Sunday, May 23, 2010

A Tale of Two Cities

I haven't blogged in a while because the book I was reading wasn't exactly the shortest, most entertaining book on the planet. Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities was a very slow paced book at the very beginning. But as I got to the very end, the last 50 pages or so, it was so intriguing I couldn't put it down. This was the part where all the little quirks about the characters and secrets were explained. For example,in Doctor Manette's letter, explaining the events before his emprisionment, he spoke of Charles' parents and the reason for the Doctor making the pair of women's shoes. The book at first didn't seem to have much purpose as it followed the lives of Lucie, her father, Mr. Lorry, and Charles; but the purpose and themes emerged when the French revolution started. The theme was revenge, and it had taken over some people so much they became blood-thristy, like Madame Defarge. Other themes were innocence versus guiltiness and scarifice. This is seen when Madame Defarge has gone so crazy she hunts the innocent instead of the guilty. This is what brings Charles to face the Guillotine. But what saves him is when Sydeny Carton scarifices himself for the happiness of Charles' family. Overall, all the painstakingly boring reading made up for all the excitment in the end of the book.