A Tale of Two Cities Notes

Collaborated with Hannah H. Sierra S. Imanie P. Shailynn J. Courtney R. 

Pattern of influences: the history behind the French Revolution and Dickens's reactions to London and Paris.

In 1857, Dickens wrote the play, "The Frozen Deep." 

Dickens acts as the character who is a hero in sacrificing himself for others.

Originally wanted to name Sydney as Carton or Dick.

There is a parallelism between Charles Darnay and Dick Carton, "doubleness in character"

April 1858, Dickens began public readings for charity but also read for profit. As a result, he began to establish a relationship with his readers and was known as a great reader and writer.

May 1858, separated from his wife, Catherine and called it "Some Domestic Trouble of Mine" 

November 1858, separated from his publishers and ended his journal 

The following year he published a new journal.

April 30, 1859, chapters one to three of A Tale of Two Cities were published.

He moved to London when he was ten to work under his father's demand. Described his experience as "extensive and peculiar knowledge at the city", "wretched darkness", "great fascination."

As an adult he called it a "vile place" but he was able to be creative and find an inspiration in the "magical land."

- dickens wrote about London as a newspaper: everything is there but disconnected 

- organized at early age 

- London city of extremes, maze

- first impression of Paris: most extraordinary place. Perfectly distinct character. Novelty and strange things. Expressive of own character. Every house and person added to the "book". Never was such a place for a description. 

- Paris half size of London

- lacked uncontrolled nature of London

- crime common but replaced with urban city

- end of Two Cities is rememberance of this change 

- visits during period of political change and change to urban land scape

- 1879 dickens died

- Paris was modernized city with vibrant life of elegance. Had light

- dickens describes progress of city

- dickens attracted to dark side of city. Go visit morgue

- attraction of repulsion theory

- eye for detail and described Paris is deep detail when leaving city on way to Italy 

- dickens sets two cities back in time 

- articles describe beauty of two cities of London and Paris

- describe Bastille fortress in great detail 

- Dickens makes it very clear in his opening of Tale of Two cities that his worlds of London and Paris are very similar

- his opening is very profound and famous

- it was the best of times the worst of times

- he sets us back in time published in 1859 and set back in 1775

- it brings us back to the present time 

- He issues a very modern historical setting that uses a modern parallel 

- Tale of Two Cities moves back and forth from England and France immediately following the French Revolution

- Dickens uses the historical facts of the period as background

- timeline is from 1757 to 1794

- Victorians were haunted by the memory of the French Revolution in 1789

- only happened 70 years before Dickens wrote Tale of Two Cities

- the book marks violence very powerfully 

- Dickens makes it very clear between pre revolutionary France and contemporary Britain

- the novel was weary of confronting the great Victorian fear of revolution 

- the novel came out in weekly parts with one or two chapters available each week

- the novel wasn't eye appealing but was made in the US

- his book sold very well in the US

Dickens was comfortable with sending out his pages weekly

- Dickens wanted a volume of a couple chapters of the Tale to be published that including illustrations, monthly

- the taste of the people was moving more towards a realistic style of illustrations 

- Dickens style of writing was precise that left cliffhanger endings  for people to buy the next issue each week

- Dickens wrote a new chapter or chapters each week that developed the creative flow of work and characters and the plot adjusting to the audience as they were reacting to it

- "the best story he has written" was told to him by one of his colleagues 

In 19th Century England, there was a scare of Revolution.  Thus it parallels with the incubation of the French Revolution, the setting of the Tale of Two Cities.

Following A Tale of Two Cities by monthly installments is good because we can see where he intentionally put cliff hangers and where he wrote in reaction to his audience which read his writings monthly.  

He didn’t write the whole story and chop it up to fit monthly installments, he wrote it month by month and like a TV show, episode by episode.

Carlisle, friend of Dickens, wrote a symbolic historical book on the French Revolution. This, Dickens used to write the French portion of the plot of The Tale of Two Cities.

In addition to Historical Story of the novel, runs very personal stories of Dickens

Passage about Mystery in chapter 3 reflects back on Dickens personal life and is hardly connected back to the rest of the novel showing that it follows a personal plot.

It stands out in the novel

Depth of personal intensity

A time of war, every weapon possible being used, people had bloody hands, in a time of need and fear

- life on no account, ready to sacrifice 

- man giving orders telling people where to go. 

-setting in France, 

-living sea (metaphor)

- the attack started, symbolism of smoke and repetition of stone wall, work, smoke, gunfire, eight great towers

- told to work, women could kill, armed in hunger and revenge instead of weapons 

- wet straw, bravery, living sea repeated, massive great walls, 

- talks of Alice, a white flag, not audible in the distance, a surrender, 

- as he had been struggling in the south sea, simile 

- jack three, multiple "jacks"

- cries, loud roars, 

- man with the touch, défage says where is the north tower 

- went fast to descend, find the north tower, find a key man to the plot locked in the tower, this is a key area of the book

-likes to describe the sea, and revenge and suffering 

- two groups of seven, all very different In faces of prisoners, carried, all lost and scared to die, lost faces 

- other seven dead, droopy faces, seven heads on sticks, seven alive and released 

- found documents of former prisoners died from "broken heart"

-1789, in Paris 

- has a driving passion to move things forward, 

- dickens responses well to criticisms 

Criticing letter from Edward Bollard Lintel Responds to the criticism with many facts. 

Riviting public theme, the creation of a world back in the 1770 1780

Inevitability of history but equally powerful personal story.

Authorial-not given to a character comes directly from him at start of chapter 3. Stands out differently from the rest of the novel 

Characters become mysteries to others. Sidney Counten most mysterious to the response and reaction.

Depth of personal intensity which characterizes other layer of the novel. Character rocked to sleep by the regular movement of the coach and Dreams of recording of the life the prisoner.

Dr Minets face, Man been in prisoner for 18 years and is 45 and is recalled to life 

Met Ellen turner in 1857 and he was 45 and she was 18 and she was born in 1839 in Rochester

Changed the prisoners sentence from 15 to 18 years 

Then met Lucy who is only 17 been conceived but not born when Minet was in prison. 

Described her as blue eyes very pretty and her being young and smooth. He held that child on the passage across the Channel. 

Highly personal thing in dickens experience 

Sidney Counten enabled Charles to escape and spend his life with Lucy and their family. 

What's the Story?

Dickens wrote Great Expectations to let himself out in a way and portray his own character.  He wanted to convey the life struggles of making critical decisions on who you want to be and who you don't want to be. This novel is the most bibliographical to his story than any of his other books. He uses personification, simile, imagery and irony. 

"But he was down on the rank wet grass, filing at his iron like a madman, and I told him I must go, but he took no notice, so I thought the best thing I could do was to slip off." This simile shows his fleeting presence literally in different scenes, but also lifestyles and phases.  

"It was a dry cold night, and the wind blew keenly, and the frost was white and hard. A man would die tonight of lying out on the marshes, I thought." Foreshadowing?

"When the gate was closed upon me by Sarah of the walnut-shell countenance, I felt more than ever dissatisfied with my home and with my trade and with everything; and that was all I took by that motion.

Lit Terms #3

exposition - noun (music) the section of a movement (especially in sonata form) where the major musical themes first occur; an account that sets forth the meaning or intent of a writing or discourse; a systematic interpretation or explanation (usually written) of a specific topic;a collection of things (goods or works of art etc.) for public display

expressionism - noun an art movement early in the 20th century; the artist's subjective expression of inner experiences was emphasized; an inner feeling was expressed through a distorted rendition of reality

fable - noun a short moral story (often with animal characters); a story about mythical or supernatural beings or events; a deliberately false or improbable account

fallacy - noun a misconception resulting from incorrect reasoning

falling - adj. becoming lower or less in degree or value; decreasing in amount or degree;coming down freely under the influence of gravity

action - noun something done (usually as opposed to something said); the most important or interesting work or activity in a specific area or field; an act by a government body or supranational organization; the operating part that transmits power to a mechanism; the trait of being active and energetic and forceful; the series of events that form a plot; the state of being active; a military engagement; a judicial proceeding brought by one party against another; one party prosecutes another for a wrong done or for protection of a right or for prevention of a wrong; a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings); verb institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against; put in effect

farce - noun a comedy characterized by broad satire and improbable situations; mixture of ground raw chicken and mushrooms with pistachios and truffles and onions and parsley and lots of butter and bound with eggs; verb fill with a stuffing while cooking

figurative - adj. (used of the meanings of words or text) not literal; using figures of speech;consisting of or forming human or animal figures

language - noun the mental faculty or power of vocal communication; a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols; the cognitive processes involved in producing and understanding linguistic communication; a system of words used to name things in a particular discipline;the text of a popular song or musical-comedy number; (language) communication by word of mouth

flashback - noun a transition (in literary or theatrical works or films) to an earlier event or scene that interrupts the normal chronological development of the story; an unexpected but vivid recurrence of a past experience (especially a recurrence of the effects of an hallucinogenic drug taken much earlier)

foil - noun a light slender flexible sword tipped by a button; a piece of thin and flexible sheet metal; picture consisting of a positive photograph or drawing on a transparent base; viewed with a projector; anything that serves by contrast to call attention to another thing's good qualities; a device consisting of a flat or curved piece (as a metal plate) so that its surface reacts to the water it is passing through; verbcover or back with foil; enhance by contrast;hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of

folk - noun people in general (often used in the plural); the traditional and typically anonymous music that is an expression of the life of people in a community; people descended from a common ancestor; a social division of (usually preliterate) people

tale - noun a trivial lie; a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program

foreshadowing - adj. indistinctly prophetic;noun the act of providing vague advance indications; representing beforehand

free - adj. not literal; unconstrained or not chemically bound in a molecule or not fixed and capable of relatively unrestricted motion; able to act at will; not hampered; not under compulsion or restraint; not held in servitude; not occupied or in use; not fixed in position; not taken up by scheduled activities; costing nothing; adv.without restraint; noun people who are free; verbfree or remove obstruction from; grant freedom to; free from confinement; free from obligations or duties; make (information) available publication; make (assets) available; let off the hook; remove or force out from a position; part with a possession or right; relieve from; grant relief or an exemption from a rule or requirement to

verse - noun a piece of poetry; a line of metrical text; literature in metrical form; 

verb familiarize through thorough study or experience; compose verses or put into verse

genre - noun a class of art (or artistic endeavor) having a characteristic form or technique; a kind of literary or artistic work; an expressive style of music; a style of expressing yourself in writing

gothic - adj. characterized by gloom and mystery and the grotesque; of or relating to the Goths; of or relating to the language of the ancient Goths; characteristic of the style of type commonly used for printing German; as if belonging to the Middle Ages; old-fashioned and unenlightened; noun a style of architecture developed in northern France that spread throughout Europe between the 12th and 16th centuries; characterized by slender vertical piers and counterbalancing buttresses and by vaulting and pointed arches; a heavy typeface in use from 15th to 18th centuries; extinct East Germanic language of the ancient Goths; the only surviving record being fragments of a 4th-century translation of the Bible by Bishop Ulfilas

tale - noun a trivial lie; a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program

hyperbole - noun extravagant exaggeration

imagery - noun the ability to form mental images of things or events

implication - noun an accusation that brings into intimate and usually incriminating connection; a relation implicated by virtue of involvement or close connection (especially an incriminating involvement); a logical relation between propositions p and q of the form `if p then q'; if p is true then q cannot be false;something that is inferred (deduced or entailed or implied); a meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred

incongruity - noun the quality of disagreeing; being unsuitable and inappropriate

inference - noun the reasoning involved in drawing a conclusion or making a logical judgment on the basis of circumstantial evidence and prior conclusions rather than on the basis of direct observation

irony - noun incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs; a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs; witty language used to convey insults or scorn

Lit Terms #2

Circumlocution

Classicism

Cliché

Climax

Colloquialism

Comedy 

Conflict

Connotation 

Contrast

Denotation 

Denouement

Dialect 

Dialectics

Dichotomy 

Diction

Didactic 

Dogmatic

Elegy

Epic

Epigram

Interesting Conversations

Today's journal was like a parallel to Joe's and Jagger's character about good  vs evil and class. Jaggers represents the evil character in the who makes money despite his job at the graveyard. He manipulates people with his secrets and is more of a realist who judges others. Joe represents the good character in the "lower class" who makes decent money but lives by his feelings. Although Dickens does make this contrast, he seems to describe everyone as victims of evil deeds. 

Yesterday's lecture was very informative and nice to just have a traditional lecture. I think lectures are great once in a while, but I wish we had more time to read more of the book so we could of had more of an engaging lecture and reform new opinions based on our own interpretation and the lecture. I know that it's supposed to be an instructive lecture and not an engaging lecture but I wish we would have broken the book down with the lectures after taking our own notes.

We shared our lit term remixes of what form of studying works best for us. Visual representations help me so I used pictures for my remix. 

Hacking my Education/ English Homework

I missed the first week of school back from winter break. I learned things that school could have never taught me within four days. Outdoors School with ten other cabin leaders and enthusiastic sixth graders was one of the most memorable weeks as well as one of the most enriching experiences. This trip confirmed my passion for wanting to teach children as well wanting to help others just because. At my dining table a boy said, "Cactus (my nature name), you always seem happy." I replied back with a laugh and it was a great feeling knowing that my outward expression was just as joyous as how I felt on the inside. In that moment, I was really happy to be surrounded by bright kids who spoke their minds and were so excited to share new things they encountered that day. Getting to know cabin leaders was another joy. I got to meet awesome people who I knew of but did not really know. Through hikes, pictures, and free time, we were able to enjoy nature and get to know each other better. It's always enriching to meet new people with different lifestyles. 

Another interesting realization was of how visions change. I remember when I went to science camp in sixth grade, there were way too many kids to be comfortable around. The dining hall was huge, but when I walked into it this time, it was similar to the size of Righetti's cafeteria and not too overwhelming. The most interesting perspective change was on the last day when we learned that connections was the most important thing in nature. It's almost ironic how much of an impact the word has on me. I must have not realized it when I was a sixth grader, but as a senior that word has so much meaning to me. The relationships that I hold today is how I've become the person that I am today and because of those connections I am able to experience new adventures and meet people who give me new insight each day.

Pictures...

   Cabin Leaders

    Sixth graders! 

I plan to use this experience as a guide for this semester. Even this late in my high school career, I want to make an effort to meet new people. I want to be more passionate and curious about my education and do each assignment with care and thought just like the sixth graders did at science camp. 

Masterpiece in Planning

I have a passion for helping others, learning new things, and children. I've recently realized that I want to be an unconditionally giving teacher who teaches more than the basic education but also inspires big dreams. I want to combine my interests to create a philanthropic reality for poor or uneducated children. I want to learn and want others to learn that there is a bigger purpose than just their own and to be aware of their surroundings and how a small act of kindness could change someone's day. To do this, I would have to have an understanding of child psychology, education in basic math, English, and science, and money.  I still need to figure out exactly what this "philanthropic reality" will be. Hannah and I went to the Boys and Girls club over summer to show science experiments so I could plan something along the lines of scheduling a day of spending with the kids doing icebreaker actives, science experiments, poetry crafts, and maybe a field trip. I could also do something at the homeless center by coordinating an informal seminar with the kids and talk about the future and possible careers to think about or something less serious like decorating the center as a carnival/ dance. I want the kids to be inspired from  these events and to dream big. I think one of the most important things is being inspired everyday. When I lose motivation, I always try to find an inspiration. I would definitely need more hands to help this project. I could incorporate Key club into this event as we always look for volunteer events to assist. I would need to organize fundraisers for the money. I want to collect moments of this project with pictures. I could make a video but I also think making a collage of pictures to have a more tangible masterpiece would be nice.