Tale of Two CIties Blog #1

Throughout the whole book A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens keeps referring to the central message of being, “Recalled to Life”. In chapter three, Jarvis Lorry is on his way to “Dig someone out of a grave”, and that man is Dr. Manette who was being held captive by the French Government for eighteen years. He was on a mission to bring Mr. Manette back into society, and to bring him back to London to live with his daughter. This is symbolic of the main theme, because Jarvis Lorry was going to recall Mr. Manette back into society and give him his life back. Even though Manette was released from prison, he was still being held in a dirty apartment, for his own good. On Lorry’s journey to London, he has a pretend conversation with Manette in which he repeatedly asks Manette how long he was locked away for, and if he truly wanted to be released from his “prisons”. Dickens writes about how Lorry pictures Mr. Manette as a skinny, pale, and white haired gentleman, who was on the verge of death, and in some aspects his image was correct. Lorry also talks to the spectre about whether he had, “given up hope of being dug out”, and this was also symbolic of how many of the people of that days society had also given up their hop of changing the way they live, so they can actually properly feed, and protect themselves.