A Tale of Two Cities - Book I (Chapters 1 - 4)
Summary
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness . . ."
Dickens begins A Tale of Two Cities with this famous sentence. It describes the spirit of the era in which this novel takes place. This era is the latter part of the 1700s - a time when relations between Britain and France were strained, America declared its independence, and the peasants of France began one of the bloodiest revolutions in history. In short, it was a time of liberation and a time of terrible violence. Dickens describes the two cities at the center of the novel: Paris, a city of extravagance, aristocratic abuses, and other evils that lead to revolution and London, a city rife with crime, capital punishment, and disorder. In both cities, the capabilities of an angry mob were a dangerous thing, to be feared by all.
The tale begins on a road between London and Dover (in southern England) in 1775. Three strangers in a carriage are traveling along this dangerous road. The carriage encounters a messenger on a horse who asks for one of the passengers, Jarvis Lorry of Tellson's Bank. They are wary, because the messenger could be a highwayman, robber, or other undesirable. However, Mr. Lorry ventures out into the rain to receive the message. He recognizes the messenger as a man named Jerry, who works for Tellson's Bank, as well. Jerry tells him to wait at Dover for the young lady. Lorry tells Jerry to relay to the people at the Bank this message: Recalled to Life. Jerry has no idea what it means and rides off into the rain.
Dickens then ponders how the heart of a person is a true mystery. Lorry can tell who or at least of what class the two other passengers are. Traveling on, Lorry dozes in and out of dreams. His dreams reveal to the reader that his mission is to metaphorically dig a man out of the grave. He dreams of imaginary conversations with this man he is to recall to life. "Buried how long?" Lorry always asks. "Almost eighteen years," replies the man. Lorry brings the man in his dreams to see a woman (the young woman of which Jerry the messenger spoke). But the man does not know if he still wishes to live or if he can bear to see the young lady after having been "buried" for eighteen long years.
Alcohol was introduced into Native American culture many years ago and has been a source of suffering since. In Flight, Zits states that his father “was more in love with vodka than with him and his mother,” and it is this statement that helps drive the story along (Sherman 4). Zits addresses the stereotype that come along with being Native American. The major one mentioned in the story is that Native Americans consume a lot of alcohol. This follows what is known as the firewater myth, which says that Native Americans “…may be genetically predisposed to crave ever increasing doses of alcohol…”—this was and still is believed by several researchers (Lamarine). This alcoholism leads to instability within homes and leaves the child to suffer. A perfect example of this is when Zits says that his father “vanished like a magician” shortly after he was born (Sherman 5). It was fear that made Michael’s father run, but it was fear mixed with alcohol that...
Prior to the arrival of the whites, Native Americans experienced little to no contact with alcohol, or “firewater.” The main introduction of alcohol to Native Americans came through the fur trade. Quickly upon its initiation to Native Americans, alcohol had various social, economic, and political ramifications. [note] To form new relations with Native Americans and to continue existing ones, the consistent distribution of alcohol was established.
In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens’ choice of sentimental expression had an excellent effect on the readers’ responses to the characters. The use of exaggerated sentimentality helped create a clear picture of the story’s issues in the readers’ minds; it gave a feel for the spirit of the times, and made it easier to understand the characters’ points of view. It was this very sentimentality that Dickens strived to achieve.
They considered drunkenness ‘degrading to free me’ and questioned the motives of those who would offer a substance that was so offensive to the senses and that made men foolish. Most Native people who did drink alcohol were reported to show ‘remarkable restraint while in their cups’. Most drank alcohol only during social or trading contact with whites. Although drinking patterns since colonization grew almost exponentially, since 1975, drinking patterns among Native Americans have remained constant.( Alcohol 3)
A Tale of Two Cities Essay Throughout history, the powers of love and hate have constantly been engaged in a battle for superiority. Time and time again, love has proven to be stronger than hate, and has been able to overcome all of the obstacles that have stood in the way of it reaching its goal. On certain occasions, though, hate has been a viable foe and defeated love when they clash. In the novel A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens presents several different power struggles between love and hate.
Alcohol was often used as a form of diplomacy amongst the natives and the European settlers. It was also pushed on the natives to drink, because it was very intricate tool in trade. So initially the detrimental factors that stemmed from alcohol were most likely not shared with the Indians.
Although tribes vacillate with regard to the use of alcohol and drugs, substance dependence is one of the principal sources of health problems facing Native Americans. As the graph below shows, there is a disparity in abuse.
The impact of various kinds of substances to cultural groups has historically been precipitated by the significance of particular substances on different cultural groups (Moore, 2010).This is mainly because the long term usage of these substances leads to the integration of the consumption of the substance into the cultural patterns of the given group. One such group that has been affected by the extensive usage of a particular substance is the Native American community. According to the Associated Press (2014, August 28), as noted on the MSNBC website, out of ten deaths among the Native American population, one is Alcohol related. Additionally, the prevalence of Alcohol consumption among the Native American population relates to the fact that it’s associated with the various cultural events that define the way of life of Native Americans. Therefore, the focus of this paper shall be on the cultural aspects, effects and prevalence of Alcohol among Native Americans. Particularly, the paper shall outline a brief introduction of the Native American culture and the prevalence of Alcohol in this culture; compare the aspects of alcohol abuse between the Native Americans and the African Americans; analyze the particular effects of alcohol in the body; and demonstrate the cultural impact of Alcohol abuse among the Native Americans.
Native Americans were using alcohol long before Europeans colonized America. Alcohol was consumed mainly for spiritual reasons, and their beverages contained only diluted alcohol, as much effort was required to produce it. Native Americans used alcohol to communicate with spiritual forces, and only highly ranked priests had access to it. Distillation, then a European process of making more potent alcoholic beverages, was unknown to them, but when the Europeans started trading with the Native Americans, the newcomers introduced them to methods of making more potent drinks. The sudden abundance of more potent beverages did not permit the natives to regulate their use of alcohol, in contrast to the Europeans, who had thousands of years of experience and had regulated its distribution centuries before. Due to the history of alcohol in the New World, factors such as socioeconomics, culture, and genetics have influenced modern Native Americans to abuse alcohol comparably more than other ethnic groups, and it has had a destructive effect on their society.
Ghosh, R. P. (2012, February 11). Native Americans: The Tragedy of Alcoholism. Retrieved May 21, 2014, from International Business Times: http://www.ibtimes.com/native-americans-tragedy-alcoholism-214046
Charles Dickens’s voice varies from being sympathetic with the revolutionaries, to a feeling of discord with their method of revolting. A Tale of Two Cities revolves around the French revolution and the tension in England. Dickens gives the tale of a family caught in the conflict between the French aristocracy and radicals. In the course of the book, the family handles extreme difficulty and obscurity. Dickens’s neutrality, though sometimes wavering from side to side, is apparent throughout each book in the novel.
The theory of goal setting was developed by Edward Locke and Gary Latham (1990) and states that there is a direct relationship between the setting of specific high goals and task performance. A higher degree of employee performance is obtained when specific goals are set compared to the performance achieved when employees are simply told to do their best (Latham & Locke, 2007). These findings have helped shape leadership styles and improve employee performance and job satisfaction (Posthuma & Al-Riyami, 2012).
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is a classic novel written in the 1850’s by Charles Dickens. The novel is set in London and France during the French Revolution. The novel features an amazing use of themes as well as sensational development of characters. Charles Dickens and his feature style of the poor character who does something great is very evident in Sydney Carton, a drunken lawyer who becomes the hero of the book.
The basic premises of the goal-setting theory is the relationship between how difficult and specific a goal is and people’s performance. We live in a goal-oriented society as people usually adhere to specific targets with a plan of action for guidance. Lack of accomplishment of goals leads to job dissatisfaction. Locke’s Goal-Setting Theory from 1968 has been a powerful way of motivating people and is often utilized in whole organizations to increase focus and productivity. The more specific and difficult goals are designed the more likely staff can achieve these goals as opposed to being too vague or easy goals. An organization should consider the five following principles of goal setting: clarity, goal difficulty, goal acceptance, goal specificity and feedback. Organizations that set clear and challenging goals and are open to honest feedback have a greater chance of achieving goals. According to Locke and Latham (2002), goal setting can be useful in predicting job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is an important attribute for employee productivity and commitment to the
Locke, Edwin A., and Gary P. Latham. "New Directions in Goal-Setting Theory." Current Directions in Psychological Science 15.5 (2006): 265-68. Print.