Book 2, Chapter 1: “Five Years Later”

Plot Summary: It is now The setting is Tellson’s Bank in London, described as “very small, very dark, very ugly, very incommodious.” It is located by Temple Bar, where the government had, until recently, displayed the heads of executed criminals. “At that time putting to death was a recipe much in vogue,” used against all manner of criminals, from forgers to horse thieves to counterfeiters, and even “the unlawful opener of a letter.” Jerry Cruncher is employed by Tellson’s as an “odd job man,” basically a runner and messenger. He begins the day by yelling at his wife for “praying against” him. Cruncher and his young son camp outside Tellson’s Bank, where they await the bankers’ instructions. When a voice indoor calls “Porter wanted,” Cruncher takes off to do the job. As young Jerry sits alone, he wonders why his father’s fingers always have rust on them.

Literary Devices: Point of View: Dickens employs a technique known as free indirect style, which fuses third-person narration with an insider’s point of view. The inclusion of informal speech by the narrator allows him to portray the point of view of the common person, often using humor: “ When they took a young man into Tellson’s London house, they hid him somewhere till he was old. They kept him in a dark place, like a cheese, until he had the full Tellson flavour and blue-mould upon him. Then only was he permitted to be seen, spectacularly poring over large books, and casting his breeches and gaiters into the general weight of the establishment” (55). Personification: Death is capitalized as if it were a proper noun, almost as though it were a member of the community with a constant presence. “Death is nature’s remedy for all things... The unlawful opener of a letter was put to Death; the purloiner of forty shillings and six-pence was put to Death...” (54).

“ Any one of these partners would have disinherited his son on the question of rebuilding Tellson's. In this respect the House was much on a par with the Country; which did very often disinherit its sons for suggesting improvements in laws and customs that had long been highly objectionable, but were only the more respectable” (53). Essential Quote