Tale Of Two Cities Rhetorical Analysis

Resurrection Relates to Three Metaphors in A Tale of Two Cities

The French Revolution, starting in 1789, was a historical period in which the peasants revolt against the nobles because of the malicious actions of the French aristocracy. In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Dickens shows the cruelty of the nobility while sympathizing with the peasants, but he also pities the nobles when the mob of peasants, acting like animals, become what the nobles used to be, self-absorbed killers. Throughout the French Revolution, which is portrayed in the novel, Dickens displays that resurrection is possible for the peasants and nobles through the use of metaphors. The French Revolution, a time of chaos and bloodiness, allows for resurrection in

characters, which results in one living forever in the hearts of loved ones. In A Tale of Two Cities, the theme of resurrection is strongly reflected though the three metaphors of fishing, the golden thread, and the jackal.
The seemingly honest tradesman, Jerry Cruncher, contradicts this description of himself when he goes to his strange job of fishing, but he resurrects throughout the novel and redeems this title. Jerry Cruncher, a man with black eyes, dark, spiky hair, and a sinister expression, has a secret, which is foreshadowed when Jerry speaks to himself claiming, ”you’d be in a Blazing bad way, if recalling to life was to come into fashion, Jerry” (Dickens 7). Jerry’s hoarse voice, red eyes as if he has been up all night, rusty fingers, and mysteriously muddy boots in the morning and clean boots after he comes home from work at Tellson’s foreshadow his secret job, which young Jerry notices when his father “began to fish” (123). Jerry Cruncher’s secret is digging up dead bodies in order to sell to doctors. If people start recalling to life, Jerry Cruncher will have no money, and he believes that his wife’s flopping or praying interferes with his moneymaking and ability to get food onto the table. As one can see, Jerry Cruncher’s title, the honest tradesman, is ironic, but he soon becomes honest through his actions. Jerry Cruncher is beginning to recall to life when he catches Barsad, a spy, talking to Cly, a spy that is supposedly dead. Because of Jerry’s job of fishing, he notices one night that Cly is not in his coffin that Jerry digs from the churchyard. Cly’s body is young, which will make Jerry a great amount of money. When Carton, a man in that shadows, Mr. Lorry, a man of business, and Jerry are playing the game of cards or blackmailing Barsad, Jerry risks his job at Tellsons by speaking the truth of Cly’s burial. Mr. Lorry wants to fire Jerry from Tellsons because he is a grave robber, but Jerry convinces Lorry that he will “go into the line or reg’lar digging,’ and make amends for what he would hace un-dug” (239). Jerry will do customary digging, placing bodies in the earth, in order to make amends. Jerry Cruncher recalls to life through his actions, while Doctor Manette is resurrected through his daughter, Lucie Manette.
Lucie Manette, the golden thread, recalls her father, Doctor Manette, to life, love, duty, rest, and comfort from his lost state of mind with her golden hair. Lucie has always believed that her father is dead until Mr. Lorry informs Lucie that her father has been in a dreadful place, the prison of the Bastille, from which Lucie must rescue him from his hopeless state of mind. ”I, to identify him if I can’ you, to restore him to life, love, duty, rest, comfort” (19) is the important message from Mr. Lorry informing Lucie to recall her father to life. When Lucie and Lorry go to rescue the doctor from the Defarges, Doctor Manette is busily making shoes to occupy his time so he will not go insane. Doctor Manette is very slow to respond, and life has been sunken out of his voice. Because of Lucie’s fearlessness, she is able to resurrect her father from his shadowy condition because she is “the golden thread that united him to a Past beyond his misery, and to a Present beyond his misery” (60). Lucie means light, and her golden hair reflects resurrection because Lucie is a strong connecting force; Lucie knits Doctor Manette to life with her thread. The doctor and Lucie’s hair intertwine to create a beautiful image of love and the light of freedom. But, Lucie’s force has a “strong beneficial influence with him almost always” (60). Doctor Manette suffers relapses that Lucie’s golden hair cannot restore, but the doctor himself must have strength to overcome. First, when Lucie is to marry Charles Darnay, a generous man, Doctor Manette begins to make shoes again because he is anxious, does not fully trust Darnay, and does not want to give his daughter away. Lucie walks back and forth with her father to help calm him and stop the relapse. Second, on the morning of the wedding, Darnay must inform the doctor of his real name and the reason of his being in London. Darnay tells the doctor his story, which causes Doctor Manette to suffer a relapse of nine days. Darnay is the son of Marquis Evremonde who is the older brother of the younger Marquis. These two twins put Doctor Manette into jail, and this imprisonment of the Bastille turns him into a lost man. Doctor Manette gets through his relapse with the help of Mr. Lorry and Miss Pross, the fiery redhead who deeply cares for Lucie Manette, but most of all, his resilience recalls himself. Because of these relapses, Doctor Manette and Lucie have always had an inverse relationship; Lucie is caring for her father. Once Doctor Manette saves Charles from being quartered, he believes that he has repaid Lucie for everything that she has done for him throughout the years of his ghostly mask. The doctor is strong and confident; he is caring for Lucie. Lucie “laid her head upon her father’s breast, as he had laid his poor head on her breast, long, long ago” (223). Doctor Manette is proud of his strength, but he undergoes one last relapse when the Defarges find a letter the doctor writes during his years in prison, which states the he denounces all of the Evremondes and the families’ descendants. Darnay is an Evremonde, and the doctor cannot save him from going to the guillotine, which is too heavy of a burden for him to carry. Doctor Manette becomes lost, and he asks for his shoe making tools, which are destroyed after his relapse of nine days. After this last and final suffering, Doctor Manette is in peace and is recalled to life. Doctor Manette is a strong, father figure after he has been resurrected, and Sydney Carton is no figure, but a remembrance because he is recalled to life when he dies for Darnay.
As well as Jerry Cruncher and Doctor Manette, Sydney Carton, a jackal in the shadows, resurrects throughout the novel because of his love of Lucie Manette and his willingness to do anything for her.

Dickens alleges that “Sydney Carton would never be a lion, he was an amazingly good jackal” (65). Carton is referred to as a jackal because jackals are scavengers; these animals let the lion eat all the food first, and then the jackal will eat the remains. Stryver is the lion; he is missing the intellect to extract the essence for cases. Carton stays up from ten at night until three in the morning drinking and working for Stryver. Carton gets all the information, while Stryver receives all the credit. Sydney Carton is a man in the shadows, and everyone believes he is a depressed alcoholic except for Lucie Manette. Carton loves Lucie, and he adds to her, “I wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul” (115). Carton is freeing his soul by telling her that he is grateful that she does not love him because he is not worthy. Carton believes he cannot change for the better; he is set in his ways, and he cannot save himself because of his fate. Carton is selfless and fragile when he expresses his feelings to Lucie, which shows how amazing he is. Carton’s delicateness conveys when Dickens claims, “there were tears in his eyes. There were tears in his voice too” (115). Carton informs Lucie, “for you, and for any dear to you, I would do anything” (117). Dickens foreshadows that Carton will save Darnay’s life by dying for him out of his love for Lucie, which is Carton’s purpose in life. Carton is similar to “an eddy that turned and turned-purposeless, until the stream absorbed it, and carried it on to the sea” (244). An eddy goes nowhere until the stream, which straightens it our as a purpose, captures it. The purpose takes him to an end, which is peace, death, or redemption. Carton has always been going nowhere, but now he has a purpose to save Darnay and

fulfill his promise to Lucie of “a life you love” (260). When Carton says these parting words to Lucie, little Lucie hears and tells her children these spectacular words and the story of Carton, and the children tell later generations. Carton lastly utters, “it is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known” (293) when he is about to die on the guillotine. Carton has always been in the shadows, a drunkard, and very little friends. This act has redeemed his life; Carton has been resurrected. He is a tired man, but Carton can now rest in heaven and in the hearts of Mr. Lorry, Miss Pross, Lucie, Darnay, Doctor Manette, little Lucie, and generations on of the Manettes. Sydney Carton is made into a remarkable gentleman in the minds of those he loves because of his sacrifice in order for Lucie to live a life she loves.
Because of the metaphors of fishing, the golden thread, and the jackal, Charles Dickens expresses the theme of resurrection in A Tale of Two Cities. The French Revolution causes Jerry Cruncher, Doctor Manette, and Sydney Carton to resurrect in remarkable ways, which shows that redemption is possible. Although the French Revolution was a hysterical period, characters in the novel can be resurrected no matter one’s fate. Once characters are resurrected by redemption or another’s power, one lives on forever. Charles Dickens relates the metaphors of fishing, the golden thread, and the jackal to the resurrection of Jerry Cruncher, Doctor Manette, and Sydney Carton.