but with political or moral concepts. (For example, in ATO2C, there is a character called "The Vengeance".)

If you could be called any ideal, what would you prefer? Moreover, if you can name anyone in TFG a certain concept, what would you instead call him/her?

(Note that this activity is all in good fun.)

[[deleted user]]

wow

[Tin]

Day 6 Question:(view spoiler)[If you remember, when Darnay sought out Doctor Manette's blessing for his probable marriage proposal to Lucie (which is so gentlemanly of him. Pero Hmph. Team Sydney pa din) He mentioned about having a secret identity, which he will reveal on their wedding day nalang as per Dr. Manette's request. And so he did, kaya namutla si Dr. nang lumabas siya sa room after the talk with Darnay. But I don't know why just yet. Baka someone from the family of Monsieur the Marquis had something to do with why he was imprisoned, kaya it triggered some horrible memory that caused him to seek comfort in the shoemaking thing (hide spoiler)]

Day 7 Activity:(view spoiler)[I initially thought that I'd most likely be called The Bait, The Dead Weight, The Excess Baggage...that's the only use I can be for any sort of revolution, to be honest. But since it has to be a moral concept/ideal, ano nalang...The Temperance. Perhaps I can tell the revolutionaries to exercise restraint from time to time. And calm the fudge down kasi baka ma high blood pressure sa kasisigaw, when we need each and every single person for our endeavor to succeed. XD (hide spoiler)]

[Maria Ella]

Make habol make habol:

Day3 -
(view spoiler)[1. That resemblance that Carton presented to the court, saying that him and Charles are alike, is already making the case doubtful and it makes sense to acquit the latter. What impressed me actually is Sydney presenting this perspective to the Court, which made a good impression to me as a reader. Finally may marunong rito, hindi lang puru wig at puru tsismoso heheh

2. Jackal is the one doing more work but getting the lesser merit. Kayod nand kayod but the recognition goes to the Lion because he has to have the Lion's share. Aksheli, naloka ako rito sa inuman sessions nila ni Stryver. After drinking and reading digests (or cases, as I imagine it), lasingan pa rin at pamorningan. Pero when Sydney goes back to his humble abode, umiiyak sya. Ang sad, he was supposed to be good, but why did he resign to be Jackal instead..? Maybe he needs a big push - at sana makita nya yung ke Lucie.

Thus I vote for #TeamSydney hehehe (hide spoiler)]

[Maria Ella]

Habol ulit hehehe

Day 4 -
(view spoiler)[1. Footsteps echoing haunts anyone. It seems that there will be an upcoming thriller. Charot. *Cue haunting footsteps, goosebumps and suspense dundundundundundundun... tapos nakakakapit nako sa unan hahahahah.

2. Monsigneur "My Lord" Marquis "March" has this character that deserves death hehe. Sa irate ko rin mapapatay ko sya hahahaha. Aksheli my question here is - SINO ANG JACOBITE NA PUMATAY?!?! (view spoiler)[yung mama ba sa korte na tsismoso na si Cruncher?!?! But his hands were full of rust that he supposed to kill Evermonde with a gunshot. Wala lang. (hide spoiler)] CURIOUS. DUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUN!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH (hide spoiler)]

Day5 questions: Unti-unti ko nang minamahal ang mga salita ni Dickens. Mahirap talaga ang unang libro. But here in the second book, namumutakti na ng feels. Irate ka or sad or happy because of the character... and I actually starting to anticipate the rolling cheeseballs hahaha. And of course, the revolution and mga madudugong eksena. :)

[Ycel]

LOUIZE: (view spoiler)[
No love or hate for Dickens. Hmmm. Nonetheless, you’re done! Hmmm, I await your verdict with bated breath.
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ANGUS: (view spoiler)[
Buddy read Bleak House? I’ve always wanted to see the Gillian Anderson adaptation because of the rave reviews.
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GWAXA: (view spoiler)[
Jerry Cruncher is the only truly Dickensian character here, so Dickens is being gentle on you :P Nevertheless, there’s light at the end of the tunnel, somewhere in Book III…
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TIN: (view spoiler)[
Me #TeamSydney as well but I really liked that Charles Darnay approached Doctor Manette first. Parang wala nang gumagawa niyan ngayon. A man is truly brave to do that sort of thing.
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ELLA: (view spoiler)[
The revelation on the Jacobite will come before Book II wraps up.

Labis akong natuwa na natutuwa ka na kay Charles :D
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[Louize]

Day 6 Question
(view spoiler)[
Why do you think Dr. Manette cobbled for nine days after Lucie and Charles were married?

Although I'm done with the book, allow me to comment within the limits of this chapters. Actually, the previous question from the Marquis was a total giveaway. The moment he asked about the doctor and his daughter, I knew he had something to do with Dr. Manette's imprisonment, evil that he was. So maybe, Dr. Manette, in his still fragile state, could not completely overcome the emotions evoked by Charles confession that he is related to that venomous man. I can't exactly say what went through his head, but he probably relived what he went through, or he probably imagined what the Marquis may still do to them.
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Day 7 Activity
(view spoiler)[
If you could be called any ideal, what would you prefer?

Right now, I want to be called Ms. Pross. A very brave woman, she is. Bless her name.
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[DC]

Because Ycel was feeling very generous about references, expect more glossaries from us for the following chapters :)

The Temperance: Hahaha, nice :D (view spoiler)[Sure ka hindi ikaw 'yong sisigaw? Hehe!
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Louize: (view spoiler)[It was somewhat amazing how much pain he had to endure, and how amazing it was that Lucie was able to bring him out of it at all.

Oh, and Miss Pross! Yes, very brave woman indeed :)
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Mart: Hi! Thanks for dropping by :)

Ycel/Angus: (view spoiler)[I'd love to join that buddy read for Bleak House. I already have a copy I haven't touched for a long time :) (hide spoiler)]

[DC]

[Reading Plan Day 15-16: Book 2, Chapters 21-24]

The echoing footsteps have again made their appearance, and a siege has finally broken out. There's knitting, the Bastille, and streets stained red.

Moreover, with the end of the chapters (and Book 2), we are finally heading to France.

Glossary
Book 2, Chapters 19-21: (view spoiler)[
“I believe,” returned Doctor Manette, “that there had been a strong and extraordinary revival of the train of thought and remembrance that was the first cause of the malady. Some intense associations of a most distressing nature were vividly recalled, I think. It is probable that there had long been a dread lurking in his mind, that those associations would be recalled – say, under certain circumstances – say, on a particular occasion. He tried to prepare himself, in vain; perhaps the effort to prepare himself, made him less able to bear it.
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Doctor Manette’s account of his condition (which he and Mr. Lorry discuss as though it were another’s) draws on 18th-century theories of psychology derived from John Locke and developed by David Hartley and others. Locke discusses the psychological power of the association and mis-association of ideas in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), in a chapter called “Of the Association of Ideas”, and we quote an interesting passage:

Instances of this kind [the mis-association of ideas] are so plentiful every where, that if I add one more, it is only for the pleasant oddness of it. It is of a young Gentleman, who having learnt to Dance, and that to great Perfection, there happened to stand an old Trunk in the Room where he learnt. The Idea of this remarkable piece of Household-stuff, had so mixed it self with the turns and steps of all his Dances, that though in that Chamber he could Dance excellently well, yet it was only whilst that Trunk was there, nor could he perform well in any other place, unless that, or some such other Trunk had its due position in the Room. If this Story be suspected to be dressed up with some comical Circumstances, a little beyond precise Nature; I answer for my self, that I had it some Years since from a very sober and worthy Man, upon his own knowledge, as I report it….

The peculiarity described above – a debility arising from a particular association or mis-association of ideas – is something like Doctor Manette’s. Under “certain circumstances,” the old trauma of the Bastille is recalled, and he succumbs to the madness that previously resulted from the experience. However, because the malady seems to be caused by an association of ideas, only the revival of those ideas would be likely to bring it on. Thus it is that the Doctor says, “with the firmness of self-conviction, ‘that [nothing] but the one train of association would renew it.’”
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“I quite understand it to be a nice question. And yet I think – ”
(view spoiler)[
“Nice,” in the 18th and 19th centuries, usually meant “fastidious, dainty, difficult to please, especially in respect of food or cleanliness; also in good sense, refined, having refined tastes.” Alternate meanings are similar, stressing the particularity, scrupulousness, or sensitivity of the person or thing described. Thus the “nice question” is not a pleasing or kind one (as modern usage would suggest), but rather one of particular delicacy, requiring tact.
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Fluttering hopes and doubts – hopes, of a love as yet unknown to her; doubts, of her remaining upon earth, to enjoy that new delight – divided her breast.
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Death in childbirth was frequent among women in the 18th and 19th centuries. Though statistics are scarce, we know that measures taken in the mid-18th century to train midwives and medical students, together with the introduction of lying-in hospitals for the poorer classes (who had previously had access only to the workhouse) significantly reduced the incidence of death in childbirth. In 1749, lying-in hospital records show that 1 in 42 women died in childbirth; but by the end of the century (1799-1800), only 1 in 913 died. Between 1779 and 1788 (Lucie’s troubled pregnancy probably occurs in 1783), 1 in 60 women died in labor in lying-in hospitals; and though Lucie would probably have been delivered privately, with a trained doctor in attendance, even the best care available could not prevent fatalities.
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“…and the spirit departed from her embrace that had been entrusted to it.”
(view spoiler)[
During much of the 18th century, the infant mortality rate was as high as or higher than 50%, and though the death rate in London decreased in the last quarter of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th (due to medical developments, improved nutrition and sanitation, etc.), it is not surprising that Lucie – giving birth in the 1780s – would lose a child. Indeed, according to statistics in London in the Eighteenth Century, between 1770 and 1789, 51.5% of children born in London died under the age of five.
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“…There is such an uneasiness in Paris, that we have actually a run of confidence upon us! Our customers over there, seem not to be able to confide their property to us fast enough. There is positively a mania among some of them for sending it to England.”
(view spoiler)[
A “run” on a bank is “a series or rush of sudden and pressing demands made upon a bank or treasury for immediate payment,” or “a sudden movement on the part of foreign depositors to withdraw their holdings of a nation’s currency by exchanging them for equivalent sums in other currencies.” Such runs are usually occasioned by a lack of confidence in the bank – a concern, for instance, that the bank will not be able to meet cash demands. A “run of confidence,” on the other hand, seems to be the opposite phenomenon – a run of money into the bank instead of out of it.
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“Come then!” cried Defarge, in a resounding voice. “Patriots and friends, we are ready! The Bastille!”
(view spoiler)[
The historic event described in this chapter is the famous fall of the Bastille – the moment (July 14, 1789, commemorated annually as Bastille Day) which marked the beginning of the French Revolution and the symbolic fall of feudalism in Europe. Dickens’ account draws heavily upon the account in his chief historical source, Carlyle’s French Revolution.
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“Show me the North Tower!” said Defarge. “Quick!”
(view spoiler)[
The North Tower – the site of Doctor Manette’s incarceration – is Dickens’ fictional contribution to the architecture of the Bastille. The Bastille had eight towers, two of which were on the north side – the Tour du Puits and the Tour du Coin; but neither of these was called the North Tower. By generalizing the location (the North Tower could be either of the northern towers of the Bastille), Dickens opens up a space of fictional possibility within a historical site.
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Seven faces of prisoners, suddenly released by the storm that had burst their tomb, were carried high over head: all scared, all lost, all wondering and amazed, as if the Last Day had come.
(view spoiler)[
When the Bastille was taken on July 14, 1789, there were only seven prisoners in it to be liberated (Carlyle notes that “Along the streets of Paris circulate Seven Bastille Prisoners, borne shoulder-high”], but does not emphasize that these seven were the only seven). However, as a prison long devoted to the incarceration of political prisoners, many of whom were confined there without trial as a result of the infamous lettres de cachet, it had become symbolic of the political caprices and injustices of the ancien régime.
The “Last Day” is of course the Day of Judgment (Revelations 20:12-13), when the dead are to rise again (the implication being that the prisoners of the Bastille were buried alive, and expected to be liberated only with the final liberation of the Apocalypse). The seven prisoners liberated from the Bastille consisted of “four forgers, two lunatics, and a ‘jeune noble débauché’ – a disciple of the Marquis de Sade.”
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[DC]

Glossary
Book 2, Chapters 22-24:(view spoiler)[
The short, rather plump wife of a starved grocer, and the mother of two children withal, this lieutenant had already earned the complimentary name of The Vengeance.
(view spoiler)[
During the French Revolution, patriotic abstractions such as “The Vengeance” did indeed replace personal names. This renaming, demonstrating support for the revolutionary cause and affirming the end of traditions associated with the ancien régime, extended to public buildings, streets, plazas, etc. For example, the Place de Louis XV in Paris became the Place de la Révolution; the Jardin des Tuileries became the Jardin National; the Palais des Tuileries became the Palais National; and so forth.
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As it advanced, the mender of roads would discern without surprise, that it was a shaggy-haired man, of almost barbarian aspect, tall, in wooden shoes that were clumsy even to the eyes of a mender of roads, grim, rough, swart, steeped in the mud and dust of many highways, dank with the marshy moisture of many low grounds, sprinkled with the thorns and leaves and moss of many byways through woods.
(view spoiler)[
The “shaggy-haired man, of almost barbarian aspect” whom the unsurprised mender of roads sees approaching is an agent of destruction in the “Great Fear.” This “Fear” refers to the period between July 20 and August 6, 1789, during which – after the fall of the Bastille – a number of châteaus were burned down. Dickens follows Carlyle’s account of this period, in which the destruction of aristocratic property is largely attributed to the accumulated rage of the oppressed common people.

In following Carlyle, however, Dickens gives – as Richard Maxwell points out in his edition of A Tale of Two Cities – a rather simplified version of events. The Great Fear was not so much a systematic revolt of the people against a tradition of feudal oppression as the result of an unusually combustible social atmosphere during the early days of the Revolution: Some among the common people began to suspect the aristocracy of plotting to overturn the reforms of the Revolution, while some among the aristocracy began to suspect commoners of plotting to destroy aristocratic property. This state of mutual distrust led to the destruction of several châteaus, but not – as Dickens and Carlyle seem to suggest – through an upsurge of systematic destruction. As Maxwell summarizes events, “In one case, peasants who gathered and armed themselves against the anticipated threat [that aristocrats intended attacks on small property-holders] took to looting and destroying the local château; in many others the same result came about more directly, châteaux sometimes being burned in the ‘king’s’ name. Such acts helped to generate a widespread and self-reinforcing paranoia.”

Whatever its historical inadequacies, however, Dickens’ representation of the Great Fear accurately follows Carlyle’s, and is thematically consistent with his general representation of the French Revolution in A Tale of Two Cities (a representation in which the Revolution results from the accumulated injustices of the ancien régime against millions of commoners who, finally starved and taxed beyond endurance, are driven to revolt).
(hide spoiler)]

…among the lean kine…
(view spoiler)[
Kine is an archaic word for “cows” – the “lean kine” are thus a starved herd of cattle.
(hide spoiler)]

…Tellson’s was at that time, as to French intelligence, a kind of High Exchange…
(view spoiler)[
A “High Exchange” is a gathering and transaction place for bankers and merchants. In London, Tellson’s functions metaphorically as an Exchange for news of France during the Revolution, since many of its patrons (given that Tellson’s has a Paris branch, and does business on both sides of the Channel) are emigrants. The actual “Exchange” in London would have been the Royal Exchange, and in Paris, the Paris Bourse.
(hide spoiler)]

“…who can say that Paris is not set afire to-day, or sacked to-morrow!”
(view spoiler)[
Mr. Lorry’s concern that Paris may soon be set alight or sacked is well-founded, as France had been facing the threat of foreign invasion since August of the previous year, and had declared itself in danger on July 22, 1792. Prussia, the first to declare war, did so on July 24, 1792. Fighting – the French against Prussian and Austrian troops – concluded with the repulsion of the foreign invaders in early October 1792. The success of the French defenses was unexpected, but the defeat of Prussian and Austrian invasion did not put an end to the wars between France and its European neighbors. In 1793, while the Reign of Terror raged on the domestic front, France became the aggressor against those countries that had formerly invaded it, successfully seizing the Austrian Netherlands, declaring war against England and Holland, and threatening Spain. Prussia and Spain made peace treaties with France early in 1795, but French aggression was not at an end: After the Revolution came, of course, Napoleon and the Napoleonic wars.
(hide spoiler)]

(hide spoiler)]

[DC]

Day 8 Questions

1. Is Dickens siding with the peasants or the nobility? Or is he treating both sides equally?
2. (view spoiler)[ Reflect on Darnay’s decision to go to France. Does it seem believable?
(hide spoiler)]

[Angus]

DC, Ycel: I'd love to! But can we do it in Q4? Because I have to tend to my growing number of half-finished love affairs, haha! [Will answer the questions after I catch up. :)]

[Ycel]

ANGUS: Q4 it is :)

TIN: If The Temperance was there, it wouldn't have been as bloody. I'd like to call myself The Golden Mean so between the two of us there wouldn't be a French Revolution. LOL!

LOUIZE: (view spoiler)[
A dead giveaway, yes, but how did you react when the secret was revealed? Did you expect it or you expected something else?
(hide spoiler)]

[DC]

[Reading Plan Day 17-18: Book 3, Chapters 1-3]

Today, we start on Book 3: The Track of A Storm. We are brought to the bloody streets, and almost all of the characters are quite perturbed.

(In other news: A rather big storm hit Manila, so I hope that everyone is safe and sound.)


Glossary
Book 3, Chapters 1-3: (view spoiler)[
In Secret
(view spoiler)[
“In Secret” is an English version of the French phrase “en secret,” which means “in solitary confinement.”
(hide spoiler)]

…the dawning Republic One and Indivisible, of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death.
(view spoiler)[
This “dawning Republic One and Indivisible” is the French Republic decreed on September 22, 1792 (following the King’s incarceration in August of that year, and preceding his execution in January of the following year). It is this Republic that officially replaced the monarchy in France. The slogan Dickens records here is likewise recorded in Carlyle’s French Revolution. The addition of “death” to the patriotic cry of the Revolution (“Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”) may foreshadow the Reign of Terror.
(hide spoiler)]

This universal watchfulness not only stopped him on the highway twenty times in a stage…
(view spoiler)[
In revolutionary France, passports were required for travel even between places within France. The country at large, threatened with foreign invasion and wary of emigrants (many of whom, beyond being members of the disgraced nobility, had joined forces with foreign invaders), was on the alert.
(hide spoiler)]

“Truly, a decree for selling the property of emigrants.” “When passed?” “On the fourteenth.” “The day I left England!”
(view spoiler)[
After King Louis’ power of veto was suspended in early August, 1792, laws were passed – which the king had previously prevented – allowing the state to confiscate the property of emigrants. Darnay, apparently leaving England on the day the decree for selling emigrant property was announced, would not have heard of the laws passed against him.
(hide spoiler)]

“Without doubt. You are consigned, Evrémonde, to the Prison of La Force.”
(view spoiler)[
The Prison of La Force, destroyed in the 19th century, was originally the private residence of the Duc de la Force, and was not converted into a prison until 1780, shortly before the Revolution. By placing Darnay in La Force in late August, 1792, Dickens makes him immediately vulnerable to the terrible “September massacres” of September 2-6.
(hide spoiler)]

“In the name of that sharp female newly born and called La Guillotine, why did you come to France?”
(view spoiler)[
The guillotine, named after its inventor (Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotin), is the (in)famous instrument of execution used by the French Republic; it was especially active during the Reign of Terror. The guillotine quickly became emblematic that Doctor Guillotin, “respectable practitioner,” is introduced, early in The French Revolution, as a man

…doomed by a satiric destiny to the strangest immortal glory that ever kept obscure mortal from his resting-place, the bosom of oblivion! Guillotin can … in all cases of medical police and hygiène be a present aid: but, greater far, he can produce his “Report on the Penal Code”; and reveal therein a cunningly devised Beheading Machine, which shall become famous and world-famous. This is the product of Guillotin’s endeavours, gained not without meditation and reading; which product popular gratitude or levity christens by a feminine derivative name, as if it were his daughter: La Guillotine! “With my machine, Messieurs, I whisk off your head (vous fais sauter la tête) in a twinkling, and you have no pain”; – whereat they all laugh. Unfortunate Doctor! For two-and-twenty years he, unguillotined, shall hear nothing but guillotine, see nothing but guillotine; then dying, shall through long centuries wander, as it were, a disconsolate ghost, on the wrong side of Styx and Lethe; his name like to outlive Caesar’s.

(hide spoiler)]

The few words that he caught from this man’s lips, first made it known to Charles Darnay that the king was in prison, and that the foreign ambassadors had one and all left Paris.
(view spoiler)[
King Louis XVI was imprisoned in the Temple beginning on August 13, 1792, and foreign ambassadors in France did, upon this instigation, leave Paris. However, if the imprisonment of the King were enough to set ambassadors packing – an act expressive of European disapprobation for France – the execution of Louis XVI early in the following year had even more pronounced effects: England, disgusted, expelled the French embassy in Britain.
(hide spoiler)]

The horrible massacre, days and nights long, which, within a few rounds of the clock, was to set a great mark of blood upon the blessed garnering time of harvest…
(view spoiler)[
The “horrible massacre” to which Dickens alludes here is the “September massacre” or “September massacres” of September 2-6, 1792, in which Parisian mobs stormed the Prisons of the Abbaye, La Force, Châtalet, and the Conciergerie, slaughtering over 1,000 prisoners (most of whom had been arrested as royalist sympathizers, aristocrats, emigrants, etc.). The massacres were partly the result of a public panic over the Prussian invasion of France, and some modern historians contend that they were directed mainly against criminal prisoners suspected of being part of a counter-revolution (possibly in collusion with the foreign invaders). Dickens does not describe the causes of the September massacres, and this decontextualization has the effect of representing the massacres as the result of an irrational, vengeful kind of revolutionary malice. However, though Dickens gives an oversimplified version of the historical events in question, his September massacres are fictionally consistent with his representation of the French Revolution at large, and foreshadow the brutality of the coming Reign of Terror.
(hide spoiler)]

Tellson’s Bank, established in the Saint Germain Quarter of Paris, was in a wing of a large house, approached by a court-yard and shut off from the street by a high wall and a strong gate…
(view spoiler)[
The Saint Germain Quarter, named for the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, was a prosperous and fashionable quarter in the 18th century, as it was in Dickens’ time and still is in our own. One 19th-century guidebook notes that “the Quartier St. Germain [is] one of the aristocratic quarters of Paris, and the seat of the old noblesse” (Dickens's Dictionary of Paris); and this was certainly the case in 1792. As it turns out, we have seen Tellson’s house before: it is the house of “Monseigneur” – the Monseigneur who required three men to make his chocolate in an earlier chapter.
(hide spoiler)]

On the opposite side of the court-yard, under a colonnade, was extensive standing for carriages – where, indeed, some carriages of Monseigneur yet stood. Against two of the pillars were fastened two great flaring flambeaux, and, in the light of these, standing out in the open air, was a large grindstone…
(view spoiler)[
Tellson’s, lodged in the Quartier Saint Germain, is located near the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés (for which the Quarter is named); the Abbey, in turn, is adjacent to the Prison of the Abbaye, where the September massacres broke out on September 2, 1792. It is thus appropriate that the grindstone (to which the mob comes to sharpen its weapons) should be located so close to Mr. Lorry’s apartments.

(hide spoiler)]

(hide spoiler)]

[Angus]

Day 6 Question:
(view spoiler)[
Shock (from what Darnay told him before the wedding took place) and separation anxiety (from Lucie). These two are Too Much Stressors. What could Darnay have told him? His real name, yes? I think Dr. Manette might have known or felt this, for why would he request to postpone the revelation of Darnay's true identity? In denial lang ba siya?
(hide spoiler)]

Day 7 Activity:
(view spoiler)[
The Tempest, because of my tempestuous temper. XD
(hide spoiler)]

[Tin]

Day 8:(view spoiler)[1. I think he doesn't take anyone's side. I find that he depicts both nobility and peasantry in the same manner. The latter quickly became as brutal as the former, once the "Republic One and Indivisible" got set up. Dickens clearly depicted how unjust the revolutionaries were in their search for justice. There's no due process, their moral compass seems to be broken. They do say "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death." And it's really mostly death.

2. Yeah, it's believable. I mean Charles is very um goody-goody. Hahaha. So it makes sense that he would come and try to save the family's trusty servant Gabelle. May hero complex ata siya. Haha. He also did say something about righting his family's wrongs, so maybe he set out to Paris for that purpose as well. (hide spoiler)]

DC: Well, it is quite likely na sisigaw din ako. Hahaha. :)

Ycel: LOL! I had to Google what The Golden Mean means, but LOL! So, our House Sigil is....huwag na nga. Hehehe.

[Louize]

YCEL:
(view spoiler)[
LOUIZE:
A dead giveaway, yes, but how did you react when the secret was revealed? Did you expect it or you expected something else?

From the very beginning I've already agreed with myself that I will not have any expectations, I want the story to envelope me like how it should. The secret of how involved the Marquis in the imprisonment of Dr. Manette was not a surprise, I mean, we've already established how cruel he is. But, I agree that the cruelty of the secret is really unforgiving. (view spoiler)[In some way, despite the vengefulness of Therese Defarge, I understand where she is coming from. (Now, that revelation was a surprise.) (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Day 8 Questions
(view spoiler)[
1. Is Dickens siding with the peasants or the nobility? Or is he treating both sides equally?

I don't think Dickens is siding on either sides. More than the cause and effect of the rebellion, I believe Dickens wanted his readers to focus on how badly a rebellion (war) can damage people. Morally and spiritually, there is no victor. And, that given opportunity and little power, whether rich or poor, people will do take advantage and elevate themselves.

2. Reflect on Darnay’s decision to go to France. Does it seem believable?

Believable? Yes. Believably foolish? Most definitely.

(hide spoiler)]

[DC]

Angus: (view spoiler)[Double whammy indeed. Oh, but reason for it may just come in the next pages...

Also: The Tempest?! Hahaha! (hide spoiler)]


Tin: (view spoiler)[Mostly death indeed. It gets really gruesome, too. Also, "hero complex" is exactly what I thought of him. So, ahem, stupidly heroic.
#TEAMSYDNEY4EVER
(hide spoiler)]


Louize:
More than the cause and effect of the rebellion, I believe Dickens wanted his readers to focus on how badly a rebellion (war) can damage people. Morally and spiritually, there is no victor. And, that given opportunity and little power, whether rich or poor, people will do take advantage and elevate themselves.

This is so true. They say "all is unfair in love and war", but more than anything, it shows another side of human nature. In addition, (view spoiler)[yes, I believe he was incredibly foolish, too. And his wife and child! Really foolish. (hide spoiler)]

[DC]

[Reading Plan Day 19-20: Book 3, Chapters 4-7]

These chapters are quite a whirlwind of emotion. There is calm before the storm, a triumph, and a sudden turn of events. All amidst a backdrop of death, the Guillotine, and crazy dances.

Glossary
Book 3, Chapters 4-7: (view spoiler)[
…not until long afterwards when France and she were far apart, did she know that eleven hundred defenceless prisoners of both sexes and all ages had been killed by the populace; that four days and nights had been darkened by this deed of horror…
(view spoiler)[
Carlyle puts the death-count of the September massacres, which lasted for four days and nights (September 2-6, 1792), at 1,089 – the number from which Dickens derives his estimate of 1,100.
(hide spoiler)]

Now, breaking the unnatural silence of the whole city, the executioner showed the people the head of the king – and now, it seemed almost in the same breath, the head of his fair wife which had had eight weary months of imprisoned widowhood and misery, to turn it grey.
(view spoiler)[
Dickens follows, in the details of his summary of these executions, Carlyle’s French Revolution. Carlyle narrates the execution of Louis XVI, on January 21, 1793, as follows:

The drums are beating: “Taisez-vous, Silence!” he cries, “in a terrible voice, d’une voix terrible.” He mounts the scaffold, not without delay; he is in a puce coat, breeches of grey, white stockings. He strips off the coat; stands disclosed in a sleeve-waistcoat of white flannel. The Executioners approach to bind him: he spurns, resists; Abbé Edgeworth [his confessor] has to remind him how the Saviour, in whom men trust, submitted to be bound. His hands are tied, his head bare; the fatal moment is come. He advances to the edge of the Scaffold, “his face very red,” and says: “Frenchmen, I die innocent: it is from the Scaffold and near appearing before God that I tell you so. I pardon my enemies; I desire that France – ” A General on horseback, Santerre or another, prances out, with uplifted hand: “Tambours!” The drums drown the voice. “Executioners, do your duty!” The Executioners, desperate lest themselves be murdered (for Santerre and his Armed Ranks will strike, if they do not), seize the hapless Louis: six of them desperate, him singly desperate, struggling there; and bind him to their plank. Abbé Edgeworth, stooping, bespeaks him: “Son of Saint Louis, ascend to Heaven.” The Axe clanks down; a King’s Life is shorn away. It is Monday the 21st of January, 1793. He was aged Thirty-eight years four months and twenty-eight days.

Executioner Samson shows the Head: fierce shout of Vive la République rises, and swells….

The execution of Marie-Antoinette, on October 16, 1793, is given thus:

The young imperial Maiden of Fifteen [Marie-Antoinette at the time of her marriage] has now become a worn discrowned Widow of Thirty-eight; grey before her time: this is the last Procession: “Few minutes after the Trial ended, the drums were beating to arms in all Sections; at sunrise the armed force was on foot, cannons getting placed at the extremities of the Bridges, in the Squares, Crossways, all along from the Palais de Justice to the Place de la Révolution. By ten o’clock, numerous patrols were circulating in the Streets; thirty thousand foot and horse drawn up under arms. At eleven, Marie-Antoinette was brought out. She had on an undress of piqué blanc: she was led to the place of execution, in the same manner as an ordinary criminal; bound, on a Cart; accompanied by a Constitutional Priest in Lay dress; escorted by numerous detachments of infantry and cavalry. These, and the double row of troops all along her road, she appeared to regard with indifference. On her countenance there was visible neither abashment nor pride. To the cries of Vive la République and Down with Tyranny, which attended her all the way, she seemed to pay no heed. She spoke little to her Confessor. The tricolor Streamers on the housetops occupied her attention, in the Streets du Roule and Saint-Honoré; she also noticed the Inscriptions on the house-fronts. On reaching the Place de la Révolution, her looks turned towards the Jardin National, whilom Tuileries; her face at that moment gave signs of lively emotion. She mounted the Scaffold with courage enough; at a quarter past Twelve, her head fell; the Executioner showed it to the people, amid universal long-continued cries of Vive la République.

(hide spoiler)]

Models of it [La Guillotine] were worn on breasts from which the Cross was discarded, and it was bowed down to and believed in where the Cross was denied.
(view spoiler)[
This image – of the guillotine supplanting the cross – symbolizes the secularization of France (previously a Catholic country) under the Republic. This secularization – the acknowledgment of “no Religion but Liberty” – sped the adoption of the Calendar of the “New Era” (the abandonment of the calendar based on a Christian timeline), the conversion of Notre Dame (the great Catholic cathedral of Paris) into a “Temple of Reason,” the melting of church-bells into cannon, the appropriation of mass-books to cartridge-papers, and so forth.

(hide spoiler)]

…it, and the ground it most polluted, were a rotten red.
(view spoiler)[
The ground “most polluted” by the guillotine was that of the Place de la Révolution in Paris. Called, before the Revolution, the Place de Louis XV, and now called the Place de la Concorde, it is situated between the Champs-Élysées and the Jardin des Tuileries (called the Jardin National during the Revolution). However, though this was the chief location of the Parisian guillotine, the site of execution was moved, at the height of the Terror, from place to place, and was set up at the remote extremity of the South-east suburbs of Saint-Antoine and Saint-Marceau. The guillotine did not remain in the eastern districts, however, but was back in the Place de la Révolution by the end of the Terror: Robespierre was beheaded there. Baedeker’s Paris and Its Environs (1878) gives a descriptive and historical account of the plaza in which the guillotine chiefly stood:

The Place de la Concorde …, the most beautiful and extensive place in Paris, and one of the finest in the world, covers an area 390 yards in length, by 235 yards in width, bounded on the South by the Seine, on the West by the Champs Elysées, on the North by the Rue de Rivoli, and on the East by the garden of the Tuileries…. The Place was completed in its present form [of 1878] in 1854…. In the middle of the [18th century] the site … was waste ground. After the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (18th Oct., 1748), which terminated the Austrian War of Succession, Louis XV “graciously permitted” the mayor and municipal authorities to erect a statue to him here. The work was at once begun by the architect Gabriel, and at length in 1763 an equestrian statue in bronze by Bouchardon, with a pedestal adorned by Pigalle with figures emblematical of Strength, Wisdom, Justice, and Peace, was erected here. The Place then received the name of Place Louis XV….

The Place was at that period surrounded by deep ditches, but these were filled up, and a balustrade substituted for them in 1852. On 30th May, 1770, during an exhibition of fireworks in honour of the marriage of the Dauphin (afterwards Louis XVI) with the Archduchess Marie Antoinette, such a panic was occasioned by the accidental discharge of some rockets, that no fewer than 1200 persons were crushed to death, or killed by being thrown into the ditches, and 2000 more severely injured.

On 11th August, 1792, the day after the capture of the Tuileries, the statue of the king was removed by order of the Legislative Assembly, melted down, and converted into pieces of two sous. A terracotta figure of the “Goddess of Liberty” was then placed on the pedestal, … while the Place was named Place de la Révolution.

On 21st Jan., 1793, the guillotine began its bloody work here with the execution of Louis XVI. Between 21st Jan., 1793, and 3rd May, 1795, upwards of 2800 persons perished here by the guillotine. A proposal afterwards made to erect a large fountain on the spot where the scaffold of Louis XVI had stood was strenuously opposed by Chateaubriand, who aptly observed that all the water in the world would not suffice to remove the blood-stains which sullied the Place.

It is chiefly this ground, which “all the water in the world” could not wash of its blood-stains, that Dickens describes as a “rotten red.”
(hide spoiler)]

No fight could have been half so terrible as this dance. It was so emphatically a fallen sport – a something once innocent delivered over to all devilry – a healthy pastime changed into a means of angering the blood, bewildering the senses, and steeling the heart.... This was the Carmagnole.
(view spoiler)[
The “Carmagnole,” a patriotic dance popular among the French revolutionists of 1793, originally referred to a kind of dress much worn in France during the Revolution of 1789. This dress, named after the Italian town of Carmagnola, was a Piedmontese peasant costume well known in southern France (Piedmont, a region of northwestern Italy, is adjacent to the southeastern part of France), and introduced into Paris by the Marseillais revolutionaries in 1789 (Marseilles is a coastal city in southern France, on the Mediterranean). The lyrics to the Carmagnole varied during the course of the Revolution, but originally calumniated Louis XVI (as “Monsieur Veto” because of his power to delay the proposals of the revolutionary legislature [until his seizure and imprisonment after August 10, 1792]), and later Marie-Antoinette (as “Madame Veto” – apparently as the consort of Monsieur Veto, Louis XVI). Lyrics and a recording of the Carmagnole as it would have been sung in late 1793 (after the beheading of Marie-Antoinette in October) can be accessed at the website “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution,” under “Songs,” http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution. (From the main page, either do a “Quick Search” for “Carmagnole” or click on “Browse” and scroll down to “Songs”; then, in “Browse Songs,” scroll down and click on “The Carmagnole.”)
(hide spoiler)]

He has not received the notice yet, but I know that he will presently be summoned for to-morrow, and removed to the Conciergerie…
(view spoiler)[
The Conciergerie, the oldest prison in Paris, is adjacent to the Palais de Justice on the Ile de la Cité. During the Revolution, it was the prison to which suspects were removed just before trial; thus, Darnay’s summons to the Conciergerie means that his trial is imminent. In the 19th century, the Conciergerie was still used as a prison for those awaiting trial, and the chamber of Marie-Antoinette (perhaps the most famous person to have been held there during the Revolution) was converted into a chapel. This chamber was gutted by fire in 1871, but afterwards restored, and can still be seen today.
(hide spoiler)]

The dread Tribunal of five Judges, Public Prosecutor, and determined Jury, sat every day.
(view spoiler)[
This “dread Tribunal” is the revolutionary judicial body which – particularly active during the Reign of Terror – decided the fate of those, like Darnay, who were suspected of being traitors to the Revolution. Ultimately, at the height of the Terror, this Tribunal was extended into four Tribunals, and the rate of execution was sped proportionally.
(hide spoiler)]

“Old Nick’s.”
(view spoiler)[
Old Nick is a name for the devil; the derivation of this nick-name, however, has never been successfully traced.
(hide spoiler)]

(hide spoiler)]

[DC]

Reference Images: Book 3, Chapters 4-7

French Guillotine necklace:


Marie Antoinette’s execution at the Place de la Révolution:


Place de la Concorde today:

[DC]

Day 9 Questions:

1. (view spoiler)[ Explain how the information learned in Book III Chapter 10 (The Substance of the Shadow) changes our perception of Dr. Manette. Does he seem like a stronger character now? Why or why not?
(hide spoiler)]

2. (view spoiler)[ How does Madame Defarge’s revelation change our perception of her character? Can she be viewed with more sympathy now that her motivation has been revealed? Do her motives justify her behavior? Why or why not?
(hide spoiler)]

[DC]

By the way, the thread for the July 25 online screening of the 1935 film adaptation for ATO2C is up.



Check out this thread for details: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Thanks, and I hope you join us in watching this epic masterpiece :)

[Tin]

Day 9 Questions:(view spoiler)[1. I do think Doctor Manette became a much stronger character to me after the big letter revelation. Deciding to tell the Minister for crimes done by Tweedledee and Tweedledum is such a courageous thing, that and having the strength to endure being locked up unjustly in the Bastille.

2. The revelation of Madame Defarge's motives did change my perception of her. I am now more sympathetic to her plight, and I can't blame her now for being such a murderous woman. Still, I don't think it she's going about it the right way because you know, the children should not be made to pay for the sins of their fathers. (hide spoiler)]

[Meliza]

Day 7 Activity
(view spoiler)[If I could be called any ideal, I choose The Empathy. Then I would be able to feel what the others are feeling as though their feelings are my own so I could understand the people better, anticipate their needs and find the right words to say to them to pacify their lust for blood. (view spoiler)[Whatever, Meliza! Haha. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Day 8 Questions
(view spoiler)[1. I think he is treating both sides equally. At the start, we were made to side with the peasants but towards the end, we saw how both sides can be cruel.

2. Darnay's decision is believable. I even think that if I was him, I would do the same. I don't know if I really could if that really happened to me, but I would want to.(view spoiler)[You can call me stupid. Hehe! (hide spoiler)] But it would be better if he warned his wife and child to just stay in London. (hide spoiler)]

Day 9 Questions
(view spoiler)[1. Right from the start, I perceive him as a very righteous man. And this was supported by his act of turning down the gold offered by the Marquis after the incident. This and writing a letter to the Minister of State showed his strong character.

2. I felt sympathy towards Madame Defarge but still, this doesn't justify their behavior towards innocent men like Darnay. (hide spoiler)]

[Gay]

Day 7 Activity
(view spoiler)[I’d be The Believer or The Optimist. I’ll be the one to cheer the revolutionist to move forward (although hopefully in a less violent way) and believe that something good will come out of the struggle. (hide spoiler)]
Day 8
(view spoiler)[1.I think he portrayed both sides well without a tinge of biasness.
2.No. I just don’t think he’d do that no matter how good he is. I couldn’t imagine an aristocrat from that era would do that considering the situation happening in France and his reason for leaving it. (hide spoiler)]

Day 9
(view spoiler)[1.I admire Dr. Manette’s strength to get pass through that experience, and yes, he is a strong character although not as strong as Sydney Carton or Miss Pross or Madame Defarge.
2.I understood her better, but I can’t sympathize with her trying to hurt innocent people. (hide spoiler)]

[Ycel]

Some trivia to whet your appetite for the online screening:

The latest incarnation of ATO2C onscreen is everyone’s favorite Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises .

If you are done reading the book, you should be able to relate more fully to Commissioner Gordon’s eulogy.

Here’s how ATO2C inspired the Nolan Brothers to write The Dark Knight Rises . Plus a write-up on the Dickensian aspects of TDKR.

[DC]

[Reading Plan Day 21-22: Book 3, Chapters 8-12]

We suddenly see Sydney Carton in the picture, and more than one revelation comes out. Everything just suddenly becomes so bleak.

(Just a few more chapters to go, and I think we're officially done with posting glossaries :) Last few questions will be posted either tomorrow or the day after.)

[DC]

Tin: (view spoiler)[I agree with you regarding Madame Defarge, about having children pay for their father's sins. On the other hand though, I looked at her as more a hardened woman that ever. (hide spoiler)]


Meliza: (view spoiler)[
The Empathy ...find the right words to say to them to pacify their lust for blood.

With such a bleak atmosphere, I think that having empathy right at that point would be momentous.


This and writing a letter to the Minister of State showed his strong character.

That is true. Horrible how politics still made him a victim of the times, though.
(hide spoiler)]


Gay: (view spoiler)[
The Believer or The Optimist... I’ll be the one to cheer the revolutionist to move forward

This one is sweet. I believe that more than one ray of light would indeed be necessary to keep the hardened ones going :)


I couldn’t imagine an aristocrat from that era would do that considering the situation happening in France and his reason for leaving it.

I suppose he's just one of those heroic, self-righteous types. Plus his belief in righting his own family's wrongs and what not, but yes, I can totally understand what you're trying to say - essentially, he's headed to death :/
(hide spoiler)]

[Maria Ella]

Can I just say?
Nahihirapan ako sa mga narrations of war. Hirap ang puso ko okay? It's like imagining French Revolution all over again. Dama ko ang mga galit ng tao. (view spoiler)[And who is Alexander Manette?!?!!? How is he related to Madame Defarge?! (view spoiler)[charot kunyari hindi ko alam! (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Okay, habol habol ulit:
Question 6 - (view spoiler)[The nine days of suffering might have been adequate for the Doctor to forget the shock of the news he received from D'Aulnais - or the mother's family name of Charles Darnay. Ang cute nga eh - ganito ang dating sa English ng apelido heheheh. As I read along, he is also the long-lost nephew of the Marquis de Evermonde - yung tito na kinausap nya where he renounced his riches, saying that the family is cursed.

Oh yea - ladies shoes. Why ladies shoes? I remember the doctor saying that a ghost appeared before him, but it is not Lucie, but a different young girl. I wanna know who~ (view spoiler)[charot, kunyari hindi ko rin alam ulit ahahahaha (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Activity 7 - (view spoiler)[The Rant. Just because, heeeeee~ (hide spoiler)]

Question 8 - (view spoiler)[He placed more action on the peasants, or maybe I just felt it. There's movement or a tone of something big when Charles (okay close kami hehehe) talked about the peasant. Maybe because he came from a poor family too. May hugot eh, I just felt it. When he writes about the noble - for example - the king and queen and all those Burgeois - its of fewer action words, but more of describing them. I am no linguistic, or a grammar nazi, or maybe nadadala lang ako sa paraan ng pagsusulat.

Darnay? Believable. He's superhero eh. Parang The White Knight sa Batman, he is willing to take risk, just to save a good laddie. (hide spoiler)]

Question 9 - (view spoiler)[saka na? hindi pa kaya ng puso ko wait lang. huhu (hide spoiler)]

PS: Uhmm, kinikilig ako kay Sydney when he (view spoiler)[showed his vulnerable side to Lucie. HEEEE kilig <3 (hide spoiler)]

[Monique]

Quite late for the discussion, I know, but we all know what they say, right? (view spoiler)[What did they say again? Haha! (hide spoiler)]

Day 6 Question
(view spoiler)[It had something to do with what Charles Darnay disclosed to Dr. Manette on the morning of the wedding. Prior to that, everyone, especially the Doctor, was fine. And then when they went behind closed doors, for Charles to reveal the things he promised to Dr. Manette, that's when he withdrew to his room and cobbled. I don't think it has anything to do with the fact that Lucie finally married Charles because he had given his blessing beforehand and knew what to expect. Also, I think the period of nine days represents the usual day of mourning, although I am not sure if they observed that in Europe during those days. It was just an idea off the top of my head. :D (hide spoiler)]

Day 7 Activity
(view spoiler)[I think I'd like to be called The Conviction. :D (hide spoiler)]

[Ycel]

Group Tally: Which Ideal Are You?

I think the grouping is pretty much even, with Angus (The Tempest), Ella (The Rant), Monique (The Conviction) and Louize (Miss Pross) on the one end of the spectrum and Meliza (The Empathy), Gay (The Believer or The Optimist), Tin (The Temperance) and Ycel (The Golden Mean) on the other. So we will cancel each other out and there will be no bloody revolution. HAHAHAH!

On Darnay’s Decision (view spoiler)[to Go to France (hide spoiler)]
(view spoiler)[
The first thing that caught my eye about this chapter is the title (Drawn to the Loadstone Rock). A loadstone is a magnet, specifically one consisting of magnetic oxide of iron. The word “load-stone,” meaning literally “way-stone,” comes from the use of magnets in marine navigation; figuratively, a loadstone is an object that attracts. In Dickens’ use of term – in the title of this chapter, and in later references within the chapter – he is alluding to a particular loadstone in the Arabian Nights in which a ship was irresistibly drawn to an enormous Loadstone Rock, exerting such a force on the ship as to pull all the nails out of its structure and sink it. Dickens is telling us that Darnay cannot resist going to France despite the danger. So Tin’s analysis is right, Darnay is afflicted with hero complex. Undoubtedly his fatal flaw.
(hide spoiler)]

MONIQUE: Also, I think the period of nine days represents the usual day of mourning, although I am not sure if they observed that in Europe during those days. It was just an idea off the top of my head.
Oh, you have a point here. Thanks for this.

[Monique]

Hi mods, I'll keep answering the questions (albeit belatedly) habang pwede pa. :D

Day 8 Questions
(view spoiler)[1. I think there's a fair and equal treatment to both sides. It never even crossed my mind that Dickens is favoring either one, so he did a good job in this respect.

2. I honestly still can't make up my mind about Charles Darnay. He seems like a decent and honorable man, so I'd totally believe the decision to go to France to help Gabelle. But it's too risky, taking into consideration that he has a family to leave behind. That was the part that got me confused. Or perhaps I am more inclined towards Sydney, that is why I don't pay much attention to him? (hide spoiler)]

Regarding Darnay's (super)hero complex:
(view spoiler)[When a person is afflicted with this, does it mean everything else he treasures takes a backseat? For example, his family? And I ask this because it was my main beef against Darnay's decision to go back to Paris. (hide spoiler)]

[DC]

[Reading Plan Day 23-24: Book 3, Chapters 13-15]

"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."

Oh, my heart. Just reading the last few words just brings tears to my eyes - each time.

The last days of our reading plan officially brings the book to a close, and so we are left with more than a few memories of the characters we have walked with in this tale of two cities.


Day 10 Questions
1. (view spoiler)[ Examine the roles that women play in the novel. Compare and contrast Lucie Manette and Therese Defarge bearing in mind that their back-stories are remarkably similar – both were hurt by the Evrémonde family in some way or another. What do their respective behaviors reveal about Victorian ideals?
(hide spoiler)]
2. (view spoiler)[ Is Sydney Carton a hero, or is his death just a continuance of his fatalistic logic? Explain.
(hide spoiler)]
3. What are your general thoughts about the book, now that you have finished it?

Day 10 Activity
(view spoiler)[ Write a eulogy for Sydney Carton. (hide spoiler)]


Post-ATO2C Online Discussion
We'll be wrapping up our discussion here soon, especially since the face-to-face discussion (F2F) is coming up this Saturday, July 26. Come join us in discussing what Dickens' calls his best work (which would be ATO2C, by the way). F2F thread is here.

Nevertheless, join us too for the online screening of the film adaptation this Friday, if just to relive the feels :) Online screening thread is here.

[DC]

Oh, I realize I wasn't able to post what ideal I'd like to be called :D I'd want to be called (view spoiler)[The Just. It's incredibly difficult to be fair during those times, but I'll try my best to be so. That must mean, therefore, that my head would be among the first to decorate the Place de la Révolution, hah. (hide spoiler)]

Ella: (view spoiler)[Bagay sa'yo ang The Rant. Haha!

May hugot eh, I just felt it.
Actually, now that you've mentioned it: oo nga ano.

So proud you've gotten past so much, though! Haha, makikilig ka pa yata sa bandang dulo, kaya't tapusin mo na! :D FEELS. (hide spoiler)]

Monique: (view spoiler)[ Also, I think the period of nine days represents the usual day of mourning, although I am not sure if they observed that in Europe during those days.

Oh, oo nga. I didn't think of this, either. Nice observation :)

Also: The Conviction, nice :) (hide spoiler)]


On the superhero complex note:
(view spoiler)[I'm guessing Darnay was just trying to be righteous - and his beliefs were, yes, worth more to him than his love for his family.

Moreover, if I remember correctly, the policy for emigrants was passed just when Darnay came into France, so I suppose he didn't think that he would be jailed at all when he came there.

Or perhaps he also underestimated just how bad the Reign of Terror was? I mean, I believe that I read somewhere that even France today is rather embarrassed how that turned out. The mob mentality was crazy scary, and I can't even imagine how people could not bat an eyelid having to walk past the national barber with blood littered all over the place.

I don't know though. I don't think I could leave my own family if I was given Darnay's choices. Call me safe, but I think I'd really rather have stayed with the spouse and kids.
(hide spoiler)]