reading notes
Reading notes of A Tale of Two Cities
After reading such a tragic novel as A tale of two cities, I had lots of things in mind about French Revolution and love. French Revolution is not just a historic event written in history books, in which you can learn the reason, result and brief process of French revolution but never can you get to know how violent, dark, brilliant and extreme the Revolution is.
Although the author, Charles John Huffam Dickens, is a British, he did a lot of research on French Revolution to write the concise and great work of literature. The book undoubtedly reflects the real situation of French Revolution. As is written in the beginning of the book: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way–in short, the period was so. far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. This sentence is quite famous and I did not get the real meaning of it until reading the whole book. The sentence uses comparation to state the central theme of the book—deep contrast. In the same world, the aristocracies are enjoying the best food, are living in the best houses and even their dogs can have meat while the poor are not able to afford any meat and even bread, are living in dirty slums and even their child can be easily killed by the aristocracies without bearing any responsibility. Such contrast is so ironic.
Before the French Revolution, people’s lives were really miserable, and this was one of the main reasons of the Revolution. A good example of this is one of the protagonists of the book, Dr. Alexandre Manette. When the Marquis of Evremonde forced the young lady and drove her whole family to death and herself mad, the doctor was "invited" to give medical treat while he found the Marquis’ brutality. As a doctor, he could do nothing about it but still insisted on the justice rooted in his heart and denounced the Marquis. Not surprisingly, he was sent to the Bastille by the Marquis with his power, where he was locked up for eighteen years, even to the point of insanity, which led to the “resurrection from the dead” at the beginning of the novel. Dr. Manette is only a fictional character, but he undoubtedly represents millions of the oppressed people before the French Revolution. The writer used his pen to write how French people hate and stand against their oppressors: I, Alexandre Manette, unfortunate prisoner, on the last night of the year of 1767, in my unbearable agony, plead against the time when all these sins had to be atoned for I accuse them to heaven and to earth. Dr. Manette is just an example of the people suffering at that dark time, it’s not hard to imagine how miserable life the people are living.
On a day in July 1789, the angry French people took up arms and took to the streets. The wave of revolution was set off across the country. On July 14,the people of Paris stormed the Bastille prison, the symbol of the king's rule. In my history class, I still didn't understand why the symbol of national power was a prison. While when I finished A Tale of Two Cities, I realized that the Bastille was not a symbol of the power of the king, but a symbol of the aristocracy, the upper class, showing their power. And it wasn't just a sign. It is a symbol of the suffering that befell innocent people in those dark times, of the mountains on their backs, of the chains on their bodies, of the darkness of their lives.
The Twin Cities, London and Paris, are also a metaphor of the book's two strikingly similar male protagonists. The humanitarian stance Dickens conveyed through "A Tale of Two Cities" is best embodied in the character of Caton. At the first glance, Caton may not seem like a great hero. In real life, Caton, though well-educated, was slovenly, drunk and disheveled. But it is such a down and out intellectual, but in a critical moment suddenly became a chivalry warrior, in order to save Danai, he paid at the expense of his precious life. This is the highest ideal of the pure soul living in the heart of Carton, the highest ideal of Dickens, and the highest ideal of the reformist readers represented by Dickens: purify the dirt with the persistent spirit of love, tolerant and sacrifice for others, overcome hatred, and finally achieve the harmony of the whole society.
In this works, Dickens is most concerned with the life experiences of the little people. In each little person, human nature is clearly revealed. Here I would give three points of what I think Dickens would like to convey.
First: Forgiveness and revenge. Dr Manette in A Tale of Two Cities was framed by the Marquis and imprisoned in the Bastille for 17 years. During these 17 years, his wife dies of depression and his young daughter was sent to London by a good friend. His long captivity left him on the brink of mental breakdown, and even after his release, he lived in a dingy attic. When his daughter met Manette for the first time, he knew only that he was a criminal in 105 North Tower of the Bastille.
A broken family and soul, all resulted from the Marquis. But it was Manette's daughter who had fallen in love with the Marquis's son, and was to be married for life. Though the Marquis was long dead, and though the Marquis's son was a man of integrity and goodness, Manette could not remain indifferent to the fact that the descendants of his enemy were so close at hand. For Manette, the choice of forgiveness or revenge would have led him down a very different path. For the sake of his daughter's happiness, he chose to let go of the past out of the love of his daughter and the respect for the honesty of the young man.
But not all of them were Manette. Madame Defarge's family revenge remained unavenged until the moment when the Marquis's son was condemned to death, and her hatred burst forth in the air. She wants to kill the marquis son's family, so as to reduce the heart of hatred. But finally the revenge put Madame Defarge to hell. Through the ending of A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens wants to tell us that love can overcome hatred, and forgiveness is the right choice. However, in the face of forgiveness and revenge, where should one go?
Some people say that forgiveness can dissolve the hatred between people, which is the high state of life; Some people say that happiness is the most important, why adhere to the so-called human morality. In the face of forgiveness and revenge, forgiveness can always shower your heart. Sometimes revenge can bring the so-called "bad guys "to their rightful end, but personal reason should not be blinded by revenge. Otherwise, revenge will turn into a ferocious beast that will devour us and inevitably bring untold tragedy.
Second: the deep love. In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens portrays Mr. Carton as a self-defeating, perverted prodigal son who only shows his human dignity in the face of love, and finally sacrifices his own life for the happiness of his loved ones. Dickens describes Mr. Carton as follows: The sun rose mournfully and mournfully, and never did it see anything more miserable than this man. He was rich in talent and noble in feeling. But he had no opportunity to use it, to show it, to do something, to make himself happy. He knew what was wrong with him, and resigned himself to wasting away his life year after year. In his heart, Carton had no nostalgia for himself or life, no love for life, and no sense of self-love. When he fell in love with Lucy, he was just like floating in the vast sea, holding a lifesaving straw in his hand. But when the straw is in danger, Caton will stand up to protect it. For him, there is no nostalgia for the decadent life, and only his love for Lucy is his hope to keep on living. Even for Lucy, or for Lucy's loved ones, Caton can sacrifice his life at any time. What Caton shows is self-sacrifice, willing to die for the people she loves. And that, in fact, is the tragedy of depravity.
When Catton went to the guillotine in the place of others, he not only saved others' lives, so his own. It is not to say that Dickens loved Catton, I believe readers must have pity for Catton's life.
Third: ignorance and apathy. In Dickens's French Revolution, there is blood everywhere, every street seems to be turned into a knife, everyone becomes a tool of killing, every glass of wine contains the taste of blood, even young and ignorant children take hatred for granted. Even if the French Revolution described by Dickens deviates from the real history, the blindness, ignorance and savagery of the public towards the revolution should be seriously reflected upon by everyone. What is the purpose of the revolution, for the progress of history. for the rights of the people, for the freedom? But in the name of freedom, countless heads have fallen on the guillotine in every revolution. Oppression is the philosophy of the ruler, says the Marquis in A Tale of Two Cities. It was this philosophy that inspired the French people to revolt. But behind any protest was the beginning of the killing. There was no reason for this kind of killing. Nobles, good or bad, were killed. The people acted as executioners in this movement, with blood on their hands and blood red eyes. Only killing could soothe the resentment that had been built up. However, reason has been blinded by hatred, and the people have lost the ability of independent thinking. They go with the wind. Drift with the flow, and completely degenerate into lower animals.
In the gap of history, whether revolution is progress not, the ignorance of the people is incisively and vividly interpreted in Dickens's pen, which is a kind of spiritual reference for us. The smoke of war has never stopped, but human beings have gradually entered the era of relative civilization. Every time we look back at history. human beings are like children walking on the beach, who can always pick up shiny shells and play with them in their hands. Beautiful things always slip quietly through your fingers. In order to make the good stay for a longer time, each individual has his own responsibility to the society.
"A Tale of Two Cities" is a story between London and Paris, but there are no distinct geographical boundaries, as if it were all happening in the same city. London is Paris, and Paris is London. There is no such thing as two cities. There is human love and forgiveness, human hate and revenge. Let this searing novel take us back to the haze of Paris, and then to the fog of London, immersed in a distant time.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
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