In the City of Ember, irony occurs throughout the novel. The mayor, a figure supposed to lead and help the city, abuses his power accepts bribes of food from Looper, and eventually makes the decision to live out his days in a small room stacked with food until he dies: “ ‘The mayor has a secret treasure room in the pipeworks.(158)” Because Doon works in the pipeworks, he discovers Mayor Cole’s refuge full of goods from Looper in Tunnel 351, and eventually reports it to the guards. Soon, there is a search out for Doon and Lina, for “spreading vicious rumors.” The situation presents an irony of trust in Ember’s government, with Doon and Lina figuring out how corrupt their system is as they find how the mayor has betrayed the citizens by
stealing vital supplies from the city, and then lies to the guards and tries to arrest Doon and Lina. The Mayor is the story’s personification of corruption. He chooses a path of destructive negligence and selfishness that would doom the city and its inhabitants, except for him, of course.
Larson begins his novel “The Devil in the White City” by setting the stage, mentioning the events and people who made the fair so great. But simultaneously Larson hints at the evil lurking in the shadows. Although the reader is not fully aware of the dual nature of the human condition till Holmes’s big unveil. Larson describes Holmes as “a murderer that had moved among the beautiful things Burnham had created” (Larson 6). Chicagoans were startled by how such gruesome acts could go unnoticed for so long. The juxtaposition of...
A Tale of two cities is a compelling tale written by Charles Dickens. The tale takes place in London and Paris. Main characters Dr. Manette, Lucie Manette, Charles Darnay, Sydney Carton, and the Defarges are chronicled before the French Revolution and when the revolution begins throughout France. The author Charles Dickens explores the economic disparity between rich and poor within in the two cities and topics during enlightenment such as revolution in political thinking. In addition to establishing the time period Charles Dickens explores themes such as true friendship and love. What makes this story great is the use of the supporting characters such as Jarvis Lorry, Jerry Cruncher, Mr. Stryver, and Marquis Evrémonde to really develop the story and connect it all together.
...ur trials and manage the city in other ways, has in fact come to an agreement with us to obey our instructions (63e). If the decisions of the city’s governing agents are not thoroughly respected as just and cohesive parts of society, the very structure by which the society stands is subject to collapse.
A Tale of Two Cities, involves many complicated situations in which the characters must choose between chance or death, career or family, honor or revenge. As a result, ambiguity has evolved in multiple characters because of these difficult choices. Two prominently ambiguous characters are John Barsad and Monsieur Defarge. While Barsad recognizes the importance of career and honor, Defarge sees more prominence in family and revenge.
Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities follows the cruelties of the French Revolution. Mobs in France relentlessly imprison and kill citizens, including the novel’s main character, Doctor Manette, who stays in prison for 18 years before Lucie retrieves him. Only Lucie, can keep him young and free from his past. Doctor Manette and Lucie testify at the trial of Charles Darnay, defended by the lazy alcoholic, Sydney Carton. Both Darnay and Carton love Lucie, but Darnay ultimately wins her, and Carton never stops loving her. Meanwhile in Saint Antoine, Defarge and his wife plan the French Revolution. Darnay goes back to France, and Parisians immediately throw him in prison for being an Evrémonde. The novel ends with Carton sacrificing himself to save Darnay to show Lucie he loves her. Dickens creates chaotic and deadly crowds in A Tale of Two Cities in order to convey the theme of mob mentality’s destructiveness.
... is reminiscing about the fact that she messed up and it cost the boy’s life. The overall tone in the end of the novel is depressing as the governess’s actions and attitudes about current events tend to reflect the tone of the situation.
In the science-fiction dystopian novel The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, the protagonist Lina Mayfleet is described as inquisitive by the author. Many sections in the book show Lina's inquisitiveness. For example, Lina knows that "The Gathering Hall was the only building in Ember with three stories. [Lina] had always wanted to stand on its roof and look out at the city" (36). Jeanne DuPrau uses Lina’s feelings to convey that she is inquisitive. She describes this by how Lina "wants" to look out at the city. This feeling shows us that Lina is inquisitive about the world around her. Another example of Lina’s inquisitiveness is when Lina and Doon are in the Pipeworks, trying to find what the door in Tunnel 351 is about. They hear “another sound:
This book leaves it to the reader to determine whether the Governess is guilty or not, depending on its extremely ambiguous text. The Turn of the Screw is the definition of a mystery book. Although unlike the usual mystery books, the end reveals no definite answer to the reader. It only leaves the audience even more confused with their own theories. For the reader, the theme of ambiguous issues is a recurring problem and there is no possible way of finding out what truly happened.
Eddie Carbone rebels against society by violating his society’s rule of watch each other’s back by narking on his wife’s cousins to immigration because one of them stole the apple of Eddie’s eye. He also took an unethical approach to attempt to control a situation that was out of his hands.
“People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take.” This quote by Emma Goldman not only perfectly sums up the French Revolution, but also reflects on the issue in society today with police racism and brutality. In Charles Dickens’ novel A Tale of Two Cities, the peasants suffer extreme injustice, they allow the revolution to go to their heads, and we see how violence only ever brings more violence .
In Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s play, The Visit, the decrepit town of Guellen is given the ultimate choice: They may lift themselves out of poverty through a gift from billionaire Claire Zachanassian, but in doing so, must abandon their morality and murder one of their own. As the leader of the town, the mayor has a particularly difficult struggle between morals and money. And, in the same way that the mayor represents the people in town government, the mayor’s struggle, too, reflects the struggle that the entire town experiences; a slow, painful slide into desire and decaying morality.
The City and The City is about a detective trying to solve the murder of a college student that happened in two different cities. WHile attempting to have this case be given to Breach. A secret organization that abides by no laws and uses any method to track down criminals who detectives and police officers can not find. However this goes beyond not being able to solve a murder, this specific murder is the most important one that there is in recent time. The breakthrough of the investigation could ruin lifes or even more break down two governments that are close enemies and share an even closer issue, its citizens being in danger of breaking
Henchard's fate was strongly rooted in his character. He has several character flaws that contributed to the break down of every relationship he had. At the beginning of the novel it is his temper that starts the whole story off. At the fair in Weydon - Priors, he becomes angry with his wife while he is drunk. Henchard tries to sell her because he believes that it is Susan's and the child's fault that he is not successful. This is evidently not the first time. He finds an interested man who pays five pounds and five shillings for her. This of course is the beginning of the break down of his family life and his role as a father. Henchard is upset when he sobers up the next morning. There are other instance where Henchard's temper destroys his relationships. The next episode in the story is when Farfrae's idea for the fair works better than his own. In a fit of jealous rage, Henchard fires his good friend. This alienates Farfrae from both Henchard and Elizabeth-Jane. It also distances Henchard from Elizabeth-Jane and Farfrae. His temper has now caused a fault in his business and his family. Farfrae sets up a business in competition with him. Henchard also denies Farfrae the right to court his daughter. This of course pushes Elizabeth-Jane farther from her father. In Henchard's anger and other habits there is an element of control. That is lack of control. Henchard, it seems, likes his drink. In the beginning of the story he asks for some liquor to be added to his furmity. Once drunk, he losses control and becomes angry. This of course leads to the family break up. In the morning, he swears, While he is sober for those years, he is very prosperous. Henchard becomes a wealthy corn merchant as well as the Mayor of Casterbridge. However, when the twenty-one years are over he starts drinking again. Prior to this because of his temper and the such, he is a ruined man. When he takes up drinking again it just hastens the downward spiral he is on. He is an embarrassment to himself and all that know him. This quote is from the visitation of the Royal Personage. Farfrae had set up a reception for the royal guest. Henchard's presence at the arrival of the guest was denied by the council.
George Meredith had once written that “In tragic life God wot (knows)/ No villain need be! Passions spin the plot: / We are betrayed by what is false within.” What he implied was that it is not so much circumstances but rather the character of the protagonist which often lets them down and allows emotion to get the upper hand over rational thought. Meredith’s lines can very much be applied to the protagonist of Thomas Hardy’s novel which is popularly referred to as The Mayor of Casterbridge -Michael Henchard who has all the elements of a traditional tragic hero. In Hardy’s novel - The Mayor of Casterbridge, Henchard is undoubtedly the tragic hero whose undoing can be owed to his own character flaw – his impulsiveness and rash choler; however his the way his life is reduced to rubble can also be credited to circumstances as well as the malicious forces of Nature and Fate.
A Tale of Two Cities is told in three parts and takes place in England and France before and during the French Revolution. The novel starts with the well known opening, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” The action begins with Mr. Jarvis Lorry, and elderly manager at Tellson’s Bank, meeting a lady named Lucie Manette, and together they find Dr. Alexandre Manette, Ms. Manette’s father, who has lost his memory and spends his time making shoes. Five years later in a courtroom there is a French nobleman named Charles Darnay who has been accused of being a spy, Sydney Carton, and English barrister points out how similar he and Darnay are in appearance, proving that a case could be made for mistaken identity. Later in the story, Darnay and Carton both fall in love with Lucie, who chooses Darnay. Revolution breaks out in France, and Darnay leaves his wife and daughter to try to save his captured steward, Gabelle. In the end, Darnay is caught and arrested twice as a foreigner and later for the crimes of his noble family, the cruel Evremondes. Fortunately for Darnay, Carton heroically saves him by disguising himself as Darnay in prison, ultimately dying by the guillotine, all for his love of Lucie (Dickens 1-528).