Tale of Two Cities Lecture notes

Pattern of influences: the history behind the French Revolution and Dickens's reactions to London and Paris.

In 1857, Dickens wrote the play, "The Frozen Deep." 

Dickens acts as the character who is a hero in sacrificing himself for others.

Originally wanted to name Sydney as Carton or Dick.

There is a parallelism between Charles Darnay and Dick Carton, "doubleness in character"

April 1858, Dickens began public readings for charity but also read for profit. As a result, he began to establish a relationship with his readers and was known as a great reader and writer.

May 1858, separated from his wife, Catherine and called it "Some Domestic Trouble of Mine" 

November 1858, separated from his publishers and ended his journal 

The following year he published a new journal.

April 30, 1859, chapters one to three of A Tale of Two Cities were published.

He moved to London when he was ten to work under his father's demand. Described his experience as "extensive and peculiar knowledge at the city", "wretched darkness", "great fascination."

As an adult he called it a "vile place" but he was able to be creative and find an inspiration in the "magical land."

- dickens wrote about London as a newspaper: everything is there but disconnected 

- organized at early age 

- London city of extremes, maze

- first impression of Paris: most extraordinary place. Perfectly distinct character. Novelty and strange things. Expressive of own character. Every house and person added to the "book". Never was such a place for a description. 

- Paris half size of London

- lacked uncontrolled nature of London

- crime common but replaced with urban city

- end of Two Cities is rememberance of this change 

- visits during period of political change and change to urban land scape

- 1879 dickens died

- Paris was modernized city with vibrant life of elegance. Had light

- dickens describes progress of city

- dickens attracted to dark side of city. Go visit morgue

- attraction of repulsion theory

- eye for detail and described Paris is deep detail when leaving city on way to Italy 

- dickens sets two cities back in time 

- articles describe beauty of two cities of London and Paris

- describe Bastille fortress in great detail 

- Dickens makes it very clear in his opening of Tale of Two cities that his worlds of London and Paris are very similar

- his opening is very profound and famous

- it was the best of times the worst of times

- he sets us back in time published in 1859 and set back in 1775

- it brings us back to the present time 

- He issues a very modern historical setting that uses a modern parallel 

- Tale of Two Cities moves back and forth from England and France immediately following the French Revolution

- Dickens uses the historical facts of the period as background

- timeline is from 1757 to 1794

- Victorians were haunted by the memory of the French Revolution in 1789

- only happened 70 years before Dickens wrote Tale of Two Cities

- the book marks violence very powerfully 

- Dickens makes it very clear between pre revolutionary France and contemporary Britain

- the novel was weary of confronting the great Victorian fear of revolution 

- the novel came out in weekly parts with one or two chapters available each week

- the novel wasn't eye appealing but was made in the US

- his book sold very well in the US

Dickens was comfortable with sending out his pages weekly

- Dickens wanted a volume of a couple chapters of the Tale to be published that including illustrations, monthly

- the taste of the people was moving more towards a realistic style of illustrations 

- Dickens style of writing was precise that left cliffhanger endings  for people to buy the next issue each week

- Dickens wrote a new chapter or chapters each week that developed the creative flow of work and characters and the plot adjusting to the audience as they were reacting to it

- "the best story he has written" was told to him by one of his colleagues 

A time of war, every weapon possible being used, people had bloody hands, in a time of need and fear

- life on no account, ready to sacrifice 

- man giving orders telling people where to go. 

-setting in France, 

-living sea (metaphor)

- the attack started, symbolism of smoke and repetition of stone wall, work, smoke, gunfire, eight great towers

- told to work, women could kill, armed in hunger and revenge instead of weapons 

- wet straw, bravery, living sea repeated, massive great walls, 

- talks of Alice, a white flag, not audible in the distance, a surrender, 

- as he had been struggling in the south sea, simile 

- jack three, multiple "jacks"

- cries, loud roars, 

- man with the touch, défage says where is the north tower 

- went fast to descend, find the north tower, find a key man to the plot locked in the tower, this is a key area of the book

-likes to describe the sea, and revenge and suffering 

- two groups of seven, all very different In faces of prisoners, carried, all lost and scared to die, lost faces 

- other seven dead, droopy faces, seven heads on sticks, seven alive and released 

- found documents of former prisoners died from "broken heart"

-1789, in Paris 

- has a driving passion to move things forward, 

- dickens responses well to criticisms

 

Critiquing letter from Edward Bollard Lintel Responds to the criticism with many facts. 

Riviting public theme, the creation of a world back in the 1770 1780

Inevitability of history but equally powerful personal story.

Authorial-not given to a character comes directly from him at start of chapter 3. Stands out differently from the rest of the novel 

Characters become mysteries to others. Sidney Counten most mysterious to the response and reaction.

Depth of personal intensity which characterizes other layer of the novel. Character rocked to sleep by the regular movement of the coach and Dreams of recording of the life the prisoner.

Dr Minets face, Man been in prisoner for 18 years and is 45 and is recalled to life 

Met Ellen turner in 1857 and he was 45 and she was 18 and she was born in 1839 in Rochester

Changed the prisoners sentence from 15 to 18 years 

Then met Lucy who is only 17 been conceived but not born when Minet was in prison. 

Described her as blue eyes very pretty and her being young and smooth. He held that child on the passage across the Channel. 

Highly personal thing in dickens experience 

Sidney Counten enabled Charles to escape and spend his life with Lucy and their family. 

- collaboration 

Lit terms #3

exposition-a comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory.

expressionism-was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, 

fable-is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities such as verbal communication), and that illustrates or leads to an interpretation of a moral lesson 

fallacy-a mistaken belief, especially one based on unsound argument.

falling action-the part of a literary plot thatoccurs after the climax has beenreached and the conflict hasbeen resolved.

farce-a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations.

figurative language- A figure of speech in which things that are different are compared by the use of the words in which are more descriptive 

flashback-a device in the narrative of amotion picture, novel, 

foil- a character who contrasts with another character 

folk tale-a tale or legend originating andtraditional among a people orfolk, especially one forming partof the oral tradition of thecommon people.

foreshadowing-to show or indicate beforehand;prefigure

free verse-poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter.

genre-a class or category of artisticendeavor having a particularform, content, technique,

gothic tale-which is largely dominated by the subgenre of gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combined fiction, horror and Romanticism. 

hyperbole-exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

imagery-the formation of mental images,figures, or likenesses of things,or of such images collectively

implication-the conclusion that can be drawn from something, although it is not explicitly stated.

incongruity-not harmonious in character;inconsonant; lacking harmony ofparts 

inference-the act or process of inferring.

irony- the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.

What's The Story

Charles Dickens wrote the novel Great Expectstions because he wanted to convey life through the eyes of a growing and questioning human being. I feel that Dickens pulls from his own personal experiences to exploit the want and desire in the world. I found this out through the lecture we had in class and also the narrators tone towards other characters in the novel. In the novel there have been many metaphors and similes to depict the nature of family and society into one tale of expectations. 

Great Expectation Review

Reflection:

I think the lecture yesterday gave way for the entire book. The lecture gave insight into what I can look for in the rest of the novel and showed points I could find. However the lecture told me what the author meant and what happened in the novel before I could finish the book and interpret the authors intent on my own. I only read the first 60 pages the weekend prior to the lecture, so finding out the end of the book was a bit of a spoiler. During my conversation today I went into detail with some of my fellow students about the parts we had read so far and I feel it helped my understanding. 

Great Expectations Notes:

-pip has imaginings of his life, desires of life, child idealist, 

- feels different, am I a good person,

- what is normal? 

- has fears, fatherless; adopts men as father figures 

magwhich- represents boogy man, convict, in the church graveyard, tells him to steal, not a moral character, brutality. Threat of abandonment if he doesn't do what he says, what pip might become 

Haveasham - witch like figure, represents decay, and shining promise, what could be a fairy godmother, sacrificed, her house is very still nothing has moved since she was left at the altar, trained to be a heart breaker Estella, she is rich and adopted an orphan (positive pip takes). 

Pip doesn't talk truthfully about either character

-pip male desire to rule the world, wanting to be something more

- pip it's not just about disire, these people disappear.

- meets joe gragary, jaggars j in Greek alphabet means I, he is identifying with both. Joe can beat someone but doesn't use it,goes with his heart, a romanic, poetic view if people/world, not a wealthy man, is content 

- biddy, whemic, 

 jaggars knows the shameful secrets and can use them over people to keep honest, he is cold, doesn't use emotion, knows about people can hurt them, not successful emotionally but has a lot of money

- Estella, Molly, havasham, magwhich 

- both come across a mother and child joe accepts, jaggar puts kid in adoption and has mother work as a slave, 

-they are foils to each other not a pure example 

- jaggar is acting as a business man, sometimes he finds a jewel. 

- whemic- is a clerk is two different people business at work home loving 

- magwhich- evil life of childhood, 

- pip has an influence, following a life, 

- multiple conflicts, less action more progression, 

His relevation 

1. pip isn't son of dynasty leader

2. Estella isn't for him, not a pure spirit, origins worse than her

3. magwhich- his own thoughts were not his own

4. He has to seek out what he wants, not an intellectual, they aren't worth one thing one day, they can change 

5.

- joe and jaggar ready to accept consequences of life, pip wants the benefits but doesn't want to pay the price 

- becomes a snob because he wants to stay aloof, pip writing biography is him coming together and a cautionary tale or what he is, 

-novel ends, doesn't want Estella anymore

- forge for black smith, 

- child named pip born from biddile 

All That David Copperfield Kind of ...

I think what it means is that Salinger isn't going to talk about his life in the past and isn't going to go into the autobiographical  aspects of his life but tell you how and where he is at that moment. Although Catcher in the Rye is quite straight forward with the moments that occur the author also has to talk slightly about his past, but he never tells his entire life story like David Copperfild. 

Lit terms #2

Circumlocution

Classicism

Cliché

Climax 

Colloquialism

Comedy 

Conflict

Connotation 

Contrast

Denotation

Denouement 

Dialect 

Dialectics

Dichotomy 

Diction

Didactic 

Dogmatic

Elegy

Epic 

Epigram

AP Prep Post 1:Siddhartha

1.Siddhartha concerns the quest for spiritual enlightenment, and by the end of it four characters have achieved this goal: Govinda, Gotama, Vasudeva, and Siddhartha. Is the enlightenment achieved by each of these characters the same? Why or why not? What distinctions and similarities exist between the paths these characters use to reach their final goal?

2. 

3.  

Siddhartha's Attitude

In the passage, Siddhartha's primary attitude toward normal human life was that it appeared

A

out-of-reach

B

too cerebral

C

commonplace

D

commercial

E

illusionary 

4.A bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel, recounts the psychological or moral development of its protagonist from youth to maturity, when this character recognizes his or her place in the world. Select a single pivotal moment in the psychological or moral development of the protagonist of a bildungsroman. Then write a well-organized essay that analyzes how that single moment shapes the meaning of the work as a whole.

http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/apcentral/ap13_frq_eng_lit.pdf

5. Meaning of Ascetic

In the context of the passage, the singular form of the word "ascetic" (line 1) most likely means

A

sybaritic

B

iconoclastic

C

stoic

D

self-abnegating

What this has told me about the ap test is that I need to find deeper meaning into the attitude and thoughts that are past the words. 

I would need to read more of the text to understand what each question was asking in their specific parts of the passage. I would also need to learn more about the tone and literary devices to construct a good essay and/or answer the multiple choice questions correctly.