A Tale of Two Cities' Modern Relevance

[Rebecca]

A Tale of Two Cities was written in 1859, over 150 years ago. There are those critics who would argue that a book written in 1859 is not relevant to a modern audience. Consider the themes, characters and archetypes found in the novel. Would you consider this novel relevant to a modern audience? Focus your argument on a single theme, character or archetype. Make sure to reference the novel to support your thinking. Most importantly, make sure to provide commentary. Don't simply quote a passage or summarize a moment from the story. Instead, discuss how or why that passage is important in supporting your thesis. (I expect at least two paragraphs, 6-8 sentences each.)

[Ethan]

The first thing that is said in, A Tale of Two Cities is, “It was the best of times it was the worst of times” (pg. 1). This quote summarizes the books main problem so clearly and is so relevant to what is going on right now in our country today as well, that I don’t see how you can make an argument that this novel is not relevant.
In Paris, France over 200 years ago there is fear of a revolution because the rich higher class is so much more powerful than the poorer weaker class. This allows the rich to get away with treating the poor very cruelly without consequences. These poor lower class citizens that are starving and killing each other to try to survive are fed up. Things cannot continue to go on like this, revolution is inevitable.
This is what is going on right now in the U.S. with the top 1% and the lower sometimes homeless class of America. Obviously it is not as drastic the rich aren’t running over people in the street then giving the victim’s family a dollar so they’ll leave them alone(pg.79-90), like in A Tale of Two Cities with the Marquis. But people in the book and right now are rebelling but there is a difference between Occupy Wall Street and attacking the government and executing them with the galantine. Yet again, the same but not as extreme. It is possible that it could escalate to the point of total revolution. It’s interesting because even though much has changed since the 1700s, this cycle of people’s actions leading to inequality keeps repeating itself.

[Lilibeth]

The novel, A Tale of Two Cities, is relevant to modern audiences. It provides the reader with a view of the hero archetype found in Dr. Manette. Dr. Manette is easily a hero for historic and modern audiences. The hero archetype is selfless and is willing to do anything even if it puts him in harm’s way. The character Dr. Alexandre Manette embraces the hero archetype in the novel in many ways. He has to overcome 18 years in prison (pg. 247, the letter), which makes him a hero because he was able to help Charles when he is in prison. Dr. Manette uses his experience in prison to help Charles out of prison even though he is an Evermonde. The archetypical hero overcomes hardships. The hero also has vulnerabilities. This is what his enemies use to try and destroy the hero. Dr. Manette’s vulnerability is his daughter, when his letter hurts her by sentencing Charles to death the Dr. is devastated and is when he goes into his biggest break down. The hero archetype has the characteristics of seeing the humanity in others. Dr. Manette sees his suffering in Charles when he is in prison. A hero doesn’t seek attention when committing good deeds. Just like Dr. Manette helping Charles get out of prison and going around from prison to prison saving the prisoners lives. The hero archetype always commits his deeds with bravery and courage.
A Tale of Two Cities is relevant to modern reader because the hero characteristics are similar to what the hero in both modern and historic time periods has and demonstrates. The hero makes sacrifices even if it puts him in peril, the way Dr. Manette did by reporting the abuse from the Marquis. The hero is brave, courageous and modest. The novel is also relevant to modern audiences because it reminds the reader of compassion and humanity. In the novel, “it was the best of times" and "it was the worst of times"(pg. 1). Dr. Manette has the worst of times by being in prison and the best of times by being reunited with his daughter. The hero archetype has the worst of times when people are in danger and the best of times when he saves a life or does a good deed.

[Parker]

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." This is the first sentence of the novel A Tale of Two Cities, which was written in the 1800's, but it is alos the basic summary of the United States today. "It was the best of times," this pertains to the upper-middle class people in the United States who are not having to do a whole lot in the way of work to make large sums of money. "It was the worst of times," this pertains to the lower class people in America who have to work multiple jobs just to keep food on the table and maintain some sort of a livlihood.
"It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness." Again, and sentence from only the first page and it is already very relevant to modern day America and even the modern world. "It was the season of light." While the people in America are sitting in their homes not worrying about whether or not they will be killed tomorrow or whether a bomb will be dropped on their heads in the near future, people in other countries such as the ones in the middle east where there seems to be constant fighting are very worried about getting shot or blown up which today would be, "The season of darkness."
This novel, even though it was written nearly two hudred years ago, still has an immense amount of relativity even now. If some of the costumes were changed and the dialect was modernized, this novel could really be about the modern world.

[Brigham]

A Tale of Two Cities is most definitely relevant to a modern audience. You might not expect this super old book to have any relationship with our imperfect world today, but it goes to show how similar society is today. In the book, A Tale of Two Cities the setting changes from France to England throughout the book, “There were a king with a large jaw, and a queen with a fair face on the throne of England; there were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face on the throne of France. In both countries it was clearer than crystal to the lords of the State preserves of loaves and fishes, that things in general were settled forever” (pg 1). This quote goes to show that wealthy people had unlimited resources, whereas the poor had to do much more grueling work than the wealthy. This is still seen in society today, for example in china, millions of children and families suffer from starvation. Yet, the wealthy people have almost unlimited resources and the poor have to get by on what they have.
The modern reader sees revolutions and civil war throughout the world today, just like Therese Defarge and the rest of France. This applies to modern relevance because many people today are revolting and protesting against the powerful and wealthy governments of their countries. For example, the people in Syria are fighting to get rid of their hostile government. People are fighting against the government with rebellion armies and people on the street. These people would not stand down for anything. Just like the Defarges and the rest of France stopped at nothing to bring down France and their wealthy rulers, “Tell the wind and Fire where to stop, but don’t tell me!”(pg 264)
Though much has changed since the 1700s the thoughts and actions of people remain the same today.

[Sydney]

The Tale of Two Cities is relevant to a modern audience, of course; we would have to compare it to today’s issues and problems in the world. The Tale of Two cities starts off with a very famous line, “It was the best of time, it was the worst of times…” Today we are living in the best and worst of times, for example, we have new technology and new businesses that show hope but in rural areas children are starving, dying and being forced to fight in wars. This definitely seems that the good and the bad are balanced book in the book and in modern day.
The characters all are relevant to a modern audience even though they were living in a totally different time period. Sydney Carton falls under the hero archetype because of his constant struggle to become a better person. Like the hero archetype, Sydney had a very sad back story that makes Sydney the person he is. Hero’s usually have a tragic back story and a constant struggle that they try to overcome, Carton did just this. Carton would spend most of the day drunken and sad, when he meets Lucie and falls in love with her, he suddenly finds a reason to be good and sober. On page 159 Sydney says, “I remember it too (drinking). The curse of those occasions is heavy upon me, for I always remember them. I hope it may be taken into account one day, when all days are at an end for me!” Carton is showing how he has come out of the darken days of drinking and is trying to become a better person.
Personally, I know several people who have fallen in the deep despair of drinking, and watching them come out of that deep despair is painful. Sydney Cartons transformation to a hero was a struggle, he went from thinking he would never having purpose to live to a man of great strength and hope to help those who planned to do good from the start. Becoming a better person takes your own person will and wants to become better. He ends up saving Mr. Darnay, earning the feeling of doing something good for others and “getting a girl.”
This is relevant to a modern audience because some of today’s biggest stars and most successful “hero’s” of today have struggled with drinking, drugs, or abuse of other kind and have risen above that by focusing on what they want and acting upon that. These older characters are more like people today ion the struggles they face and the diversity of classes.

[Clarissa]

A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens was written in 1859, over 150 years ago. Even, over all of these years, there is still modern relevance to today's society. On page one it says ,"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was he age of foolishness" later on the that same paragraph it goes on to say "we had everything before us, we had nothing before us." This is relevant to today's society because we still are in the worst and the best of times; there are wise and foolish people. Some people have everything in front of them where others have absolutely nothing. There are people in today's world that are perfectly provided for; meaning that they never go through hunger or the need for any sort of supplies because everything is always there in front them. They are the people that live in million dollar homes and go out to eat at five-star restaurants every evening and still incredulously are not satisfied with their lives. Then there are those who live in less provided for circumstances; where they are working twelve hours a day just to make ends meet and are still starving and clothed in rags at the end of the day. There are wise people that think of the outcome of the choices that they make and then there are the foolish people who act before they think and get themselves into a sticky situation.

In book 2 chapter 7 pages 83-84 it has a scene where the Marquis, a very wealthy ruler, is riding in his coach at a very high speed and ends up running over a young boy. When the Marquis finds out what happened he feels like it is such an inconvenience. When the father of the young boy runs over and picks up the dead body of his son and cries out because of his loss. The Marquis simply shows no emotion towards the father and acts as if the boy brought his death upon himself. On page 84 it says, "He (the Marquis) threw out a gold coin for the valet to pick up". This was a very cruel, disrespectful, conceited thing to do. The Marquis obviously shows no emotion and is only thinking about his own importance. This reminds me of today's society and how everyone seems to be caught up in their own image and how good they are, and neglect to think twice about those they are hurting only because their own life is too important. It is also very relevant to what is going on in Syria right now with the government at random killing protestors and other citizens without even thinking about who it might be affecting. Even though these situations are two different scenarios and are over 150 years apart people still have those same desperate feelings of sadness and loss and complete anger towards those who could care less.

Adding on to the same scene of the young boy being run over, when the commoners get frustrated at the Marquis's complete disregard towards the father that just lost his son the Marquis responds to them in a very foolish way. On page 85 he says "You dogs!" "I would ride over any of you very willingly, and exterminate you from the earth." This shows how much the Marquis thinks himself up compared to those around him, to the point where he would be willing to kill just about anyone in his way. This is hurtful to those who are hearing someone say that they would be willing to kill just about any of them. You still see this today when immature foolish minded people state that they will willingly hit someone or ignore them for a certain period of time. It still hurts people today as it did 150 years ago, because it’s hard for anyone to hear that someone thinks they are so much better than you; that someone would take your life or be willing to hurt you inside and out; meaning they may hurt your feelings (inside) or the might literally injure your body, on the outside, which you see a lot of in today's society.

In the Preface of the book on IV it talks about a reference made to the French people before or during the revolution and what a terrible time it was. It is stated that because of all the problems that were building up it officially caused a revolution. This is very relevant to all of the problems that the world is going through and slowly one problem at a time it could turn into a revolution. Charles Dickens wrote a book that is relevant to almost any day and age. He explains throughout the book multiple different circumstances that anyone could go through. So even though 150 years have passed since A Tale of Two Cities was written by Charles Dickens, it still is the worst of times and the best of times.

[Sadie]

The 18th century novel, A Tale of Two Cities, is very relevant to the modern world we live in today. From the very beginning sentence, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," (pg 1) you can tell that the whole of the story will be relatable to a modern society. Although this book was written several hundred years ago, it can easily explain the society we as a world face today in many ways, including greed, social classes, good and evil to extremes, and misusage of power. In a world with both polars of extremes, our world seems to find itself in many problems, relatable to the problems Dickens pointed out in this novel.

The Earth has slowly began to come to a downfall, yet at the same time is at a very high point in a couple places scattered around the globe. After watching a very life changing video about Indian starvation, I was very taken back by the number of starvation related deaths our world takes on every single day. This is just an example for how naïve some can be to the trouble some countries face. Where its the best of times one place, it could be the absolute worst for another. Its the times like these that Dicken's first line of A Tale of Two Cities can specifically relate, making an eyeopening experience possible for the people who care what happens to our future generations.

In A Tale of Two Cities, there is a very broad rang of wealth, just like our day in age. “It had its poor people to. All its people were poor, and many of them were sitting at their doors, shredding spare onions and the like for supper, while many were at the fountain, washing leaves, and grasses, and any such small yieldings of the earth that could be eaten” (pg 86). This is a very good example straight from the text of how low and unstable much of the population was back then, starvation and lack of wealth something that brought problems to their world. This is very relatable to the families in India who use their last resort to simply feed their families by hunting through garbage cans for a possible meal. For the people with nearly nothing, their lives seem to be crashing in on them, just like the people of our time. It could be considered the worst of times, in Dicken's words.

In comparison, though, there were also the best of times in the story of A Tale of Two cities. One example of this is in Monseigneur's life where his every move is watched and worshipped. This man's life seems to be adorned with every perfect detail, where things seem to be the best of times (pgs 79-85). Nothing seemed like it could go wrong in his life, and never did he take the time to pay attention to anything bad going on in the world around him. “ “ You dogs!” said the Marquis, but smoothly, and with an unchanged front, except as to the spots on his nose; “I would ride over any of you very willingly, and exterminate you from the earth”. Just like this man, many people of the world feel as if it is not our responsibility to look out for those who are in 'the worst of times', when in reality, its our job to make this world a functioning place, which is exactly what many of us are not doing.

The Tale of Two Cities is a very relatable book to the twenty first century, many of its problems and catastrophes reappearing in a world like ours today. Greed, misuse in power, and social classes bring our world as a whole down, polar opposites of good and easy making Dicken's famous anaphora “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” ring true for us all.

[Connor]

Although the novel “A Tale of Two Cities” was written one hundred and fifty years ago, there are many ways this book is relevant to a modern audience but the one that stood out the most to me was when Charles Dickens wrote “ It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. This could apply to a modern audience because right now the majority of our country is having trouble whether it is with money or trying to find a warm place to sleep at night. In 1859 there was a revolution forming and the lower class people or the poor people were stealing from and killing each other over simple things such as food and money, and they finally got sick of it and rebelled against the government, although it is not as frightening dramatic today we still have an incredulous amount of “bad times” (especially in other countries).
I think it would be very hard to make and argument that this novel is not relevant to a modern audience because these are some of the worst times our country has ever experienced in history. We have had a sublime drop in the economy since the 21st century and many other problems. But we have also had good times such as we got to experience the first African American president to get elected into the White House.In 1859 there were more bad things happening than good but there were some good things. So therefore the novel “A Tale of Two Cities” can still apply to modern audiences (I have to say I did not enjoy this book, I found it hard to read and confusing).

[Ellen]

In the novel "The Tale of Two Cities" Charles Dickens set the mood of the book with the phrase "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." When I was told that this book could relate to the modern reader I didn't believe it until l I read that phrase. In 1859 innocent people were given the same punishment as a murderer, Children worked in dangerous factories while others starved to death; But then theirs the other type of citizens. These people are wealthy, they have all the need and more. These were the best of times and the worst of times, but do we not face similar hardships now? People who live in poorer countries are poor, starving, have little or no education, and run to save their lives everyday, the worst of times. Then there are the wealthier countries, such as the US, we have food, jobs, a good government, shelter and some have all they could need and more, the best of times. We even have examples of this just in america. Some people are wealthy, have jobs, big houses. These people are living in the best of times. While others don't even have a home or anything to call their own, The worst of times.

Some people say that Dicken's novels can not relate to a modern day reader, but I have taken just a small sentence from the Tale of Two Cities and have already shown how it can relate to a modern day reader. Charles Dickens has written a book that is complicated but timeless. Readers from 1800s right up to the 2000s can relate to this novel and I'm quite sure future readers will too.

[Eden]

The historically tragic story of A Tale of Two Cities is relevant to a modern audience due to the ideas and themes that are portrayed. One of the most valuable themes, artfully embedded into the description-rich novel, would be that found in the well-known anaphora on the first page. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…” This timeless idea is one of the most prominent sources of relevance to a modern audience. For many it is the best of times whereas for others, it truly is the worst of times; there are many fools yet many people are full of wisdom. There are similar things going on in the book to what is going on in present-days which allows the reader to directly connect and relate to the story.

In Charles Dickens’ novel, the rich had everything they could possibly need, plus more, and believed that it would stay that way forever. “In both [France and England] it was clearer than crystal to the lords of the State preserves of loaves and fishes, that things in general were settled forever” (pg 1). While the royalty bathed in wealth, the rest of the population had no rights and were dependent upon the rich. While the poor were ravenous with hunger, the government would often entertain itself with such pastimes as cutting off a young man’s hands, tearing his tongue out with pincers, and burning him alive because he had not kneeled down in the rain to give recognition to a dirty procession of monks more than fifty yards away (pg 2). “…to-day, taking the life of an atrocious murderer, and to-morrow of a wretched pilferer who had robbed a farmer’s boy of sixpence” (pg 3). This aspect of differentiating classes happens to be what sparked the French Revolution in 1789.

This is exactly how our world is today; some have everything before them while others have none. There are many people in present times that are living in complete poverty and don’t have any money, food, shelter, or anything for that matter. These people struggle every single moment of their lives with whether they’re going to be able to support themselves and those close to them. There are others in the world that have nothing to worry about and are perfectly well-off in terms of money, food, and health. This text also has modern relevance since many face starvation and revolutions are breaking out in countries across the world. Although Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities was written more than a century ago, it still remains the best of times and the worst of times.

[Paris]

Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities, has helped to shape generations of readers’ understanding of one of the most pivotal experiences of humanity. Human suffering isn’t simply an 18th century problem. With all of the poverty and injustice this novel displays, A Tale of Two Cities is an exploration of conditions that persist today and will continue as long as violence and inequality continue to flourish. The famished people in the novel also represent parts of our generation that continue to die because they are nutritionally deficient. To this day, people are still being accused falsely in court and having to abandon their families to serve time. The closer we look, the more the false imprisonment of Dr. Manette or Charles Darnay becomes something that we deal with in the real world, not just the fictional one.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times (pg. 1).” We all have had the best of times and the worst of times, whether we are rich or poor. All humans experience joy and suffering, have successes and failures. Around the world people either live in poverty and sickness or bathe in money and health. So while some may argue that Dickens’ novels are of the past, many of the themes he explores, such as human suffering, pertain to humanity today. There are some universal experiences that will always be part of the human existence.

[Emma]

In the novel, “The Tale of Two Cities,” Charles Dickens brings in the theme of fairness, or lack of fairness with the anaphora, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”(pg1) This introduction helps provide the setting for the reader. Fairness in our modern day society hasn’t changed. With power comes great responsibility, lacking responsibility is when people start to abuse the power given. There is also the feeling of being unbalanced with the power, then the poverty and inequality.
In third world countries such as Somalia where people are trekking thousands of miles just to get to safety, away from pirating, and famine. Children are dying from starvation and malnourishment, where children in first world countries are being over fed and obesity is a problem for them. Young women and girls are getting raped, where in first world countries many young girls don’t even know the term rape, and even as you get older it is a very foreign term. These people in these countries that are battling and suffering to make it to the next day they feel that there is a great deal of inequality playing out. Some of these modern conditions relate to the peasantry in this novel, where Dickens is describing these people with cadaverous faces so eager just to get a taste of the luxurious wine that was spilt on the ground. (pg21)
In fist world countries such as America these conditions rarely are displayed. There are a handful of people that abuse the power they have and the money they have and not having the least bit of concern what is going on around the world. These people will spend obscene amounts of money of food, and worthless stuff that just gets wasted in space. These people feel they have got to this point in their life for working for it, only a handful have put the labor and energy into their success, the others just get lucky. They feel like if they can do it, anyone can. The Marquis displays these acts of selfishness and greed when he ran over a small child and just tossed the father a coin to shut him up, as if the golden coin could really put a value on this child’s life. (pgs. 83-85) ***spoiler alert*** He ends up paying for it later in the novel.
These examples from the book comparing to the modern examples show that the times have not really changed, it was and still the, “the best of times” and, “the worst of times.”

[Justin]

The theme or imbalance in A Tale of Two Cities is just as relevant to the theme today. For example, on page one the author quoted, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." The author would continue to use foils to describe the severely different positive and negative aspects of life back during the French Revolution. The quote shows modern relevance because in the world today we have the wealthy countries that are pretty much naive to all the third-world countries that are struggling just to obtain food. This theme happens in America today to, in the slums compared to the wealthier parts of towns.

Another theme that A Tale of Two Cities embraces is the strict process and harsh assumptions to immigrants or foreign travelers. For example when Charles Darnay is trialed for being an Evermond and also accused of being a spy. This is relevant to today all the time such as Arizona's SB 1070 law about illegal immigrants coming to the U.S. Americans also have unreasonable assumptions of people from the Middle Eastern being terrorists. This takes place today in airports in the U.S. were a person who looks particular or foreign could be assumed to be a risk. The modern relevance of themes in a Tale of two cities is endless and extremely close to today's world.

[Mitchell]

Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities does not hold a substantial modern relevance. This is because the theme of what is ideal has radically changed over one and a half centuries, leading away from the values of Christianity portrayed in the book. One example of this is the character Lucie Manette, who at the time was considered an ideal woman. She no longer represents this in the 21st century. She embraces the archetype of the damsel in distress to an extreme; she seems to be consistently waiting around for someone else to take action, thereby effectively rescuing her. This is no longer a desirable trait; women are more desirable when they are independent. Unlike in Dickens’ times, modern women are now viewed as equals to men, instead of being merely a prize to obtain, thus significantly lowering the novel's accessibility.

Another much less accessible idealism for the modern reader is the obvious allegory of resurrection. This can be seen, for one, in the character of Dr. Manette. He spends years in prison, and is reduced to a shadow of the man he once was. He subsequently overcomes this, being “resurrected” and surpassing his former self. The more obvious example, however, is how the character Sydney Carton is a representation of Jesus. Although the representation may be slightly inverted, the core is that he sacrificed himself so others could be saved. Through this, he becomes a new man, if only for the short time he has left. Since Christianity is less integrated into the culture of the present day, Dickens’ book is less accessible, and no longer relevant to a modern audience.

[Janelle]

A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles is a timeless classic. It's about destruction, corruption, wickedness and love, which can all relate to modern times. Obviously, since this book was written about the French Revolution that took place in the 1700’s, life was very different back then. From Horse drawn carriages back then to cars that can call your home now, life has indeed changed since then. But if you take a closer look at the text, you will be able to realize that Dickens’ words are very relevant to today.

For instance, look on page one. The anaphoric paragraph at the beginning can all relate to today's world. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness." There will always be both good and bad in the world. Technology is advancing immensely and diseases are being cured, but there are still wars going on all over Africa and the economy is at an extreme low point. So many horrible things are happening in the world, but there are also wonderful things happening in the world too. And that's how it will still be, 150 years from NOW.

The firm first paragraph records the experience of human nature which always remains constant in its greed, indignity, and selfishness. Now, I'm not saying that everyone is like this, Gandhi for instance, was the exact opposite of these characteristics and was a remarkable man that devoted his life to non- violence. People like Gandhi are rare to find and are the humans that are wise, just like Mr. Lorry. Mr. Lorry was a man that devoted his life to helping others. For example, he helped Lucie find her long imprisoned father Dr. Mannette and even took care of him. On the other hand, people like Hitler are the foolish. Hitler was an uncompassionate person that shook the world into an evil place similarly, like Monseigneur. Monseigneur ran over an innocent child and didn’t even blink. Simply because the child was in his way he took his life. These two people were complete opposites, but demonstrate excellently Dicken's quote "it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness."

[Ashlon]

The Tale of Two Cities is a novel written by Charles Dickens in 1859. This book has many different situations involving many different people. Miss Pross, from my point, portrayed the most hero typical archetype. Miss Pross watched over Lucie Manette while her father, Dr. Manette, was in prison for eighteen consecutive years. Miss Pross devoted her life to protecting Lucie. She would have done anything for Lucie. When Lucie found out her father was out of prison she decided to retrieve him from Paris and bring him home. Miss Pross was very against leaving England so she traveled half way with Lucie to retrieve her father, and turned around to go back home. Miss Pross was very protective over Lucie. At the end of the book when Miss Pross kills Madame Defarge, it was for the safety of Lucie. Madame Defarge was originally going to kill Lucie, but Miss Pross got in the way and saved Lucie’s life. In many ways does this exemplify a hero archetype, from where we stand, saving a person’s life is the most valuable and heroic thing another can do.
Also, in the novel The Tale of Two Cities, the first statement on page one stated that “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” This book again, was written in 1859 over ten decades ago. When Charles Dickens wrote this book he was most likely referring to the environment and the population around him, even though the book was plotted in 1775. Modern times are very much like the times in 1859. Right now, as we speak, all over the world, every single day, there are the best of times and the worst of times. There are people who are very foolish while there are people who are very wise. It doesn’t matter the time period, the world is the world. Even if we try to change it, it is going to remain. If the earth and people of the earth can relate to a book written over ten decades ago, think about what can happen in fifty decades. There are so many possibilities. With this, the novel The Tale of Two Cities written by Charles Dickens in 1859 can very much relate to the year two thousand twelve in many ways.

[Fernando]

In the novel "A Tale Of Two Cities." Charles Dickens uses the richest text I have read. His first words were "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." This sets the mood for the reader throughout the whole story. The rich are filed with happiness and joy, while the poor are depressed and hopeless. I find this book amazingly relevant to modern society in every aspect of archetype. This book was written 150 years ago and for it to still be relevant in modern time is extraordinary.
In page 79 Monseigneur is a rich lord and he is coming from this highly important court house at full speed in his carriage, he runs over a child that is from a very poor family. Monseigneur puts a price on a human’s life by simply ordering the marquis to throw a few gold coins at the son’s father. I can relate this to modern time because let’s say that a person with lots of money committed a crime and a poor person committed the exact same crime, the rich person would most likely let of the hook or would have to pay a fine but the poor person would not have the money to pay a fine and would be sentenced to some years in prison or back 150 years ago to a death sentenced. Another modern relevant is comparing the power that Osama Bin Laden had and how he abused it by doing everything he wanted and not carrying about the consequences in the future like in 9-11 and also if his partners in crime wouldn’t do what he said he would send one of his most trusted man and tell him to rape their wife’s and afterwards he would kill his family, and eventually like in the book he would be killed because no one gets away with taking innocent peoples life.
They are countries out in the world living to this quote “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” There’s starving kids in Kenya waiting for a simple apple when there’s people in America waiting in line to order as much food as they want from a fast food restaurant. The poor or homeless people in America are rich people to the man, women, and children of Kenya. Parents in Kenya would give there life to get a simple meal for their children just to live 1 more day, it’s depressing when I see people waste food when people in the world need this.
As a modern reader I can tell you that even though this book was written about 150 years ago I can relate this to modern times and with this I leave. "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times."

[Cornelia]

"A tale of two cities", written by Charles Dickens, was written over 150 years ago, yet it is still relevant to modern audiences. For example, on pg. 1, one of Dickens most famous quotes, "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times"
It is explicitly shown through our world that we are living in the best of times. In America, for example, we have freedom: the right to choose. Most people are blessed with a house over their head, food in their bellies, and shoes on their feet. They get to experience the happiness of a family, no matter what size, shape or form that may be. In the book, many wealthy people have it all and yet they give nothing to the poor. This is not true happiness, but is portrayed as the best times, as today we have our wealthy billionaires with seven houses across the world and electronic goodies, swimming pools, and every luxury in life.
“It was the worst of times”, in the book, a young boy had his tongue cut off and was burned alive because he did not bow to a procession of monks about fifty feet from his view. Recently, in Africa, people have been killed for no reason, or for silly reasons like the boy who hadn’t bowed. There are people starving to death not just in poorer places like Africa, but also in America. And the wealthy leaders and citizens only sit there and watch.

[Sarah]

Although A Tale of Two Cities was written in 1859, I believe that it is relevant to a modern reader. The novel starts out saying "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--." (pg. 1) If one breaks down this opening quote, one can find several connections from the mid 1800's to modern day.
“The best of times” as referenced in the novel can be seen with “There were a king with a large jaw, and a queen with a fair face on the throne of England; there were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face on the throne of France. In both countries it was clearer than crystal to the Lords of the State preserves of loaves and fishes, that things in general were settled forever.” (pg. 1) This statement in the text allows the reader to picture an era of extreme happiness, riches, and royalty; much like the riches in our society today. These people are caught up in their own accomplishments, spending money on clothing, technology, the latest this, and the latest that. There are many people in our world thriving with endless positive opportunities and gaining endless amounts of money, prospering with everything they could have dreamed.
On the other hand, first world countries like India and Africa have starving children worrying about their next meal, not even aware of the newest iPhone. “A youth was sentenced to have his hands cut off, and his tongue torn out with pincers…” (pg. 2) From the text that while the best of times and most successful of kings and queens ruled over one part of the world, extreme violence, trauma, and suffering was just as common. Our current population is at both ends of the spectrum. There are people suffering from starvation, foreclosures, loss of jobs, war, and a poor economy.
The age of wisdom and the age of foolishness can also connect to a modern reader. In our world today there are people at both wise and foolish. There are people inventing, creating, perfecting medicines, using technology, expanding government, and using education to give them the lifestyle that will take them far in life. While at the same time, some people can't see past their own personal pleasures. They are out drinking and partying every night. They are throwing money into the economy to their own demise; their selfish mindset overpowering their drive to succeed-foolishness. By Dickens comparing and contrasting the qualities of his society in 1859, his words can still connect to modern day. Because of human nature, people will always contrast each other.
In conclusion, A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles Dickens, does connect to our modern world today. With the patterns of mankind, the unchanging idea of being the best of times and worst of times, along with wisdom and foolishness, this book will be able to connect to present day and ongoing future generations, forever.

[Nathan]

In the book “A Tale of Two Cities” the character Sydney Carton reflects characteristics of the hero archetype. In the book Sydney did not live an ethical life and wasted it on alcohol. Sydney had opportunities for success, but for some reason did not take them. But later in the book he decides to make up all of his failures and wrong doings, he sacrificed his life himself to save his friends; he died to save his friends to make up his not worthily lived life. This is how this act reflects characteristics of the hero archetype.


A few characteristics of the hero archetype are: They want equality and fairness, will sacrifice themselves to save others, they redeem wrong doings, and want the world to be a better place. When Sydney sacrificed himself he embraced all of these characteristics. He wanted equality because he felt his friends deserved life more than he did, he didn’t feel it was fair for him to live such a bad life and for them to die over him. He sacrificed his own life for his friends to live, if it wasn’t for him to step up his friends would have died instead of Sydney. Sydney felt bad about his past so he redeems himself. Sydney made the world a better place because the people’s lives he saved, lived good honest lives, making the world a better place. On page 293 it says “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”. This quote is Sydney carton talking that what he has done is the best thing he has ever done. This book is relevant to a modern reader because good people want to do good things in their life and make their lives worthwhile.

[Nate]

Charles Dickens wrote the fabled novel, “A Tale of Two Cities,” in 1859, over one hundred and fifty-three years ago. In writing this novel, Dickens wished to describe the time period so that we may understand the trials and tribulations of that time. Dickens wrote of a time that was dark and depressing for most people, few lived to old age, and sickness was like a candle before a hurricane, it showed no mercy to any who came in its path. There were no vaccinations of cures for ailments such as these. What Charles wrote in this novel is unbelievably similar to our current day and age. Many of the problems that pestered the people of this time are still relevant today, such as the crime and poverty that encompassed the countries of England and France as well as the rest of the world. This is absolutely the case now! The Middle Eastern country bursting and the seams with over one billion people living within its borders, and more than have of these people live in extreme poverty, some even eating the scraps out of garbage bins at local restraints! Around 25,000 people die per day due to starvation according to the breadfortheworld.org. The world population of 1859 may not have been as bad as currently, but the poverty was just as atrocious as it is currently.

England was a dangerous place to live at this time,“Daring Burglaries by armed men, and highway robberies took place in the capital itself every night; families ware publicly cautioned not to go out of town without removing their furniture of upholsterers’ warehouse for security” (pg. 3). The rate of crime that took place during this time was despicable, but very relevant to today’s society. Robberies and other such atrocities take place daily around the world! Crime and poverty rates of both 1859 and currently are not only very high but very similar in numbers. In the history of the world, there has never been a time where that crime and poverty did not exist; for that would be a utopia, but there have been high and low points and the amount that was taking place. In both Dickens novel, and currently, it was and is, very high, and extremely similar.

“Cadaverous faces… trying to soften the pain in (their) own starved fingers and toes” (pg. 21). The poor souls that lived upon the streets of the condemned endured hunger and suffering beyond anything that we could imagine. “People drank of the wine that was spilled upon these streets with and thirst that was unquenchable” (pg. 20-22). These people were drinking spilled wine for the gutters in France. Even today, people dig through the garbage bins for their dinner because they have nothing else to eat. Many Americans will never experience this feeling of such hunger and despair that people around the world come to deal with every day.

Charles Dickens novel, “A Tale of Two Cities,” is relevant to today’s society, even if the only reason is the similarities in the Crime and poverty. Both crime and poverty are the killers of both the revolution of France, and of 2012, for the amounts of both are despicable. Both exists very explicitly in both time periods, and ties the novel to our current day and age as well as our current society, for as Dickens said, “it is the best of times, it is the worst of times” and “it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness” (page 1).

[Brooke]

A Tale of Two Cities, written over 150 years ago brings problems up that we still have in our day and age. This book has value and shows a remarkable amount of knowledge of our modern day life. On pg. 1 states “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” which is an excellent example of what is going on; it shows how our world has inequality.
For example the character Marquis shows qualities frowned upon, but yet it is not uncommon to find men and women with very similar characteristics on (pg. 216) the Marquis states that “he believes that the world revolved around him”, he was also referred to as a vicious dog various times throughout the book. The Marquis was a wealthy man giving him far too much power, which he repeatedly abused. For example at the beginning of the novel the “Marquis runs over a child in his carriage and simply tosses a coin to his father “(pg. 79), believing that his troubles will then be gone. He strongly believes that since he has wealth that nobodies life, besides is own, is worth any value of any kind. This is an extreme example but, you find people everywhere who only look out for themselves and put themselves higher than others due to the wealth that they may have.
A modern day example of inequality is first world countries compared to third world countries. Those in first world countries such as ourselves, have exceeding amount of food available to us any minute of the day, compared to third world countries who go to bed starving every night don’t have a roof over their heads and have difficulty just surviving every day. Yet those in first world countries feel like they don’t need to help since it is not their responsibility.
There are so many people around us that don't look for the service of other people, those who have power and misuse it for the wrong reasons. It shows inequality to many levels but on everyone there is something to be learned. This book really opens eyes showing what kind of cruel world we live in.

[Thabo]

In the novel "A Tale of Two Cities" on the first page it says "It was the age of wisdom,it was the age of foolishness." I think that there is alot of modern relevance in our world today for that quote meaning people are doing great things taking leadership in what the strive for and creating wonderful inventions and technology and then there is the people who are just the opposite always wanting to find trouble always wanting to mess with the law, these type of people are the reasons we have more protective of our belongings and sources in the novel, Dr. Manette has a diary where he had his thoughts of what is going on while he is kept in the room above the store.

Personally when i thought of this part of the quote i thought of the Trayvon Martin shooting, although the cop wasnt stable and was trying do his job it just wasnt right because he honestly had no intention of fighting anyone, stealing anything or anything of that nature. It was a very sad incident. While that is going on there was also all the hype about stopping kony which was a really good idea that this person wanted to stop a man who was doing terrible things to children. Just like in the novel, today's world has alot of ignorant people. In the novel(pg 79), the marquis ran over the boy on the street and didn't show any signs that he was sorry and just threw a coin at the boys father and rode away.

Yes, I do see modern relavance from the quote today.we as a world will never be perfect we just need to react to the foolish to make ourselves better as one. In my reading i was able to attach modern relevance through one element from the book and how the setting and characters change.

[Byron]

Even though the book A Tale of Two Cities was written over 150 years ago, it still carries an unbelievably large amount of modern relevance. On page 1 it says, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” Even in today’s day and age, with mankind’s smartphones and automobiles, this small passage has a huge amount of relevance. As people go about their everyday lives, we see the “best of times”, with electricity, clean water, supplies of food, and even something as simple as the houses people live in. What we are forgetting are places like Africa, where people there are having the “worst of times”, with no clean water, no shelter, no medicines, and having to live with the fear that they could be taken away from their families or even killed. It also states on page 1 that, “…it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…” This is also applicable to today, in how people are having hopes and despairs. There are people in our country having hope that their loved ones are going to come home from war, yet there are others that are filled with the despair of losing that person.

Later in the book it states, “...today, taking the life of an atrocious murderer, and tomorrow of a wretched pilferer who had robbed a farmer’s boy of sixpence.” (Pg. 3) This may seem like complete madness, but things like this are happening now. A greedy businessman could steal billions of dollars from the stock market or from the company he works for, and then spends the same amount of time in jail as a starving man who either has to rob a store of a couple hundred dollars, to get food for him and his family or let them all starve. Further along in the book, the Marquis runs over a child and then tries to cover it up by giving the father a gold coin (pgs. 83-84). Things like this are happening now as well. Something horrible may happen, and the news stations will be paid not to tell people. Other people will be paid off to “look the other way”, while someone is mugged or something gets stolen. In short, this book is extremely relevant to today’s modern audience, even though it was written over 150 years ago.

[Ellie]

In a Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens from cover to cover fills the pages with modern relevance, especially the first and most famous quote “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…” This quote alone, written 150 years ago, relates to our world in many ways. Many people in our world today enjoy three meals a day, meanwhile 25,000 people die of starvation everyday according to reference.com
All around the world today and in a Tale of Two Cities, people are definitely divided into classes, and the classes are greatly shown. In America, youths and teens spend their days with their eyes glued to the bright electronic screens and overeating junk and fast foods. Reality shows now fill the American child’s life with shows about random people getting paid millions of dollars for practically nothing.
Other places around the globe, people’s ribs are protruding and food is scarce. This is what a messed up world we live in, Characters such as Snooki, Star of Jersey Shore, is paid 1.6 million dollars a year, according to tv.yahoo.com, to be filmed partying and getting drunk. That 1.6 million dollars to could save many innocent and starving humans all across the globe.
When I looked deeper into the text and connected to the characters I realized more and more how it related to today’s society. Towards the beginning of the story the Marquis in horse and carriage makes his way through a small French town. Poor or lower people in society fill the square as one small boy is tragically run over by the carriage. As the citizens watch the Marquis reaction they realize he is not sympathetic and seems to show no emotion towards taking the little boys life. The Marquis then tosses a coin to the crowd in order to make them quiet. This definitely relates to today’s world. Rich people, not all, but some seem to have no sympathy towards the lower people in society, just like the Marquis. Most rich people always use their money to get out of things, similar to the Marquis who tried to pay people to stop talking to him. I believe that our society today is controlled by those with lots of money and those who don’t have loads of cash are looked down upon.
Dickens connects everything to today, which is amazing due to the fact that this story was written 150 years ago. His clever and amazing writing is very relatable to our world today, though most the connections are nothing to be proud off.

[Parker]

Although a Tale of Two Cities was written 150 years ago, it is still one of the most beloved and cherished books of all time. This story is old yet timeless - it has a great significance on both an ancient and modern audience. This novel starts out with a very powerful quote in the first few lines that state, “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,” in just a few lines of the novel it is clearly stated that there is a great modern relevance.
In the era of the novel there was a drastic separation between the wealthy and the poor living the peasantry lifestyle. This same type of classing is still very prominent in the modern world. Our world is filled with the “ richer than Midas, and poor as a mouse.” This dividing and placement is the reason for much of the fights and wars that brake out all over the world, and in the novel shows this fighting in the nearest degree.
At the beginning of the novel, the Marquis runs over a young peasant boy with his carriage. The marquis simply throws a gold coin to the father. Outraged that the Marquis would put a price on a human’s life he throws it back. This part of the novel really relates to the modern world. If the story were put into modern relevance in America; a rich businessman would play the role of the Marquis and a homeless man would play the role of the poor peasants. Such an enlarged difference in class can lead to a lot of conflict and trouble, just as it does in the novel.
Later in the story, it is easy to see that Theresa Defarge has a great hatred against Charles Draney*(spoiler) later it is stated that there has been many great conflicts between the Everson’s and Theresa Defarge. Theresa’s sister was brutally beaten and taken advantage of by the marquis. This is a direct resemblance of the sometime cruel world we live in. In modern India, young girls are taken from their families to be put into industries and are completely taken advantage of by the richer and more powerful. This is a direct connection to the novel from 1859, and our world in 2012.
This novel is truly a “classic” and it really shows how little our world has really changed in 150 years. Although we might have much more technology and luxuries, the world is still very filled with war, rebellion, poverty, hunger, division in class, and death. So before you say that this book is to old to relate be sure to take a closer look at the relevance the lesson's of this book has to the world we live in today.

[Joseph]

In Charles Dickens’ famous book, “A Tale of Two Cities”, he introduces the first chapter with the famous anaphora, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. This thought provoking introductory sentence introduces the idea in the novel of the inequality between the lowest of peasantry and the French royalty during the time of the French Revolution. When this book was written, this anaphora lead readers to question their own lives and the morality of their actions. I believe that this is just as relevant to a modern audience as it was to the people reading it 150 years ago. The universal idea of inequality is applicable to any society, whether it be 19th century England or modern day America.
Within the first chapters of the novel, you can see the stark contrast between the stuck up, rich, French royalty, and the impoverished peasantry filling the streets. On pages 20-21, we see as a wine barrel is spilled, the rush of peasants to the muddy puddle of wine in hopes of getting a few handfuls, some so desperate as to slurp it right up from the filthy streets. On pages 83-85, a passing carriage carrying one of the highest frech officials runs over and kills a peasent child. The stuck up Monseigneur stops only to throw a coin in the direction of the father of the same child. This shows how little he cares for the life of a peasant, more worried about his possibly injured horses than the fatality of a small child.
In the world today, we still are not free from these terrible acts of inequality. In despereate third world countries, children are forced into slavery by maliciously criminal warlords. In some parts of the world, some of the greatest discoveries in hundreds of years are being made, while in other parts, such as the impoverished countries of central Africa, thousands starve to death everyday. Also on the very first page, the book states that "is was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness". This also can so accurately represent the fact that alive today are some of the world's most genius leaders, while other foolish leaders threaten the lives of their peers with war and violence. When this book is more deeply analyzed, many themes that reference to today's troubled world can be found. When everything is considered, the societies described in Dickens' novel are not much different than ours today.

[Genny]

This novel is very relevant to our world now, on page one it quotes” It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...”. Later on in the first paragraph it says “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...”. There are people eating at five star restaurants every day and have more than enough before them, yet to them it is still not satisfying enough. They are taking in billions of dollars every day, and have have jobs that everybody dreams of like becoming doctors, firefighters, actors, and singers. There are people that are suffering from starvation, loss of jobs, and poor economy’s. They will work all day and will barely have enough for food and money to pay for bills. Still there are those who have trials and tough times in many of our lives as well, and they will be very challenging and miserable. There are those who will get our hopes up over something so little or those who might not even have any hope left in us. People in our day will go to school and come home and study for hours and eventually they will succeed and get far in life. Then there are those who will stay up late whether it is watching TV, or out partying with friends and getting drunk all night or doing drugs. For example, Therese Defarge’s character creates a portrayal of merciless, fighting, violence, war and protesting which is very much like how our modern world is today. In the novel Theresa Defarge wants to kill the family line of the Evermondes for revenge for them killing her family when she was a little girl. Throughout the book we see her constantly knitting the names of the aristocrats who are to be killed by the revolutionaries as it aids her thirst for revenge. We see her protesting and using violence as an answer to her problems. In our modern world now we use violence and death to solve our problems and to satisfy our revenge and anger. There are many people now who are like Therese because they overlook peace and use revenge as an excuse to use violence. We often see protests, fighting and war and it is becoming a huge problem for us. In conclusion, the story “A Tale of Two Cities” is relevant to our modern world in so many ways. Throughout life there will be the best of times and the worst of times. There will be wisdom and education and there will be foolishness and mistakes.

[Jackycoo]

The novel A Tale of Two Cities is relevant to a modern audience in many ways,it shows the reader the villian archetype,shown in the character Madame Defarge. Archetypes are shown in modern times as well as historic times in literature. Madame Defarge reflects the villian characteristics by being selfish and ruthless such as the villian archetype.The author Charles Dickens describes her as ruthless,shown on page 281 when she is walking the streets after speaking with The Vengeance. "There was not one among them more to be dreaded than this ruthless woman, now taking her way along the streets." The author describes her as ruthless, showing no pity or compassion toward others. This example shows that Madame Defarge embraces the villian archetype by being selfish and ruthless.
There are more characteristics of the villian archetype than selfishness,being selfish is just one in many. Madame Defarge also reflects the villian characteristic of violence. Villians show violence to get what they want, just as Madame Defarge does when she pulls out a gun on Miss Pross, demanding to know where Lucie Manette is on page 287. "Soon Madame Defarge's hands ceased to strike, and felt at her encircled waist." This shows Madame Defarge attempting to strike Miss Pross to get what she wants in a viloent,villainous way. This attempt leads to Madame Defarge's death, as all violence leads to death.
So yes, A Tale of Two Cities is relevant to a modern audience, it shows archetypical characters such as Madame Defarge. And you can find archetype usually in any literature and text throughout many different periods of time, such as A Tale of Two Cities.

[Jen]

I could probably spend the whole day telling you what I think about the book and show you quotes from A Tale of Two Cities but instead I will answer the simple question of "Would you consider this novel relevant to a modern audience?" Yes I would. Why would I? Well there is for one Archetype that is being portrayed throughout the book. The Marquis is written and described as a villain an evil human being that is very common in the 21st century. They might not be mutually alike to the Marquis in the sense of being important and coming from a royal family in France. The person is a common ordinary being who is corrupt and heartless as the Marquis. An example of humans like him nowadays is to compare him to hooligan on the Americas most wanted list, Joseph Kony. Joseph kidnaps kids and takes advantage of them “he will stop at nothing.” Everything he does revolves around him, and only him. He does not care about all those families he is hurting when he captures kids and takes them away from their homes, or through all the suffering parents are going through the moment they realize that their child is missing. The Marquis treats people very bad as a matter of fact he runs over a little boy, an incident that befalls Monsieur Marquis is the death of a child (p. 83). He is going to his home village and his carriage runs over a child, and kills him. "..One of its wheels came to a sickening little jolt, and there was a loud cry from a number of voices, and the horses reared and plunged." ‘‘It is a child. ... Killed!'" The marquis doesn’t even care and tries to blame it to the townspeople "It is extraordinary to me...that you people cannot take care of yourselves and your children."

The passage above is important because it is relevant to the way people act in a modern day scenario. Nothing at all has changed over the last years in this world. Except for the fact that if that specific incident with the little boy would of happened now here in America, the Marquis would definitely be in jail. But that could be contradicted. For example Joseph Kony has NOT been stopped. The Kony thing may not be happening here in America but it is happening here in this world in a modern day scenario. Kony is not in jail he is still out there planning evil schemes to get his way out of been captured.

[Chase]

A Tale of Two Cities, though written in 1859, still has modern relevance. The first chapter states the famous anaphor, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” This first piece of text gives the reader the setting, a time of great happiness, where the rich and royalty had everything, and thought it would stay that way forever. “There were a king with a large jaw, and a queen with a fair face on the throne of England; there were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face on the throne of France. In both countries it was clearer than crystal to the lords of the State preserves of loaves and fishes, that things in general were settled forever.” (Page 1) This era was a time of great sorrow as well, as people were in terrible poverty, starvation, and slight ignorant disobedience brought major consequences, “a youth was sentenced to have his hands cut off, and his tongue torn out with pincers, and his body burned alive, because he had not kneeled down in the rain to a dirty procession of monks that passed within his view.” (Page 2) This text has modern relevance, as we see the United States struggling to fight obesity, as poor Somali citizens lay starving in the streets. The reader can also see Dickens’ warning of revolution, as he foreshadows the revolution in France, saying, “there was a great storm in France, with a dreadful sea rising.” We saw this recently with the Arab Spring, as revolutions broke out in the Middle East. While many succeeded, we saw the outcome of failed ones, such as the situation in Syria, where a small attempt has turned into weeks of death and bloodshed.

Dickens’ warning of revolution and its consequences are seen multiple times in the book, as he warns all, speaking to both rich and poor. He shows the poor his warning, as Therese Defarge says, “Tell the wind and Fire where to stop, but don’t tell me!” (Page 264) Dickens compares the revolution here to something that cannot be stopped, and must stop on its own. He uses this example to show that any revolution is like a fire, and it will destroy and kill, regardless of who is innocent and guilty. The reader can see this as Charles Darnay is sentenced to death because of his old life as a French aristocrat. Even though he renounced his name and wealth, the revolutionaries still saw him as he once was, and not as he was now. Sydney Carton saved Charles, but because of the revolution, he lost his innocent life. Dickens warns the rich using the same text. He shows the need for the wealthy to give to the poor, or else an atrocity such as the French revolution could occur again. His warning still applies all around the world, especially in countries such as Sierra Leone, as wealthy mine owners exploit slaves to work in dark, toxin filled caves, just to provide a meager amount of precious stone. It is still seen in the United States as well, as we take advantage of others, just to get things that we don’t need. The modern world is no greater than the world of 1859, and Dickens’ book gives modern readers the same warnings as he gave the past audience.

[Tory]

Much of what Dickens writes can be used for self-reflection. One can reflect by acknowledging what actions they have or have not done which will contribute to their fate. Which accumulates the question, has a person been selfish and ignorant, or selfless and kind? Dickens writes “we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way.”(pg1) One may reflect on themselves from the characters of A Tale of Two Cities. Such as Madame Defarge whose thirst for justice blinds soon blinds her with revenge for the death of her sister that was defiled by an Evermonde. When revenge takes control of her there are no limits and she will never find justice. It even comes to the act of wanting to murder lucies child, an innocent five year old. One might look at themselves threw lucie, a kind loving nurturing woman who is capable of forgiveness, such a character that can see past anyone’s faults. May one even find themselves in the place of Sydney carton, an alcoholic who seeks to redeem himself and does so by taking Charles Draney’s place in death. Dickens writes of unjust acts, violence, and starvation. What type of Character must one possess to be going direct to heaven? How may one redeem themselves?
A Tale of Two Cities is relevant to a modern audience because Dickens novel can be used to reflect on oneself threw the characters. Though how does one put value on their own life? If a person is not proud of what actions they have preceded with then what may they do to gain redemption? “Remember these words to-marrow: change the course, or delay in it-for any reason- and no life can possibly be saved, and many lives must inevitably be sacrificed.” (pg268) Sydney Carton was almost specking of himself in this quote. He thought that in order to regain himself he would stand in line awaiting death for Charles Draney. He felt that Darney was of more value than himself and that the happiness of those he cared for relied on his life. A person in the modern day may find themselves reflecting on Sydney Carton ifs they have made choices they are not so proud of.
Madame Defarge is a ruthless woman who starts of fighting for justice, but threw out the novel her actions become more extreme. She was seeking justice and the blood of ever Evermonde would still not be enough to easy her burning vengeance. Even though Madame Defarge was seeking justice she gave none to anyone else. “Much influence around him, has that doctor? Murdered Madame Defarge, smiling to The Vengeance. Save him now my doctor, save him!” (pg285) Charles Darney had renounced his title but Madame Defarge was ignorant to that and wished for his death anyways. A modern reader can reflect upon this by determining whether their actions are justified or if they are being cruel with their actions. When Dickens wrote the novel he wrote it one hundred years after the French revolution. He wrote it so people can reflect on their actions. Even today and another one hundred years from now the novel will relate to a modern day in this way.

[Jackycoo]

Charles Dickens shows archetypical characters in his novel A Tale of Two Cities, making it relevant to a modern audience. Archetypes are shown in the past, as well as modern times in literature. The character Madame Defarge reflects characteristics of the villian archetype many times throughout the book.Charles Dickens describes Madame Defarge as a ruthless woman (pg.281). Throughout the novel, she does not stop to help others, she shows no compassion, and she doesnt care about the innocent people she harms, as long as she gets what she wants.These characteristics are those of the villian archetype.
Many novels in modern times show characters reflecting the villian archetype. There are even novels in modern times that show violent characteristics such as violence.Madame Defarge also reflects the villian characteristic of violence. She shows violence many times throughout the novel. Villians show violence to get what they want, just as Madame Defarge does when she pulls out a gun on Miss Pross, (pg. 287). Madame Defarge would be selfish and violent by killing innocent people, just to get what she wants.
Madame Defarge shows that any book, written in any period of time, can be relevant to a modern audience through archetype, such as A Tale of Two Cities does.

[Ashlon]

Miss Pross, a character in the book A Tale of Two Cities is a novel, written by Charles Dickens in 1859, portrayed the most typical motherly archetype. Miss Pross watched over Lucie Manette while her father, Dr. Manette, was in prison for eighteen consecutive years; Miss Pross devoted her life to protecting and taking care of Lucie. She would have done anything for her. Although Lucie didn’t have a maternal mother, Miss Pross was always there for her, as if someone in modern times would be if they knew of a child who needed the mother influence.
When Lucie discovered her father was out of prison she decided to retrieve him from Paris and bring him home. Miss Pross was very against leaving England, for her own personal reasons, so she decided to only traveled half way to England with Lucie, and turned around to go back home. Although Miss Pross did not go all the way with Lucie to retrieve her father she did at least travel with her and was still there to support Lucie as though a mother would have done. Miss Pross was very protective over Lucie and protected her with all her power. When Miss Pross killed Madame Defarge, she was doing it for Lucie’s life. Madame Defarge was originally looking to kill Lucie, but Miss Pross put her life at risk to save Lucie’s. Although many people would disagree with the fact that Miss Pross was the mother archetype towards Lucie, she most definitely was.
Also, in the novel The Tale of Two Cities, the first statement on page one stated that “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” This book again, was written in 1859 over ten decades ago. When Charles Dickens wrote this book he was most likely referring to the environment and the population around him, even though the book was plotted in 1775. Modern times are very much like the times in 1859. Right now, as we speak, all over the world, every single day, there are the best of times and the worst of times. There are people who are very foolish while there are people who are very wise. It doesn’t matter the time period, the world is the world. Even if we try to change it, it is going to remain. If the earth and people of the earth can relate to a book written over ten decades ago, think about what can happen in fifty decades. There are so many possibilities. With this, the novel The Tale of Two Cities written by Charles Dickens in 1859 can very much relate to the year two thousand twelve in many ways.