A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens was born in 1812 in a suburb of Portsmouth. When Dickens was ten years old, his father was forced by his creditors to go to prison, so he had to work as an apprentice in a shoe polish factory owned by a distant relative, working six days a week in a cold, damp basement. This experience left a deep impression on Dickens as a child and directly influenced his later literary career. At the age of eighteen, Dickens fell in love with a banker's daughter, but in the end, his beloved married a well-to-do businessman. In 1833, he began to write short articles for newspapers under the pseudonym "Boz", which were later published in a series of articles and became his first work, "Boz Features". By 1842, in his early thirties, Dickens was already a very famous author in the English literary world, and every book he published was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Dickens loved to travel and was kindly received by the great French writer Victor Hugo when he stayed in Paris in 1846. This experience also made him more comfortable in writing A Tale of Two Cities. Throughout his life, Dickens wrote sixteen full-length novels, as well as many short stories and other works.
A Tale of Two Cities is a long historical novel written by English author Charles Dickens, set against the backdrop of the French Revolution. The story connects two major cities, Paris and London, and revolves around the family of Dr. Manmanet and the district of St. Anthony, headed by Mr. and Mrs. De Farge. The novel depicts the corruption of the aristocracy and the brutalization of the people, and the pent-up hatred of the aristocracy that led to the inevitable French Revolution. The "Twin Cities" in the title of the book refers to Paris and London.
The main content: Lucy follows her protector, Laure, from England to Paris to rescue her father, Dr. Ménit. After his release from the Bastille, where he had been imprisoned for eighteen years, Menet is hidden by his former servant and current hotel owner, Deva Stone. After his long imprisonment, Menet had become a gray-haired, confused and slow-witted man. He has even forgotten his own name. Lucy's presence brought back Menet's memory. They brought him back to England and restored him to a normal life.
Délène, of the House of Euphremont of France, renounced his noble privileges and came to England, where he was unfortunately falsely accused of espionage by secret agents and sentenced to death. When he came to England, he happened to be on the same ship as Lucie, who testified that he was innocent. He was also acquitted by his lawyer, who used the fact that his assistant Kalden looked very similar to him to show that the accuser was mistaken. The love of his daughter brings Menet back to happiness. Luci's beauty aroused the love of Kalden and Dairna. Knowing that Lucie is in love with Dairna, Kalden gives up his pursuit of Lucie and resolves to sacrifice himself for her happiness. Lucie marries Dairna. While the Menet family was living a peaceful and happy life, the French Revolution broke out.
When Déarna returns to France to rescue the territorial governor and is arrested by the revolutionary government, Ményte takes her daughter and granddaughter to France to rescue Déarna. Menet's past encounter wins the sympathy of the revolutionaries and Déarna is released. But Mrs. Devasite had a deep hatred for the Dairna family and she wanted to take revenge. She used the history of the sins of the Euphremontes family, which Menet had written in prison, as an indictment to reignite the anger of the masses against this family. This time even Menet could not defend her son-in-law, and Dairna was sentenced to death. Kalden tries to exchange himself for Dairna for the sake of Luci's family's happiness. Déarna flees Paris with Ménit, Lucie and her daughter. Kalden fulfills his promise to Lucie: "I am willing to die for you and for the people you love." He walked gracefully to the guillotine in Dayna's place.
My harvest and thoughts:
The author says: Whether it is the love of Kalden or the friendship of Pujos, both are equally pure and selfless, and their highest expression is the sacrifice of self.When the whole country is turned into a killing machine, what will these unarmed people use to resist the wind and waves? When the whole country is turned into a killing machine, what will these unarmed people use to resist the wind and waves? four words popped up in my mind: to live by death.
According to Heidegger, death is "existence towards death. Being-towards-death, that is, "to live towards death". This expression is often quoted in modern thought, but is difficult to understand. Heidegger calls physical death "death," while philosophically, death is used as the name for the way of being by which this being exists toward its death. Death is more fundamental and primitive than death, because this being can only die if it is dead. Whereas death is generally thought of as death, there is in fact a conceptual difference between the two, such that death can refer to a process, while death refers to the result of this process. However, this difference is the key to Heidegger's ontology of death. Heidegger's view is that man lives as long as he is not dead, in the same way as he exists towards death.
But Dr. Manet, Danai and Katun, including the little tailor, have a cornerstone of their "life to death", which is the source of their courage and confidence, and that cornerstone is: love. Love can overcome hate, love can redeem sin, love can bring harmony between people, city and city, country and country. And where does such love come from?
Jesus said, "The resurrection is in me, and the life is in me; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he rise again; and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die." It was these words that Kalden repeatedly recited at his father's tomb, while preparing to die for Danai, and while standing on the guillotine. And the words of the little tailor to Khatun: "Dear stranger, if it were not for you, I would not be so calm, for I was born a poor little man, timid as hell. ...... thinking of the Lord who was put to death, so that we can still be here today with hope and comfort." Yes, it is this same Lord who was put to death, Jesus, who never had anything to do with sin and who did not wrong anyone. To prove that love does not count the evil of men, and that life is better than death - He went out of His way to suffer poverty, humiliation, humiliation, death, and to hang on the cross without complaint, and if He wanted to collect His debt, all those who stood under the cross would not be spared, yet before He died He simply said, "Father forgive them for what they have done they do not know." It was he who resisted the guillotine with the cross.
It was with this kind of love that Jesus overcame the enemy and the world more than 20xx years ago. He died and rose again in his immaculate body, and this became a comfort and hope in the hearts of countless people who were about to die. Dickens insisted on this belief in all his novels, and used it to break the iron barrel of the impermeable world.
No one wants to die, but if they do, they are not afraid, as Danai says, they will be reunited in a place of rest. For they believe that suffering and death are not all, but that there is a real and beautiful country waiting at the end of the world, which is the eternal home, "where there is no time and no trouble." They did not have to rob and sweep anyone away from in front of them to get there, but by loving each other, they could all say by faith: "What I am doing now is a great good thing, far better than what I have always done. I am now going to a better place than I have ever known."
When we understand the love and salvation of Jesus, we can have this kind of faith, because God is love.
Accumulation:
1. 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.
2. A heart well worth winning, and well won. A heart that, once won, goes through fire and water for the winner, and never changes, and is never daunted.
3. The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.
4. To conceal anything from those to whom I am attached, is not in my nature. I can never close my lips where I have opened my heart.
5. No one is useless in the world who lightens the burden of it for anyone else.
6. There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.
7. I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you.
8. To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.
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