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Miles Donahue
10/8/13
Journal Response
First Third of A Tale of Two Cities Response
A Tale of Two Cities emotionally gripping story set in a time of strife. With a paintbrush
of witty descriptions Charles Dickens details the historic era of the French Revolution through
the personalities of a cast of characters. The character used to express the French aristocracy,
Monsieur the Marquis, is an appalling person in both his interactions with others and his
justifications for his actions. I was brought to a halt in my reading by loathing for his atrocious
nature.
The Marquis is introduced in stark contrast to the main characters of the novel. Directly
preceding his introduction I am privy to a night spent in the company of Doctor Manette, Lucie
Manette, Miss Pross, Mr. Carton, Charles Darnay, and Mr. Lorry in which I see characters with
depth acting in a friendly manner. This abruptly shifts to a party of French royalty where each
attendant is a one sided facade held up in an intricate weave of political schemes and intrigue.
Dickens describes the partiers as having the leprosy of unreality disfigur[ing], (Dickens 106)
them. He uses this to express the absurdity of the nobility who feigned experience in crucial
aspects of their rule.
The Marquis departs from the party in a carriage he encourages to travel at reckless
speeds. In his haste he runs over a child. Instead of remorse he displays contempt to the
hysterically grieving father, proclaiming It is extraordinary to me that you people cannot take
care of yourselves and your children, (Dickens, 110). He then tosses a coin into the street and
sits back ... with the air of a gentleman who had accidentally broken some common thing, and
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paid for it, and could afford to pay for it, (Dickens 110). This situation showcases his disrespect
for human life and his feelings of entitlement. From my history classes, I have seen that this is a
common mindset for nobility. This horrible view is even perpetuated by modern capitalist
nobility.



With sentence structures that span pages and diction betrothed to an antiquated
vernacular, Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities labors on, a hulking behemoth wreathed in
the intricate shadows of a poetic syntax. For instance, in parody to the absurdity of upper class
etiquette, his writing flowers into a twisted bramble of descriptions;













Work Cited
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Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. New York: Penguin, 2010. Print.