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Hunger In A Tale Of Two Cities

Decent Essays

John F. Kennedy expressed that “those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable”, accurately describing A Tale of Two Cities, as it sheds light on the societal issues faced by the lower classes in pre-revolutionary France, leading up to the peasants uprising against the government and demanding change. As France went through a post-revolutionary era of havoc lacking reform and a proper government, England contrasted this with a stable condition of conduct. Through the use of metaphorical hunger and repetition of crowds and food, Charles Dickens portrays the motif of hunger to emphasize the theme of a longing for justice by the peasants to symbolize that not only are they starving for literal food, but for revenge …show more content…

For example, when Marquis was murdered after killing the young french boy with his carriage one stated, “‘Drive him fast to his tomb. This is from JACQUES.’”, exemplifying how the poor people of France have had enough of their cruel treatment by using the code word Jacques to secretly identify themselves as revolutionaries (Dickens, 134). Also, as Madame Defarge develops into this insane, murderous revolutionary leader, she knits to hide her thirst for justice and vengeance as Dickens wrote, “Knitted in her own stitches and her own symbols, it will always be as plain to her as the sun.” (Dickens, 179), implying that she is not simply knitting, but she is registering names of people who have wronged her and are upperclassmen, so that she may have them beheaded at the Guillotine. Knitting was seen as a very feminine and normal hobby for women during that time, which made the secret of it’s true meaning in this case, more believable. Overall, these two quotes demonstrate the secrecy that holds the bloodthirsty nature of these

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