Here is a sample of what reading responses look like in my homeschooling:
(numbered responses indicates each prompt)
Some interesting observations about A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens:
- Dickens refers to Mr. Sydney Carton and Mr. Stryver are each represented as “the jackal” and “the lion” respectively because of their mutual relations. Mr. Carton works for Mr. Stryver as a lawyer, where Mr. Carton does all the work while Mr. Stryver gets all the credit. The jackal, in this context, represents Carton deprived of power while the lion (Mr. Stryver) tells Carton to work many hours each day.
On page 56, Carton mentions, “ ‘You were always in the front rank, and I was always behind,’”. A page before this remark, he also mentions that “ ‘Even then, I did exercises for the other boys, and seldom did my own.’” We can clearly see that Carton does a lot of hard work but never gets the credit, nor does he want the credit.
Carton represents many people in the world doing hard labor and receiving nothing for their hard work.
(Book II Chapter V: The Jackal)
- Foreshadowing is commonly used in the book Tale of Two Cities in the middle of the first book. One example of such is in Chapter V, when a barrel of wine spills and everyone gathers around to drink the wine. In addition, a joker uses this wine to write the word “blood” on the wall.
Dickens uses the foreshadowing technique to convey that the French Revolution is going to happen in a few years after this setting (scene set in 1775). Also, in the very first chapter Dickens wrote that hunger was prevalent in France and England, which made most of the population starving. Connecting this to Chapter V, the spilt wine also represents hunger, for many people, no matter where they came from, gathered around the wine spill and drank it.
Therefore, foreshadowing is a technique Dickens uses to depict deeper meaning and display historical events in future time.
(Book I Chapter V: The Wine Shop)
- A Tale of Two Cities was set in 1775, 1780 and 1793 respectively in the books I, II and III. Focusing on the historical context, there were many prisoners and enemies of war here, as Dickens wrote:
“In the midst of them, the hangman, ever busy and ever worse than useless, was in constant requisition; now, stringing up long rows of miscellaneous criminals; now, hanging a housebreaker on Saturday who had been taken on Tuesday; now, burning people in the hand at Newgate by the dozen, and now burning pamphlets at the door of Westminster Hall; to-day, taking the life of an atrocious murderer, and to-morrow of a wretched pilferer who had robbed a farmer’s boy of sixpence.”
In this excerpt, the author uses strong language and words such as “hangman”, “miscellaneous” and “wretched pilferer” to describe how France and England were both in big trouble with so many criminals running here and there.
Speaking historically, England was in debt and was currently fighting the American Revolution, while France was also in debt but was fighting sickness, hunger and poverty. In terms of socioeconomic standards, France was the worse one, but in terms of warfare, England had been focusing on sending troops to the American colonies without focusing on its own country.
AS a side note, the French nobilities were wasting a lot of money at the time, so that set up the stage for the French Revolution.
Let’s sum this time of history in one word: chaos.