SparkNotes A Tale of Two Cities Book 2

Book Summary

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," Charles Dickens writes in the opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities as he paints a picture of life in England and France. The year is late 1775, and Jarvis Lorry travels from London to Paris on a secret mission for his employer, Tellson's Bank. Joining him on his journey is Lucie Manette, a 17-year-old woman who is stunned to learn that her father, Doctor Alexandre Manette, is alive and has recently been released after having been secretly imprisoned in Paris for 18 years.

When Mr. Lorry and Lucie arrive in Paris, they find the Doctor's former servant, Ernest Defarge, caring for him. Defarge now runs a wine-shop with his wife in the poverty-stricken quarter of Saint Antoine. Defarge takes Mr. Lorry and Lucie to the garret room where he is keeping Doctor Manette, warning them that the Doctor's years in prison have greatly changed him. Thin and pale, Doctor Manette sits at a shoemaker's bench intently making shoes. He barely responds to questions from Defarge and Mr. Lorry, but when Lucie approaches him, he remembers his wife and begins to weep. Lucie comforts him, and that night Mr. Lorry and Lucie take him to England.

Five years later, the porter for Tellson's Bank, Jerry Cruncher, takes a message to Mr. Lorry who is at a courthouse. Mr. Lorry has been called as a witness for the trial of Charles Darnay, a Frenchman accused of being a spy for France and the United States. Also at the trial are Doctor Manette and Lucie, who are witnesses for the prosecution. Doctor Manette has fully recovered and has formed a close bond with his daughter.

If found guilty of treason, Darnay will suffer a gruesome death, and the testimony of an acquaintance, John Barsad, and a former servant, Roger Cly, seems sure to result in a guilty verdict. Questions from Darnay's attorney, Mr. Stryver, indicate that Cly and Barsad are the real spies, but the turning point in the trial occurs when Sydney Carton, Stryver's assistant, points out that Carton and Darnay look alike enough to be doubles. This revelation throws into doubt a positive identification of Darnay as the person seen passing secrets, and the court acquits Darnay.

After the trial, Darnay, Carton, and Stryver begin spending time at the Manette home, obviously attracted to Lucie's beauty and kind nature. Stryver decides to propose to her, but is dissuaded by Mr. Lorry. Carton confesses his love to Lucie, but does not propose, knowing that his drunken and apathetic way of life is not worthy of her. However, he vows that he would gladly give his life to save a life she loved, and Lucie is moved by his sincerity and devotion. Eventually, it is Darnay whose love Lucie returns, and the two marry with Doctor Manette's uneasy blessing. While the couple is on their honeymoon, the Doctor suffers a nine-day relapse of his mental incapacity and believes he is making shoes in prison again.

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Summary and Analysis Book 2: Chapter 1

Summary

Five years have passed since Tellson's Bank sent Mr. Lorry to bring Doctor Manette back to England. Tellson's continues to be "the triumphant perfection of inconvenience,"with its old-fashioned dark and cramped facility lending it an air of respectability and security. Jerry Cruncher acts as a porter and messenger for the bank, and his son, who is also called Jerry, often accompanies him. At home before work one morning, the sight of his wife praying frustrates Jerry. He complains that she prays against his prosperity and tells her he won't tolerate it. After breakfast, Jerry and his son walk to Tellson's and station themselves in front of the bank before it opens. Soon the bank calls Jerry to deliver a message. Meanwhile, Young Jerry puzzles over the source of the iron rust that is always on his father's fingers.

Analysis

Dickens depicts the venerable Tellson's Bank as being in the business of death. Described as dark, ugly, and cramped, Tellson's boasts an atmosphere of deliberate grimness and decay. Money, documents, and valuables that go into Tellson's for safekeeping are buried in "wormy old wooden drawers"and acquire "a musty odor, as if they were fast decomposing"or being "corrupted."

Just as material goods are buried and decay in Tellson's, the bank transforms the people who deal with it as well. The bank hides clerks who go to work at Tellson's as young men until they become old. Additionally, Tellson's literally sends people to their deaths; the bank identifies forgers, debtors, counterfeiters, and petty thieves who eventually go to their graves under the harsh death penalty. Not coincidentally, Dickens locates Tellson's next to the Temple Bar, an arched gateway to the city where the government sometimes displayed the heads of the executed.

Jerry Cruncher, the messenger, serves as "the live sign of the house,"which indicates that he may have something to do with death as well. Like many of the other characters in the novel, Jerry appears to have a secret. Some of his physical characteristics and personality traits create an air of mystery, such as his muddy boots, his rusty fingers, and his paranoia regarding his wife's prayers.

Glossary

bank note a promissory note issued by a bank, payable to the bearer on demand and which can be used as money.

plate tableware, often made of silver or covered with a layer of silver (plated).

Barmecide room a room in which things are an illusion. Barmecide was a prince in the Arabian Nights who offered a beggar a feast and set an empty plate before him.

purloiner a thief.

Whitefriars a district of central London between Fleet Street and the Temple area where criminals and fugitive debtors lived.

personal board a person's daily meals.

choused cheated, swindled.

hackney coach a coach for hire, oftentimes a six-seat carriage drawn by two horses.

laudanum a solution of opium in alcohol or wine used as a painkiller or sleeping aid, or drunk as an intoxicant.