Reading Questions for Dickens' a Tale of Two Cities

Reading Questions for Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities

Book I: "Recalled to Life"

Book I, Chapter 1: "The Period"

1.  What is the chronological setting of this opening chapter? What clues enable us to determine "The Period"?

2.  How does Dickens indicate the severity of social conditions in both France and England?

3.  Who is the "king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face"

4.  How does Dickens satirize the superstitious nature of the English?

5.  What oblique reference does Dickens make to the American Revolution?

6.  What was the attitude of British and French nobility concerning the future of their rule?

7.  How in this chapter does Dickens reveal his advocating social reforms, as well as his hatred of social injustice?

8.  How does this first chapter involve the first book's title?

Book I, Chapter 2: "The Mail"

1.  In this chapter how does Dickens contrast the characters of Mr. Jarvis Lorry and Jerry Cruncher, both employees of Tellson's Bank?

2.  On what precise date does this chapter open?

3.  Why is the coach-guard suspicious of the lone rider who has demanded to see Mr. Lorry?

4.  What is the message that Jerry Cruncher has brought?

5.  What is the rider's reaction to Mr. Lorry's reply "recalled to life"?

6.  What imagery in this chapter suggests death?

7.  Note that the mud, the darkness, and the mist associated with Jerry prepare us for his line-at-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."

8.  Why has Dickens been so specific about the guard's weapons (p. 39)?

Book I, Chapter 3: "The Night Shadows"

1.  To what do the symbolism of the rising sun and Lorry's remark "Gracious Creator of day?" point thematically?

2.  What particulars are given about Jerry's appearance?

3.  What is Mr. Lorry's connection with Tellson's Bank?

4.  Why has Lorry undertaken such a journey in such inclement weather?

5.  What is the theme of the first two paragraphs of the chapter?

Book I, Chapter 4: "The Preparation"

1.  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?

2.  Who is Mr. Lorry waiting for in Dover? Has Mr. Lorry met this person before? If so, when and under what circumstances?

3.  How is Dickens' 1859 infatuation with a young, blonde, blue-eyed actress named Ellen Ternan reflected in this chapter?

4.  What news does Mr. Lorry have for the young lady, and what is her reaction to the news?

5.  Why does the brawny, red-haired woman get so angry at Mr. Lorry?

6.  How does this chapter elucidate Lorry's enigmatic message to Jerry?

7.  What detail in Dickens' portrait of the "wild-looking woman" is at once imposing yet humorous?

Book I, Chapter 5: "The Wine-Shop"

1.  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" foreshadow?

2.  Discuss the symbolism of the wine.

3.  Why did the wine-seller, Ernest Defarge, admonish Gaspard by placing his hand on the prankster's heart?

4.  How are the inhabitants of St. Antoine both literally and figuratively "gaunt scare crows"?

5.  How are Ernest and Madame Therese Defarge different from the frenzied rabble in their street?

6.  Why does Defarge exhibit Dr. Manette to a chosen few?

7.  What is the significance of Madame Defarge's knitting?

8.  Why have Mr. Lorry and Miss Manette come to Defarge’s wine shop? Why was Defarge chosen for this duty? Why do you think Defarge shows Dr. Manette to the Jacques?

9.  Why does Defarge feel that Lorry could not understand why he shows the sorry spectacle of Dr. Manette to fellow Jacques?

10.  Look up the Faubourg Saint Antoine (p. 405): why has Dickens chosen to make this slum area he setting for this chapter and our first glimpse of the novel's "second" city and of French society?

11.  Why do Defarge and his friends call each other "Jacques" when his Christian name is "Ernest"?

12.  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"

1.  How do we know that nothing really misses the eyes and ears of Madame Defarge?

2.  Why did Dr. Manette give his name as "One Hundred and Five, North Tower" (p. 73)?

3.  Why is Manette's voice "pitiable and dreadful"? Describe the Doctor’s physical appearance. What does this say about his prison experience?

4.  Where apparently does Manette believe himself to be?

5.  What connection between Lucy and his own past does Dr. Manette make?

6.  How does Defarge's part in getting Mr. Lorry and the Manettes out of Paris indicate his knowledge of the workings of the acienne regime?

7.  How is the conclusion of the first book both pathetic and comic?

Book II: "The Golden Thread" (For Discussion)

Book II, Chapter 1: "Five Years Later"

1.  Describe Tellson’s bank. What is the bank’s attitude toward change? What details from this passage show this?

2.  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?

3.  How does Tellson's epitomize English complacency?

4.  How do Jerry's hands and boots constitute a mystery?

5.  What behavior of Mrs. Cruncher makes Mr. Cruncher angry? Why does this anger him?

Book II, Chapter 2: "A Sight"

1.  How is Dickens critical of both the Old Bailey and Bedlam? What are these two institutions and what are they famous for?

2.  Why are the Manettes in court?

3.  What punishment is meant by "quartering"?

4.  For what crime is the punishment reserved?

5.  What precisely is the charge leveled at Darnay?

6.  What changed impression do we get of Dr. Manette?

Book II, Chapter 3. "A Disappointment"

1.  How does Stryver discredit the prosecution's first witness, John Barsad?

2.  What are the incriminating circumstances under which Darnay had travelled back and forth from England to France?

3.  What is suspicious about the Crown's evidence?

4.  How does Roger Cly's testimony seem more conclusive?

5.  However, what inconvenient facts discredit Cly?

6.  Lorry's testimony merely establishes that Darnay was on the Dover-Calais packet; what damage does Lucy's do?

7.  How does Stryver confuse the witness who testifies to Darnay's being "in that garrison-and-dockyard town" (p. 103)?

Book II, Chapter 4: "Congratulatory"

1.  What do you think Carton’s and Darnay’s toast foreshadows?

2.  What is Sydney Carton’s job? What negative impressions do we get of Carton?

3.  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" (p. 112). What two devices is Dickens using here?

4.  What suggestion does Dickens implant in the reader's mind by the closing line of this chapter?

Book II, Chapter 5: "The Jackal"

1.  What is the relationship between the so-called Jackal and Lion?

2.  What is Carton’s opinion of himself?

Book II, Chapter 6: "Hundreds of People"

1.  Why is Miss Pross jealous of Darnay and Carton?

2.  How is the incident alluded to in question 2, Chapter 4, repeated and yet also augmented here?

3.  What do the echoing footsteps foreshadow?

4.  Describe Miss Pross as she appears on the surface and how she really is once you get to know her.

Book II, Chapter 7: "Monseigneur in Town"

1.  Why does Dickens heap verbally ironic sarcasm (e.g., "his sanctuary of sanctuaries" on p. 134) on Monseigneur?

2.  Why had Monseigneur taken his sister from a convent and married her off (below her social station) to a very rich Farmer-General?

3.  What is the moral climate created by Monseigneur's guests?

4.  Describe the “accident” that befalls the Monsieur the Marquis in the streets of Paris. How does the Marquis rationalize the accident?

5.  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"

1.  The setting sun's blush on the Marquis' face suggests what fate awaits him?

2.  What accounts for the apathetic conditions of the crops, the village, and its people?

3.  What unusual sight did the roadmender see? What prediction can you make from this?

4.  In the last chapter the Marquis thought of the peasants as rats and dogs, and here he addresses the road-mender as "pig" (p. 145) why is his rudeness ironic here?

5.  How does this chapter confirm a connection between Charles and the Marquis?

Book II, Chapter 9: "The Gorgon's Head"

1.  How does this title seem appropriate for the chapter?

2.  Though closely related, how do the Marquis and his nephew from England radically differ?

3.  What intentions does the Marquis imply he has towards Dr. Manette and to his nephew?

4.  How does the note around the murder weapon explain why the Marquis was killed?

5.  Why is the Marquis, uncle to Charles Darnay, actually his enemy?

Book II, Chapter 10: "Two Promises"

1.  What is the chronological setting relative to Chapter 9?

2.  What is Darnay’s professional and personal condition?

3.  Why is it ironic that Dr. Manette refuses to listen when Charles tries to tell him his real name?

4.  What are the two promises that the Doctor makes Charles?

5.  What is the effect on the Doctor of making these promises? Why do you think they had this effect on him?

6.  What is particularly noble about Charles' profession of love for Lucie, made to her father?

Book II, Chapter 11: "A Companion Picture"

1.  Why does Stryver continually criticize and belittle Sydney Carton for his social lapses?

2.  Why does Carton endure such abuse?

3.  what future plan does Stryver confess to Carton?

4.  In what sense is this chapter's title ironic?

5.  How does Dickens suggest the cause of Carton's alcoholism?

Book II, Chapter 12: "The Fellow of Delicacy"

1.  Why did Stryver go to Mr. Lorry before actually proposing?

2.  What is Mr. Lorry’s reaction to Stryver’s news?

3.  What is Stryver’s attitude when Lorry comes to the house with information, and why does he act this way?

4.  Why does Dickens have Mr. Lorry rather than Lucie herself reject Stryver's repulsive, egotistical absurd proposal?

Book II, Chapter 13: "The Fellow of No Delicacy"

1.  Why does Dickens call Carton ironically "the fellow of no delicacy"?

2.  In his talk with Lucie, what is Carton’s opinion of himself?

3.  What promise does Carton make Lucie?

4.  How is Sydney Carton's love for Lucie somewhat akin to Charles Darnay's?

Book II, Chapter 14: "The Honest Tradesman"

1.  From whose point of view is the narrative of this chapter given?

2.  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?

3.  How is this chapter's title ironic?

4.  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?

5.  Whose funeral procession do we see? Why is the crowd following the funeral procession incensed?

6.  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?

7.  Why is Cly's having been "a young 'un and a straight made 'un" of specific significance for Jerry?

8.  How does Jerry apparently dispose of his windfall income?

9.  Before we actually see Jerry in his true professional capacity, what clues does Dickens provide to add suspense?

10.  Give three examples of humourous verbal irony from the bottom of

11.  Although we do not see the conclusion of the fishing expedition, how do we know something has gone wrong?

12.  What purpose to the main plot of the book does this chapter serve?

Book II, Chapter 15: "Knitting"

1.  What two mysteries are resolved for us in this chapter?

2.  What is the sentence that Defarge and his compatriots give after hearing the fate of the Marquis’s killer? What are the future implications of this sentence?

3.  Why are the Defarges cheered by the opulence of the Versailles court?

4.  Who are Jacques Four and Five?

5.  How does the road-mender characterize the grandees of the court?

Book II, Chapter 16: "Still Knitting"

1.  The success of the Revolution seems assured because there are Jacques in the strategic government offices — give an example.

2.  Why is Defarge depressed, and how does Madame Defarge comfort him?

3.  Why does Defarge not answer to the name "Jacques" when greeted by the stranger in the wineshop?

4.  What is the significance of Madame Defarge pinning a rose in her hair?

5.  What information given by Barsad strongly affects the Defarges, but differently?

Book II, Chapter 17: "One Night"

1.  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"

1.  Who is to look after Dr. Manette while the young couple are away on their honeymoon?

2.  Why does the Doctor emerge from his conference with the bridegroom deathly pale?