A Tale of Two Cities - Part 10

Chapter 11

• Dr. Manette is going to try and help Charles, but the situation looks very bleak. Mr. Carton is very involved in the situation (observing and helping Lucie mainly). When Lucie faints, he kisses her, and says "A life you love" . . .what do you think that meant? I have no idea. Perhaps he was saying that was his gift to her?

Chapter 12

• It seems Dr. M. has gone a little crazy again, mostly because of his grief over not being able to save Charles like he so desperately wants to. 
• Mr. Carton does a little reconnaissance and discovers that Madame Defarge is the sister of the peasant family that was so mistreated by the Marquis and his brother (the mistreatment that lead Dr. M. to denounce all the Evremonde family). This explains why she is so eager for revenge on Charles, Lucie, and little Lucie. 
• Mr. Carton arranges his escape with Mr. Lorry, but I feel he didn't tell Mr. Lorry the real story.

Chapter 13

• Mr. Carton visits Charles in prison and gets him to switch some clothes with him, then knocks him out and has him carried out of the prison pretending that the man leaving is Mr. Carton (with the help of John Barsad in exchange for Mr. Carton keeping his secret). 
• There is a brave little seamstress who is scheduled to be executed with Charles . . .she realizes that Mr. Carton has switched places with Charles, but she won't tell anyone.
• The Manette family (& Mr. Lorry) heads out of town, WITH Charles. 

Chapter 14

• Miss Pross and Madame Defarge have a showdown. Madame Defarge accidentally gets shot in the scuffle and dies!!! (Miss Pross is deaf because of the shot, but at least she saved the Manettes). 
• Miss Pross and Mr. Cruncher (Jerry) get away on a cart following the Manette family.
• I have finished my reading time for today (~1 hour), but I have to finish . . .I have to know how this ends)!

 Chapter 15

• More Biblical references here, and interestingly enough, Sydney Carton dies in the place of Charles Darnay at 3 in the afternoon, about the same time that Jesus died on the cross . . .was Dickens trying to make some connections there? I'm not saying Sydney Carton is anywhere close to Jesus, but it is interesting how Sydney showed a much more religious side of himself in the days before his death. 
• I'm SO happy that it ended like I thought it should. Who knew Sydney would be the hero?!?
• The Ganache Queen was right about the first and last paragraphs of the book . . .they are very good. Perhaps Dickens has been restored to my good graces :) 

Well, it had a relatively happy ending . . .who would have thought, after all the tumult and bloodshed of this book. Did you enjoy the story? I rented the movie from the library, so I'll let you know how the film portrayal is. Any closing thoughts on "A Tale of Two Cities"? I can't believe I didn't know anything about the characters or plot line of this story before . . .I feel a little more cultured now, and I always feel good after making it through a classic. Good stuff :)