The Big Read III: A Tale of Two Cities -- Charles Dickens Book the Third: The Track of a Storm, Chapters 5-8
Chapter Five: The Wood-Sawyer
In which Lucie manages to keep herself very busy AND YET, stand around a whole lot.
- "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death;--the last, much the easier to bestow, O Guillotine!"
- Ah, good. Lucie is keeping herself busy and useful, by arranging the household and tutoring little Lucie. She's also set aside Darnay's chair and books -- does that mean his stuff from England? Did they show up with LUGGAGE? How on earth did she go about making travel arrangements? I am envious of her skillz.
- So is the wood-sawyer the same mender of roads? And if he knows that Lucie is there to "visit" her husband in prison, is that going to cause trouble? Apparently not.
- I haven't mentioned it for quite a while (as I've been so caught up in the story), but all along, Dickens' description has continued to provide & create such fantastic, clear images for me. He really is great for that. I can see everything.
- I suspect that the Carmagnole scene has been dissected in many a high school English class.
- Madame Defarge appears right after Lucie blows a kiss to the prison window -- UH OH.
- And who could that be with Mr. Lorry? Could it possibly be Sydney Carton?? He saved Darney at his first trial, after all. If he saved him again, it would all be so attractively symmetrical.
Chapter Six: Triumph
In which Darnay's trial goes very well.
- "And all of us have like wonders hidden in our breasts, only needing circumstances to evoke them." Isn't there some other quote along those lines, that under the right circumstances, any person is capable of any thing? Or did I just make that up?
- Wow. Fifteen people condemned to death in an hour and a half. And yet, note how Dickens is totally spinning this out -- he's all about the nail-biters. I want to shake him and yell, "YES, THE HATS OF THE JUDGES, JURY AND AUDIENCE ARE EXTREMELY INTERESTING, BUT WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN?? YES, IT'S TRUE THAT I DON'T PARTICULARLY CARE ABOUT DARNAY AND LUCIE BUT I NEED TO KNOW ANYWAY!!"
- "So capriciously were the people moved, that tears immediately rolled down several ferocious countenances which had been glaring at the prisoner a moment before, as if with impatience to pluck him out into the streets and kill him." There's something so surreal about this whole scene -- totally weird, but I keep thinking of Running Man. (I think it must be the audience -- that for the people who aren't connected to the cases, it IS a form of entertainment. (Well, and it's entertainment for us, too...) Isn't there a scene in Oliver Twist where all of the rich people go to a hanging with picnic lunches? Like that.)
- Hey, wow. Gabelle is still alive! And a free man, apparently. And Darnay's first witness. Then come Doctor Manette and Mr. Lorry, and Darnay is declared a free man. Did that seem waaay too easy to you? Yeah, me, too.
- "Then, began one of those extraordinary scenes with which the populace sometimes gratified their fickleness, or their better impulses towards generosity and mercy, or which they regarded as some set-off against their swollen account of cruel rage." Huh. Well, fickleness goes both ways, and we have almost a hundred pages left... But, at the moment, the People Love Darnay and carry him home on a big chair that they happen to have handy.
- Aaaand Lucie faints. From happiness. Or something. Shocker.
- Aaaand there's the Carmagnole again.
Chapter Seven: A Knock at the Door
In which I TOLD YOU SO!!
- Erm. Shouldn't they be looking into GETTING OUT OF DODGE?
- I'm so glad that Doctor Manette "showed a compassionate superiority to this woman's weakness". Awesome.
- Ah, Jerry. Still around. And now pretty much always at the Darnay/Manette household. I wonder how he and Miss Pross get along. I can't imagine that she'd take much guff from him. What was the point of telling us about his grave-robber-y habits? Is that ever going to tie in, or was it just, you know, local color? Seems like he'd be able to make a killing (har har) in France, what with the bazillions of bodies just lying around (har har again).
- Miss Pross thinks of the entire French language as "nonsense". I love her.
- No wonder I love her. She asks all of the questions I want the answers to -- the foremost among them being, of course, why haven't they left yet? Answer: Too Dangerous for Charles.
- Man, even Doctor Manette is getting annoyed with Lucie. (The elder. The kid-version seems to be one of those soap-opera kids -- stick 'em in a corner or up in the attic until there's a family gathering in need of a Touching Moment or their presence is somehow necessary to further the plot.)
- I KNEW IT. They've re-arrested Darnay. Why? WHO KNOWS?
- Ooooh. The Defarges have denounced Darnay. As has one other. BUT WHO???
Chapter Eight: A Hand at Cards
In which also sorts of awesomeness happens.
- "Happily unconscious of the new calamity at home..." Dickens-speak for 'meanwhile...'! I like his version better.
- SHUT UP!! Miss Pross' BROTHER?! Is in FRANCE!?
- AND HE'S ALSO BARSAD?!!!
- AH HAH!! Sydney Carton IS in France! And he's much more likable than he's ever been.
- Oh, son of a... I know where this is going. AND I DON'T LIKE IT.
- Barsad/Solomon was also the spy in the wine-shop. Ha ha ha.
- Ask and ye shall receive: Jerry's grave-robbing ways have become a plot point. Ha ha. Oh, I love you, Charles Dickens.
- The Plan Has Not Been Revealed. I suspect that the writers of Days of our Lives must totally love Dickens.
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Previously:
The Reading Schedule
Book the First, Chapters 1-3
Book the First, Chapters 4-6
Book the Second, Chapters 1-5
Book the Second, Chapters 6-9
Book the Second, Chapters 10-12
Book the Second, Chapters 13-16
Book the Second, Chapters 17-20
Book the Second, Chapters 21-24
Book the Third, Chapters 1-4
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Free copies of A Tale of Two Cities are available at Project Gutenberg and Librivox.