Passage_Analysis_of_a_Tale_of_Two_Cities

Passage Analysis Tale of Two Cities In 1775 there are two cities left in ashes, Charles Dickens’s novel A Tale of Two Cities takes readers so very close into the world of 1775 in the few months before the French Revolution. Charles Dickens creates this scene by helping the reader understand these people’s devastating state and how poor these people are, the sorrow they feel about these prevalent problems, that there will be a revolt as a result of this state, and how he holds it all together with the symbolism, personification and imagery he uses. Symbolism plays a great part in the understanding the fate of these people. One massive example of symbolism that Dickens uses is replacing the word blood with red wine. Dickens reveals this after a joker writes blood in mud and begins to confide to the reader that this “wine” too will be spilled over this street. This spilled blood seems to be referred to the blood that will be spilled by them from killing the aristocrats. Another example of symbolism in the language of Dickens’s story is the way he portrays hunger as a both a need and a want for political refuge. Apparently hunger clouds the mind of any one peasant but not just for food but for freedom and equality so they aren’t treated they way they are now and don’t have to live in poverty. In addition the poor wish to have financial freedom to live a higher quality of life instead of drinking wine that has been spilled on the ground and drinking from a glass instead. Although the symbolism of Charles Dickens greatly affects the readers understanding dickens also uses a great amount of personification throughout his story as well. In the tale of two cities Dickens uses personification to describe the environment of those who live in the poor conditions of France at this juncture in the book. The streets in this poor area were run down and disheveled in this year of 1775. For example Dickens describes a street lamp as “clumsy”, a word typically used to describe a human action. This gives the reader a sort of visual description of how run down the streets were, compared to the pristine lamps and quality of the streets in the aristocrats calm natured suburbs. Dickens humanizes hunger by repetitively using it in reference to a person. He does by saying things such as “Hunger stared down from the smokeless chimneys” and repeats this term to further the obviousness of the needs and wants of the public that at this time live in extreme poverty and depression. This also makes it seem even more likely that there will be an outbreak of a revolution. Even though personification has shown what points that need to be made, metaphors that Dickens use can help the reader understand the severity of pain and suffering amongst the impoverished Metaphors share a very meaningful understanding of what these people of poverty suffering and feeling at current time. One metaphor that Dickens uses is, “the gun maker’s stock was murderous”. This describes that even though their bones were showing from starvation, their weapons were fit and ready for attack. Moreover, that when they fight they will be ready to use them and are waiting to strike in the gallows. Another example of a metaphor is, “indeed they were at sea, and the ship and crew were in peril at tempest.” This is a metaphor describing how the streets resembled a failing ship and how they were in danger of death. The lamps the pulleys and the dim wicks described earlier give the impression of a ship about to sink or be attacked without warning. These tools of literature are tactically placed to give the impression of how these people lived and perceived themselves in these miserable times. As it is now seen Charles Dickens gives a wide variety of examples to place the reader in 1775. He achieves this by helping the reader understand the these people’s struggles, the sadness brought upon them, the resulting revolt and does this by piecing it together with literary devices such as symbolism, personification and metaphors.