FRONT LivijaAlex Y.SpencerAdrianShannonMichael JuliaChadJohnAlex F.SamAndrea CalebThomas D. Thomas B. LuisEthanJoe Will M-MKatieDuncanKeeganChrisWill M. xxxWill G.JacobSadie A Tale of Two Cities

 To be able to describe how Dickens uses devices such as paradox to enhance and deepen his comment on good and evil in the world  Recall: The significance of paradox in the beginning  It was the best of times, it was the worst of times Today’s objective

{{ Dark  personal disclosure that invokes Blaise Pascal's concept of a God-shaped vacuum inside each human heart:  "You told me that I would find a hole within the fragile substance of my soul." Light  couples his stark confession with an affirmation of redemption that echoes Jesus' parable of the prodigal son  It seems that all my bridges have been burned But you say that's exactly how this grace thing works It's not the long walk home that will change this heart But the welcome I receive with the restart. Light and dark Light and dark

 Your group will be assigned one of the sample texts to compare to Dickens’ last lines in A Tale of Two Cities  Be prepared to present your conclusions Make a connection

{  Dickens uses the figure of Miss Pross to emphasize the power of love  As the devoted servant battles with Madame Defarge, he notes that “the vigorous tenacity of love [is] always so much stronger than hate.”  The showdown   a commentary on social order and revolution Dickens’ social commentary Mme DefargeMiss Pross may prove fiercer and wilder  but the social order that Miss Pross represents emerges as stronger and steadier

Recall  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.  Through paradox, Dickens reveals the coexistence of polar opposites  Good and evil

{{ Explanation  Good prevails but  Dickens ascribed to Carlyle’s theory on history  One era must be destroyed before a new one can develop and thrive  Carlyle noted, “each new age *is born like the phoenix out of the ashes of the past.” Evidence  And yet there is not in France, with its rich variety of soil and climate, a blade, a leaf, a root, a sprig, a peppercorn, which will grow to maturity under conditions more certain than those that have produced this horror. Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seed of rapacious license and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind.

 Does Dickens condone or romanticize the revolutionaries?  The violence may serve to cleanse society of the injustices of the French aristocracy, but it nevertheless creates its own sort of pollution  In describing the peasants’ carefree return to eating, playing, and loving after their bloodthirsty execution of Foulon in Chapter 22, Dickens points toward a fundamentally corrupt side of the human soul The revolutionaries

 Christian paradox: life is achieved through death  Carton’s sacrifice of his life enables him to live in a way that he otherwise could not  He undertakes one truly meaningful and valuable act before dying  Carton’s life is extended beyond the moment of his death  Lives on in Lucie and Darnay  Carton’s love of Lucie allows him to overcome the purposelessness of his life Paradox comes full circle