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Hunger French Revolution

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"Hunger was pushed out of the tall houses, in the wretched clothing that hung upon poles and lines; Hunger was patched into them with straw and rag and wood and paper; Hunger was repeated in every fragment of the small modicum of firewood that the man sawed off; Hunger stared down from the smokeless chimneys, and started up from the filthy street that had no offal, among its refuse, of anything to eat. Hunger was the inscription on the baker's shelves, written in every small loaf of his scanty stock of bad bread; at the sausage-shop, in every dead-dog preparation that was offered for sale" (Dickens 38) One of the main causes of the French Revolution was the lack of food and the high cost of it. A normal laborer would have to pay close to 97% …show more content…

Also a cattle disease and two poor harvests proceeding that pushed the French people into starvation. Many riots broke out over high store prices on bread (Hutchinson). "Foulon who told the starving people they might eat grass! Foulon who told my old father that he might eat grass, when I had no bread to give him! Foulon who told my baby it might suck grass, when these breasts where dry with want" (Dickens 221). The people in France were starving and the nobles who had full stomachs did not help the tension. "So much was closing in about the women who sat knitting, knitting, that they their very selves were closing in around a structure yet unbuilt, where they were to sit knitting, knitting, counting dropping heads"(Dickens 187). In the novel A Tale of …show more content…

It took four men, all four ablaze with gorgeous decoration, and the Chief of them unable to exist with fewer than two gold watches in his pocket, emulative of the noble and chaste fashion set by Monseigneur, to conduct the happy chocolate to Monseigneur's lips" (Dickens 109). The nobles in France during this time were hated immensely, they were exempt from taxes, had enough food, clothes, money, and mansions while the third estate suffered. Many nobles were cruel and spent their money lavishly on luxuries, treating the common people poorly, like the Monseigneur who was so well hated and ended up being murdered. Then there were people who were related to the nobles who had all the money, those people by blood were executed for doing nothing to help the lower class while still technically being innocent ("French Revolution").The relatives of nobles like Charles Darnay were imprisoned and killed for being related to someone with money. Though many were killed for their place in society the middle class, like Dr. Manette were left alone usually because they had no quarrel with either side and actually gained wealth during the French Revolution (Dickens). By the middle and end of the revolution many people were killed and revolutionaries continued to kill people for petty crime because of the harsh laws put in place by Robespierre (Encyclopedia Britannica). "Those who had been greedy with the staves of the cast, had acquired a tigerish smear about the mouth" (Dickens 37).

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