Book I, Chapter 1: "The Period"
1. What is the chronological setting of this opening chapter? What clues enable us to determine
"The Period"?
-1775, same year as American Revolution
- (Page 5) “Robbed in peace” normal for there to be criminals everywhere and laughing at the
ridiculousness of being robbed in peace because one guard was shot to death when trying to
fend off thieves
- (Page 4) “under guidance of Christian pastors..” The sons of nobility decided to pull off
tongue, cut off hands, and burn alive man who didn’t kneel in the mud to honor precession of
monk 60 yards away in the rain
-One of the reasons France rejects religion
2. How does Dickens indicate the severity of social conditions in both France and England?
-(Page 5) “taking life of an atrocious murderer” –put them on same level
-Purpose of prisons was to hold debtors
- (Page 4) “In England, there was a scarcely an amount of order and protection to justify
much national building”
- (Page 4) “The Captain gallantly shot him through the head and rode away”
-Similar to Mayor of London being robbed in hometown –presence of chaos
3. Who is the "king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face"?
-King of England- George III
-Queen of England- Charlotte Sophia
-Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette (14 and clueless)
4. How does Dickens satirize the superstitious nature of the English?
-(Page 3) Mrs. Southcott refers to one of her fortune telling incidents with the lifeguards
- (Page 3) Cock-lane ghost- refers to sister who died and was haunting-making fun of people
who are focused on ghosts rather than more important issues
-Spiritual figures could have been looked to for guidance in times of distress
5. What oblique reference does Dickens make to the American Revolution?
-(Page 3) “Messages in earthly order of events…” American Revolution was wonderful
because we broke away from Britain and established republic but since the revolution was far
away from Britain it was an advantage to build the society without British intervention
6. How in this chapter does Dickens reveal his advocating social reforms, as well as his hatred
of social injustice?
-No matter what the crime was, all criminals were treated the same
-Youth who didn’t kneel to monks is an example of social injustice
-People in jail attacking jailers
-Armed soldiers firing on mobs and vice versa
-(Page 5) “Burning at the hand…” –writings of John Lock, ect. People would publish things
that were then burned
-Personification of fate: (Page 4, P2) “Suffers put to death…” Dickens points out that the trees
they are going to use for guillotines are already growing.
-People started believing in the guillotine to have something to believe in
-Personification of Fate:
-Best of times/Worst of times- Best because our society has so much technology and
opportunities. Our society is almost more accepting. Worst of times because we’ve all lost our
humanity and attack those who are different.
-Foolishness-American ignorance, being “untouchable”
-Wisdom- We have a lot of wisdom of technology but do not use it for good
-Relief and incredulity- Government is talked about and gossiped about in a negative way yet
we always rely on it.
-Light and Darkness- We shed light on good things and boast about our accomplishments
and major problems within our society but leave other situations that shed negativity on our
country in the dark
-Hope and despair- As a person in society we want to improve and hope that our future holds
what we want but we are filled with despair when we realize a perfect life is impossible
-Opportunities are everywhere but often time we cannot reach them because of our status
-Heaven/Hell- contrast of right and wrong, roles of man/God, some religions believe some
things are morally right/wrong but our society does not.
-Republics that aren’t really republics: China, ect.
7. How does this first chapter involve the first book's title?
The Period
Book I, Chapter 2: "The Mail"
8. In this chapter how does Dickens contrast the characters of Mr. Jarvis Lorry and Jerry
Cruncher, both employees of Tellson's Bank?
9. On what the precise date does this chapter open?
10. Why is the coach-guard suspicious of the lone rider who has demanded to see Mr. Lorry?
11. What is the message that Jerry Cruncher has brought?
12. What is the rider's reaction to Mr. Lorry's reply "recalled to life"?
13. What imagery in this chapter suggests death?
14
. Why has Dickens been so specific about the guard's weapons (p. 39)?
EC: Note that the mud, the darkness, and the mist associated with Jerry prepare us for his
lineof-work. Come back to this question later and explain Jerry's soliloquized remark "you'd be
in a Blazing bad way, if recalling to life was to come into fashion, Jerry."
Book I, Chapter 3: "The Night Shadows"
15. How does the theme of “ghosts of the past” assert itself in this chapter?
16. To what do the symbolism of the rising sun and Lorry's remark "Gracious Creator of day?"
point thematically?
17. What particulars are given about Jerry's appearance?
18. What is Mr. Lorry's connection with Tellson's Bank?
19. Why has Lorry undertaken such a journey in such inclement weather? 20
theme of the first two paragraphs of the chapter?
. What is the
Book I, Chapter 4: "The Preparation"
21. How do Mr. Lorry's dress and age suggest that he is, like the bank which he represents, the
very essence of respectability, stability, and tradition?
22. How is Dickens' 1859 infatuation with a young, blonde, blue-eyed actress named Ellen
Ternan reflected in this chapter?
23. Why does the brawny, red-haired woman get so angry at Mr. Lorry?
24. Why had Mrs. Manette maintained the fiction for Lucy that her father was dead?
25. How does this chapter elucidate Lorry's enigmatic message to Jerry?
26. What detail in Dickens' portrait of the "wild-looking woman" is at once imposing yet
humorous
?
Book I, Chapter 5: "The Wine-Shop”
27. Compare the scene of the broken wine cask with that of the Royal George at Dover in the
previous chapter. What does "this wine game" (p. 60) FORESHADOW?
28. Why did the wine-seller, Ernest Defarge, admonish Gaspard by placing his hand on the
prankster's heart?
29. How are the inhabitants of St. Antoine both literally and figuratively "gaunt scare crows"?
30. How are Ernest and Madame Therese Defarge different from the frenzied rabble in their
street?
31. Why does Defarge exhibit Dr. Manette to a chosen few?
32. What is the significance of Madame Defarge's knitting?
33. Why does Defarge feel that Lorry could not understand why he shows the sorry spectacle of
Dr. Manette to fellow Jacques?
34. Why do Defarge and his friends call each other "Jacques" when his Christian name is
"Ernest"?
35. The French King, Louis XVI, though honest and well-meaning, had neither the ability for nor
an interest in politics and lost himself in an obsession for locksmithing, hobby far below his
social station. What is comparable in the wasted Dr. Manette?
Book I, Chapter 6: "The Shoemaker"
36.How do we know that nothing really misses the eyes and ears of Madame Defarge?
37. Why did Dr. Manette give his name as "One Hundred and Five, North Tower" (p. 73)?
38. Why is Manette's voice "pitiable and dreadful”?
39. Where apparently does Manette believe himself to be?
40. What connection between Lucy and his own past does Dr. Manette make?
41. How does Defarge's part in getting Mr. Lorry and the Manettes out of Paris indicate his
knowledge of the workings of the ancient regime?
42
. How is the conclusion of the first book both pathetic and comic?
Book II: "The Golden Thread"
Since there are twenty-four chapters in this section of the novel, we cannot study these in the
same detail as we did the highly-significant, first six chapters.
In "The Golden Thread," which opens in London five years after Dr. Manette's escape from
France, Dickens satirizes English justice (which Temple Bar indicates was not nearly so
enlightened as Dickens's Middle Class readers liked to imagine), lawyers, and courts of law,
all of which Dickens knew from his father's imprisonment for debt in 1824 at Marshalsea
(notoriously depicted in Little Dorrit, 1855-7), from his own employment at the age of 15 as a
lawyer's clerk, and from his stint as a shorthand reporter in the Courts of Doctors (of Law)
Commons. The Pickwick Papers (1837), David Copperfield (1849-50), Bleak House (1852-3),
and the novel following A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations (1861), all reveal Dickens's
first-hand knowledge of the British legal system (and generally reflect his contempt for it). In
the second book Dickens divides his time almost evenly between France and England, but
clearly it is France's political, economic, and especially its social problems that fascinate him.
Contrast the French system of "justice," as presented in Book One, with that of England, as
given in Book Two.
Book II, Chapter 1: "Five Years Later"
43 . How does his description of Tellson's Bank suggest Dickens' characteristic over-writing?
44.
Jerry Cruncher is the only character reminiscent of
the broadly-drawn comic caricatures that figure so
prominently in his early novels: how is he both comic and yet
consistent with Dickens' attack on social conditions?
45.
How do Jerry's hands and boots constitute a
mystery? 46 . How does Tellson's epitomize English
complacency?
Book II, Chapter 2: "A Sight"
47. How is Dickens critical of both the Old Bailey and Bedlam?
48. Why are the Manettes in court?
49. What punishment is meant by "quartering"?
50. For what crime is the punishment reserved?
51. Cutting out the bombast, what precisely is the charge leveled at Darnay? 52
changed impression do we get of Dr. Manette?
. What
Book II, Chapter 3. "A Disappointment"
53. How does Stryver discredit the prosecution's first witness, John Barsad?
54. What are the incriminating circumstances under which Darnay had travelled back and forth
from England to France?
55. What is suspicious about the Crown's evidence?
56. How does Roger Cly's testimony seem more conclusive? How does this echo the charges
against Danton leveled by Robespierre?
57. However, what inconvenient facts discredits Cly?
58. Lorry’s testimony merely establishes that Darnay was on the Dover-Calais packet; what
damage does Lucy's do?
59. How does Stryver confuse the witness who testifies to Darnay's being "in that garrisonanddockyard town" (p. 103)?
Book II, Chapter 4: "Congratulatory"
60. What negative impressions do we get of Carton?
61. We note that Dr. Manette's "face had become frozen . . . in a very curious look at Darnay: an
intent look, deepening into a frown of dislike and distrust, not even unmixed with fear". What
two devices is Dickens using here?
62. What suggestion does Dickens implant in the reader's mind by the closing line of this
chapter?
Book II, Chapter 5: "The Jackal"
63
. What is the relationship between the so-called Jackal and Lion?
Book II, Chapter 6: "Hundreds of People"
64. Why is Miss Pross jealous of Darnay and Carton?
65. How is the incident alluded to in question 2, Chapter 4, repeated and yet also augmented
here?
66
. What do the echoing footsteps foreshadow?
Book II, Chapter 7: "Monseigneur in Town"
67. Why does Dickens heap verbally ironic sarcasm (e.g., "his sanctuary of sanctuaries" on
Monseigneur?
68. Why had Monseigneur taken his sister from a convent and married her off (below her social
station) to a very rich Farmer-General?
69. What is the moral climate created by Monseigneur's guests?
70. How does the Marquis rationalize the accident?
71. In classical myth the three Fates spun, wove, and cut the thread of a person's life — how
does Dickens connect Madame Defarge with these supernatural beings from the accident
scene to the end of the chapter?
Book II, Chapter 8: "Monseigneur in the Country"
72. The setting sun's blush on the Marquis' face suggests what fate awaits him?
73. What accounts for the apathetic conditions of the crops, the village, and its people?
74. In the last chapter the Marquis thought of the peasants as rats and dogs, and here he
addresses the road-mender as "pig" why is his rudeness ironic here?
75
. How does this chapter confirm a connection between Charles and the Marquis?
Book II, Chapter 9: "The Gorgon's Head"
In classical myth the gorgons were creatures so repulsive that the very sight of one would turn
the beholder to stone — indeed, the hero Perseus uses the head of the gorgon Medusa, whom
he has slain by looking into his polished shield rather than directly at her, to turn the Titan Atlas
into a mountain (Gibraltar).
76. How does this title seem appropriate for the chapter?
77. Though closely related, how do the Marquis and his nephew from England radically differ?
78. What intentions does the Marquis imply he has towards Dr. Manette and to his nephew?
79. How does the note around the murder weapon explain why the Marquis was killed? 80 .
Why is the Marquis, uncle to Charles Darnay, actually his enemy?
Book II, Chapter 10: "Two Promises"
81. What is the chronological setting relative to Chapter 9?
82. How does Darnay, having renounced his family inheritance, earn his living?
83. Why is it ironic that Dr. Manette refuses to listen when Charles tries to tell him his real
name?
84. Why does the Doctor suffer a relapse and return to his cobbler's bench?
85
. What is particularly noble about Charles' profession of love for Lucie, made to her father?
Book II, Chapter 11: "A Companion Picture"
86. Why does Stryver continually criticize and belittle Sydney Carton for his social lapses?
87. Why does Carton endure such abuse?
88. In what sense is this chapter's title ironic?
89
. How does Dickens suggest the cause of Carton's alcoholism?
Book II, Chapter 12: "The Fellow of Delicacy"
90. Why does Dickens have Mr. Lorry rather than Lucie herself reject Stryver's repulsive,
egotistical absurd proposal?
91
. Why did Stryver go to Mr. Lorry before actually proposing?
Book II, Chapter 13: "The Fellow of No Delicacy"
92. Why does Dickens call Carton ironically "the fellow of no delicacy"?
93
. How is Sydney Carton's love for Lucie somewhat akin to Charles Darnay's?
Book II, Chapter 14: "The Honest Tradesman"
94. From whose point of view is the narrative of this chapter given?
95. What is the technical name for a fiction which describes the coming of age of a young
person, a work such as Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, or Great Expectations? What
characteristics of this chapter have the same quality?
96. How is this chapter's title ironic?
97. Although we might momentarily feel that Jerry's boxing his son's ears for whooping at the
prospect of a funeral stemmed from the father's sense of social propriety, what probably
was the real reason for his hushing up his son?
98. Why is the crowd following the funeral procession incensed?
99. Although this mob is genial, its feelings against the establishment run as deep as those of
the denizens of St. Antoine, how is the senseless violence of the Revolution foreshadowed
here?
100. Why is Cly's having been "a young 'un and a straight made 'un" of specific significance for
Jerry?
101. How does Jerry apparently dispose of his windfall income?
102. Before we actually see Jerry in his true professional capacity, what clues does Dickens
provide to add suspense?
103. Give three examples of humorous verbal irony from the bottom of page 190. 104.
Although we do not see the conclusion of the fishing expedition, how do we know
something has gone wrong?
105
. What purpose to the main plot of the book does this chapter serve?
Book II, Chapter 15: "Knitting"
106. What two mysteries are resolved for us in this chapter?
107. Why are the Defarges cheered by the opulence of the Versailles court?
108. Who are Jacques Four and Five?
109
. How does the road-mender characterize the grandees of the court?
Book II, Chapter 16: "Still Knitting"
110. The success of the Revolution seems assured because there are Jacques in the
strategic government offices — give an example.
111. Why does Defarge not answer to the name "Jacques" when greeted by the stranger in
the wineshop?
112
. What information given by Barsad strongly affects the Defarges, but differently?
Book II, Chapter 17: "One Night"
113. How will the new domestic arrangement for the Manettes resolve the problem of Charles'
love for Lucie separating her from her father?
Book II, Chapter 18: "Nine Days"
114. Who is to look after Dr. Manette while the young couple are away on their honeymoon?
115. Why does the Doctor emerge from his conference with the bridegroom deathly pale? 116
. How does Dickens employ Dr. Manette's relapse to generate suspense?
Book II, Chapter 19: "An Opinion"
117. What request of Dr. Manette, now recovered, does Mr. Lorry make and why?
118. Once again Dickens employs Lorry to relate a difficult truth: what was the first occasion?
How does Lorry handle it each time?
Book II, Chapter 20: "A Plea"
119. In spite of his own unhappy marriage, or perhaps because of it, how does Dickens
characterize the Charles/Lucie relationship?
120
. Why, surprisingly, does Sydney Carton apologize to Charles and offer his friendship?
Book II, Chapter 21: "Echoing Footsteps"
121. What is the date in this chapter?
122. What is Carton's relationship with the Darnay family?
123. How does Mr. Lorry's news indicate the revolution is beginning?
124. How do we finally get to see Dr. Manette's place of confinement in the Bastille? 125
How does Dickens intensify our repulsion for Madame Defarge?
.
Book II, Chapter 22: "The Sea Still Rises"
126. What is the date now?
127. Why does Defarge hate Foulon?
128. How is Foulon's punishment yet another example of poetic justice?
129
. When Defarge says to his wife "At last it has come," why does she not totally agree?
Book II, Chapter 23: "Fire Rises"
130. What was the significance of the blaze the stranger made in his pipe?
131. Whom do the four fierce figures come to represent in this chapter?
132. Why can the rider solicit no aid from any quarter? Note that Gabelle ("Mr. Salt Tax")
miraculously escapes.
Book II, Chapter 24: "Drawn to the Loadstone Rock"
133. What is the chronological setting?
134. Why is Lorry going to Paris?
135. Why does Charles offer to go in his place?
136. How does Dickens use the letter to the Marquis de Evremonde to generate suspense?
137. Why does Gabelle request Charles to return to France?
138. The Loadstone Rock was a mythical rock that magnetically drew ships to it so that they
would crash — what for Charles is the Loadstone Rock?
139. Why was Tellson's Bank, London, the natural gathering place of the emigres?
140. Should Darnay have kept his real name and identity secret from his wife, and not told her
of his trip?
141. Why is it ironic that Gabelle is being held in the Abbaye?
142. Why does Darnay unwisely feel that it is safe for him to return to assist Gabelle? 143 .
Why does he feel he must help him?
Book III: "The Track of a Storm"
In these final fifteen chapters Dickens focuses on the Reign of Terror (September, 1792 to
September, 1793, precipitated by the excesses of the aristocracy in the preceding century,
especially of the Sun King, Louis XIV, who is reputed to have said shortly before his death in
1715, "Apres moi, le deluge."
In October, 1789, several thousand women marched on Versailles, demanding that Louis XVI
move to Paris. In February, 1790, the King accepted the principles of the Revolution, which
heretofore had been democratic but disorganized. In September, 1791, after unsuccessfully
attempting to flee France, the King accepted the work of the Assembly, and, with the
concurrence of the Girondists in its successor, the Legislative Assembly, declared war against
Austria in April, 1792. However, sensing the King was now a liability in a war being waged
against France by monarchist regimes in Austria and Prussia, the Parisian mob attacked the
Palace of the Tuileries in August. Under the Revolutionary Tribunal over 1,200 political
prisoners perished in the infamous September Massacres. The National Convention, which then
replaced the Legislative Assembly, sentenced the King to death in January, 1793; in October,
his wife, the beautiful Queen Marie Antoinette, followed him to the guillotine. In July, 1794, the
Reign of Terror burned itself out with the execution of the last of the Revolution's great butchers,
Robespierre. The stage was set for Napoleon.
In 1792 France was in danger and there really were traitors, starting with the King and Queen,
who had encouraged the intervention of outside powers. France was fighting for her life against
the forces of ancient corruption; and for a few years her leaders suffered from the most terrible
of all delusions. They believed themselves to be virtuous. Robespierre's friend St. Just said, "In
a republic which can only be based on virtue, any pity shown towards crime is a flagrant proof of
treason" (Kenneth Clark, Civilization, "Fallacies of Hope"). Clark's "Worship of Nature," "The
Smile of Reason," and "Fallacies of Hope," all of which cover the historical background to the
French Revolution, are worth viewing. Compare Dickens' description of the death of the
maniacal Madame Defarge to David's painting "Marat Murdered in his Bath."
Book III, Chapter 1: "In Secret"
144. How does Charles come to realize the extreme danger he's placed himself by returning to
France at this time?
145. What is the full significance of the chapter's title?
146. Of what is Charles reminded as he paces to and fro in his cell in La Force?
147. Under what charges has Charles been imprisoned?
148
. How does our attitude towards Ernest Defarge change in this chapter?
Book III, Chapter 2: "The Grindstone"
149. How is Lorry's exclamation, "Thank God that no one near and dear to me is in
this dreadful town tonight" ironic?
150. How does the scene with the grindstone considerably heighten the suspense?
151 . Why do the savagely anti-aristocratic patriots agree to help Dr. Manette?
Book III, Chapter 3: "The Shadow.”
152. Why does Lorry find the situation doubly distressing?
153
. Why does Madame Defarge coldly scrutinize Charles' family?
Book III, Chapter 4: "Calm in Storm."
154. How many months are covered in this chapter?
155. Why do all the atrocities he witnesses not drive Dr. Manette into another relapse?
156. In fact, our estimation of Dr. Manette changes, and he becomes a developing character.
Justify or attack Dickens' treatment of Dr. Manette's character in this chapter.
157. Explain: "La Guillotine . . . was the sign of regeneration of the human. It superseded the
cross" AND "The name of the functionary . . . every day".
Book III, Chapter 5: "The Wood-Sawyer"
158. What is coincidental about the wood-sawyer who lives in the vicinity of La Force?
159. What is the Carmagnole?
160. Who is in secret conference with Mr. Lorry?
161. What is ominous in the wood-sawyer's personifying himself as "the Samson of the firewood
guillotine"?
162. How do we become aware acutely that this novel was originally serialized when we get to
the end of this chapter?
Book III, Chapter 6: "Triumph"
163. Why does the attitude of the crowd of the courtroom to Charles dramatically change?
164. Who are Charles' principal witnesses?
165. What does their testimony substantiate?
166
. As a discerning reader, why do you find Charles' exoneration unsatisfying?
Book III, Chapter 7: "A Knock at the Door."
167. Upon what grounds is Charles again arrested on the afternoon of his release?
168. What foreshadowing of Charles' arrest does Dickens initially provide?
169. How did Miss Pross always get bargains when shopping despite her total lack of French?
What is her attitude towards the French language?
Book III, Chapter 8: "A Hand at Cards."
170. What great coincidence is revealed to us, Miss Pross, and Jerry Cruncher in the wine-shop
when they are out on their usual afternoon shopping expedition?
171. Why has Sydney Carton come to Paris?
172. What damaging evidence does Carton hold against Barsad?
173. What evidence does Carton not possess which would be even more damning against
Barsad?
Book III, Chapter 9: "The Game Made"
174. How does the identity of Charles' third accuser come as a less-than-total surprise? 175.
How does Jerry use his insights into society's double standards to defend himself from
Lorry's anger?
176. What details concerning Sydney Carton1s thoughts and activities, build suspense?
177. How does Carton's touching conversation with Lorry give us the impression that Carton
has had a premonition of death? Note the significance of Carton's speaking French like a
native .
Book III, Chapter 10: "The Substance of the Shadow."
178. Here Dickens employs a first person, major character, inset narrative, a flashback in
the epistolary mode: apply each of these terms to pages 348-349.
179. Where and how was the letter written (we here recall that Charles, imprisoned also in
secret, was not permitted pen and paper by the new but equally vicious regime (see p. 286)?
180. How does the number two figure prominently in the Doctor's narrative of the mad woman
and her dying brother (ultimately revealed as the brother and sister of Madame Defarge)?
181. Since Charles had nothing to do with this double crime, why is Madame Defarge bent on
his destruction?
182. Even though his letter ends with a repeat of the curse on the Evremonde family, how
does it also explain Charles' very different nature?
183. What atrocities, typical of the more decadent land-owners, do the Evremondes commit in
this chapter?
Book III, Chapter 11: "Dusk."
184. As Sydney Carton kisses little Lucie to comfort her distress at her mother's extreme
agitation after the trial, he murmurs words that only she hears: "A life you love."
185. The reader, recalling the conclusion of Carton's profession of love for Lucie in Chapter
13 of the Second Book, will conclude what about Carton's plans?
186
. To whom may Carton be referring in the closing lines of the chapter?
Book III, Chapter 12: "Darkness."
187. What were Carton's intentions in going to Defarge's wineshop?
188. What suspicion does Madame Defarge, in conversation with the Vengeance and Jacques
Three, confirm for us?
189. Why has Dr. Manette experienced a profound relapse?
190. What were the two certificates which Carton left in Larry's care? 191 . Why is Madam
Defarge bent on denouncing even little Lucie?
Book III, Chapter 13: "Fifty-two."
192. Although his three letters indicate the people most on his mind as he awaits execution,
whom ironically does he not even recall? What KIND of irony is this?
193. Who assists Carton to enter Charles' cell?
194. Charles is reluctant to escape at the cost of Sydney's life: how does Carton force his
compliance?
195. What is the significance of the chapter's title?
196. Why does Dickens abruptly shift to the first person plural at the end of this chapter? 196.
In the range of prisoners, Dickens gives one whose death at the hands of the revolutionary
patriots is merely nemesis, and another whose death is totally undeserved, showIng how
unjust the Revolution has become. Who are these two?
197
. List several sources of suspense in this chapter.
Book III, Chapter 14: "The Knitting Done"
198. Why has Madame Defarge deliberately excluded her husband from her conference with
the Vengeance and Jacques Three?
199. Why had Miss Pross and Jerry Cruncher been left behind?
200. What extra dimension does the destined confrontation between Miss Pross and Madame
Defarge gain by their failIng to understand each other by virtue of their ignorance of the
other's language?
200. Why is Madame Defarge's going to Lucie prior to denouncing her for "plotting" not wholly
credible?
201. In what ways does the reader sense that the revolutionary zealots are going too far in
redressing the injustices of the old regime?
Book III, Chapter 15: "The Footsteps Die Out for Ever"
202. After the montage of Madame Defarge's approaching Miss Pross, the climatic meeting,
and the unexpected consequences of the struggle, the little scene between Miss Pross and
Jerry has provided some comic relief. Does this chapter contain the novel's climax, or
merely its denouement? Explain.
203. Who follows the scene of Carton's being driven off to execution with nearly as much
apprehension as the reader's?
204. What do Miss Pross and Sydney Carton now clearly have in common?
205. How does the word "wine" in this chapter's second line operate on the reader at a number
of levels?
206. What warning does Dickens once again issue to humanity in general, and English society
in particular, about the atrocities of the French Revolution?
207. In the seamstress's last remarks (p. 402) we come to certain equations: whom does
Dickens mean us to take Carton and his persecutors for (consider also the bottom of p.
403)? 208 . How does the novel's theme underscore the theme of resurrection?
Philip V. Allingham, Contributing Editor, Victorian Web; Faculty of Education, Lakehead
University, Thunder Bay, Ontario