A Tale of Two Cities (Illustrated)

Redemption. While it is unfair to reduce 'Tale' to the opening couple of lines and the heartbreaking closing one, man, there is such a beautiful full circle completed as Sydney Carton sacrifices himself to the age's instrument of terror. That last bit of Dickens' story hits extremely hard as Carton finds his value as a man in those tiny moments with the thin young seamstress during their trip to the guillotine. The woe of Monsieur Carton: Isn't that just the way that live plays out sometime. Some people walk through their existence, gathering up love as if it was nothing at all, unaware of the good fortune that befalls them. For others though, ah, for those that can identify with the Sydney Carton construct, that, a life blessed with love, is not to be their fate. Dickens wrote that melancholy and isolation so well into the drifter that would give of himself so generously to the Manettes, Lorry and Darnay. The poring of drink upon the hearth was the perfect note as to the rising of Carton's character. Once a booze-hound who idled his day away with spirits and wet towels, so as to help him deal with the ills and aftermath of alcohol, his lips being denied 'the crutch' was the moment when it became apparent that Dickens wanted us to open our heart to the character that couldn't grant himself the same courtesy. The denial of demon spirit that had prevented him from making something of himself is utterly heroic, especially as it sets the course for poor Sydney's salvation, a salvation only achieved when he would have but hours left in his life to know that he indeed had worth as a man. In the face of such love for Darnay and Lucie, the Vengeance and Madame Defarge --though certainly sympathic characters in their own way for the cruelties that befell the poor of pre-revolutionary France during the rein of all the Louis-- become reflections of the flame that burned unreasonably in the wake of 1789. In comparison to such vengeful relentlessness, a new cruelty and hatred that led to more of the same for those accused, those forced to live in fear of the Terror's unjust prosecution, Carton is elevated. Finally, although he would only know of his value in the waning hours of his life, we are rewarded in knowing that for as dark as the human spirit can sometimes descend towards, the possibility of the ascension of a good man's heart can happen as well. Call me sappy, but I just love a story about a bit of light, a finally realized reconning to selflessness, forcing the shadows to retreat. Dickens writing the post-script so as to leave the reader with no uncertainty that poor Sydney Carton would be remembered and loved, and that he did not die alone, in that he provided comfort from and received it from the small thin seamstress as they awaited their end, is the tear that will endure. A wonderful tale of a sad time in human history. For whatever his faults as a younger man, it is the redemption of a flawed character that gives us the completed arc, a settled feeling which warms to a re-reading of the tale when we need our faith in humanity renewed.

It swept me off my feet in a way I didn't expect. Ever.

Love having my favorite author at a convenience