Great Books: Dickens, A Tale Of Two Cities

Going into this book I did not know until after reading it was set in a real, unexaggerated time and place: Europe during the end of the seventeenth century.

The story primarily takes place in France and Britain. Paris and London are the feature cities and this book is not a simple work of pure fiction. The story is made up but the time and place of the French Revolution hardly is. The attitudes and scenery of the revolution were meticulously researched by Dickens such that this book is a sort of history. A Tale Of Two Cities brings to fore in clear prose the brutal reality of the evils coming with the detachment of some very rich, the madness of peasant mobs, and the awful influence scheming cruelty is capable of.

The storyline follows a young man who was raised in a noble house headed by a long line of cruel masters who have direly taxed and abused the peasants of the village the noble house rules over. The story takes place over several years and the cast of characters grows to include merchant and peasant members of the revolution, a respectable banker, men who have lost their way, some who regain it, and loving as well as wicked wives. Really, there is something here for everyone with a heart.

Dickens' characterization of the revolution really stuck with me. The French Revolution lasted atleast a decade, by the way, and it was a time rife with neighbors spying on eachother and offering acquaintances, friends, and family members up to the ad-hoc revolutionary government -- who's main occupation amounted to murdering people by guillotine in public squares in order to make it look like they were doing something besides accumulating wealth from the Noble houses overthrown by peasant revolts. In an interesting parallel with certain political mindsets today, the acquisitive, murderous government was constantly endorsing diversions in order to distract the citizens, such as enforcing by law the correct and new way of saying "Hello" to people you happened to pass by on the streets.

Returning to the story of the book for a moment, A Tale Of Two Cities is truly a great work on writing. Dickens' deftly involves the reader in the lives of the characters of the cast without inundating the pages with tediously long scenes or dialogues. While never terse, the novel moves along at a brisk pace, delivering an involving and unforgettable experience in this tale of love, hate, and sacrifice.

Thank you for reading.

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