Introduced are the characters; Lucie Manette, the young and beautiful girl who has been made to believe both her parents were dead, she lives in England and has been informed that her Father is in fact alive and under care in Paris, France. Monsieur and Madame Defarge are the burly and hardened French carers of Mr Manette and own a wine shop. The mysterious Mr Jarvis Lorry who took it upon himself to travel the dangerous path to and fro England in the bid to bring Lucie back to her Father.
There seems to be a great deal of care and attention taken in affording Lucie that she is not too shocked by her revelations, she seems to be a gentle and prone girl; but who wouldnt be when they're finding out their father is alive after eighteen years. My favourite character so far is Madame Defarge, she stands on level if not higher ground than her husband and has this aura about her that she will kick someone's ass if they push the right buttons, yet she maintains her femininity such as her knitting.
Dickens has painted a very dark and grim scene of the late-18 century world "we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,". He doesn't touch upon the time's brutality but throws himself into it like the reader were another peasant giving thier baby wine to drink that has spilled and burst onto the mud-meandered cobblestones of Parisian streets. There are amounting tensions in the French people, a revoultion is on the verge. A harsh and intriguing read.
Themes Emerging:
Social Class. Crime. Captial Punishment. City and Countryside. Fear. Distrust. Truth. Desperation. Madness.
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