fantastic blogging everyone, good passages and effort!!!!!

Water to Quench the Fire

"But, the fierce figures were steadily wending East, West, North, and South, be that as it would; and whosoever hung, fire burned. The altitude of the gallows that would turn to water and quench it, no functionary, by any stretch of mathematics, was able to calculate successfully." p 242

The revolution has started a fire, which is steadily spreading throughout France, consuming the people in violence and starting new flames as the citizens execute each aristocrat and individual. The people, referenced to an ocean, are trying to use the water to put out the fire that is slowly burning France. The ocean of people themselves will simply try to overwhelm the fire of anger and vengeance by unifying the people together, but they are not able to 'quench' the fire, although how many more people join in the ocean of water. As a result, they continue to turn to  the 'gallows', or death, and then try to use the water to bring life back into their country. But by using the 'gallows' they are spreading the fire, and will never be able to be satisfied with their amount of water. Meaning that the revolution will keep spreading consuming more people, or water, until the entire country is consumed in flames and the people will use themselves to try to put out the flame.

water depletion

"Molten lead and iron boiled in the marble basin of the fountain; the water ran dry; the extinguisher tops of the towers vanished like ice before the heat... (p241)"

The fountains with the flowing waters are no longer existent. They continuous cycle of the water through the fountain represented the circle of life, and youthfulness. Now the fountains don't even have water in them. They have molten lead and iron, which shows what these people have turned into. At this point, they are not their normal selves, let alone, they are something of a completely different nature.

Waters of Captivity

"Into his handsome face, the bitter waters of captivity had worn; but, he covered up their tracks with a determination so strong, that he held the mastery of them, even in his sleep" (p. 198).

This description of Dr. Manette is taken the night before Charles and Lucie's wedding. When Dickens is reffering to the bitter waters of captivity he is making a biblical referrence to the Rivers of Babylon which in the bible represent exile. This makes the description very effective because it is describing to how well Dr. Manette has kept a healthy, stable composure, even after all the years of miserable exile from society, through his improsnment. Dickens is clearly emphasizing in this passage Dr. Manette strenth, and ability to cover up his painful past. This is is a great example of Dickens using dramatic irony because the very next day Dr. Manette looses all mental stability, and goes back to his shoemaking daze. It is almost as if the 'waters of captivity' have resurfaced. This obviously relates to our motif because it is directly dealing with water. I found this particularily interesting because he had never used our motif in a biblical reference, and i thought the way inwhich he took advantage of the bible by intervening the interesting idea of the 'waters of captivity' was fascinating and highly effective.

"A trying suspense, to be passing a whole summer night on the brink of the black ocean, ready to take that plunge into it upon which Monsieur Gabelle had resolved! But, the friendly dawn appearing at last, and the rush-candles of the village guttering out, the people happily dispersed, and Monsieur Gabelle came down, bringing his life with him for that while" (p. 242).

In this passage, the "black ocean" represents the mob that has formed. Poor Monsieur Gabelle is the center of this mob. They want to see him dead, even though he was just doing his JOB. When I think of a "black ocean" I think of a storm at sea and waves crashing everywhere, with no escape. Monsieur Gabelle is in that position. He has no escape from this "storm" until the sun rises. The sun brings the end of the storm and in the morning, the sea is always calm, just like the people here are.

"The unseen force was drawing him fast to itself, now, and all the tides and winds were setting straight and strong towards it" (254).

In this passage, Dickens is explaining Charles Darnay's departure to London with this said force. It creates a really interesting visual; a tide forcing him towards it. When I think of tides, I think of oceans and that makes me come to the conclusion that Darnay is being pulled towards England with a force as big as an ocean, and with a tide that is out of his control as a tide is.

Water=Metaphor for Peasant Crowds

On page 224, Dickens writes, “A white flag from within the fortress, and a parlay-this dimly perceptible through the raging storm, nothing audible in it-suddenly the sea rose immeasurably wider and higher, and it swept Defarge of the wine shop over the lower drawbridge, past the massive stone outer walls, in among the eight great towers surrendered! So restless was the force of the ocean bearing him on, that even to draw his breath or turn his head was impracticable as if he had been struggling in the surf of the south sea.”

This passage is describing the “sea” of people that are attacking the Bastille jail. Dickens is clearly using the motif of water to describe the mad crowd of peasants in their vengeful revolution. Large bodies of water have the power to grow and move wherever they want to go, and this is the same for the mob of people. They are so powerful that they can “sweep” people off their feet and force them to move with them. If one is caught in a rip tide, it is nearly impossible to escape it. The best advice is not to struggle against it but to go with the flow. This is exactly what Mr. Defarge is forced to do when they crowd swallowed him up. This passage also shows how crowds are very unpredictable. All of a sudden, at a random signal, they decided to attack and flow at a great rate. Even Mr. Defarge was not ready for their powerful “flowing”.

"Poisoning the Water"

“Workmen dig, workmen hammer, soldiers laugh and sing; in the morning, by the fountain, there is raised a gallows forty feet high, poisoning the water.” (p 177)

This passage, from the chapter 'Knitting', shows that the fountain, where the condemned man is being hanged before the town, represents the life of the village. The water in the fountain brings life and is necessary to the citizens of the village. The soldiers in the village act above the ordinary citizens, for they rely on the workmen and common people to do all the work preparing the gallows. The gallows, which is a symbol of death and oppression, casts a vibe of gloom over the whole town. The way the soldiers are portrayed to the workmen and presence of the gallows are both equally “poisoning the water” of the fountain. This water, being the life of the villagers, is being made sicker and more related to death, and is making the people themselves poisoned. This also shows that the gallows themselves represent poison that can contaminate all around it (with blood and death), and that as the citizens become more poisoned and desensitized to the death around them, they will poison the land around them with their own thirst for blood.

Parallel Tears

"Looking gently at him again, she was suprised and saddened to see that there were tear in his eyes. There were tears in his voice to..."(p.156).

" 'I try to be a good wife, Jerry,' the poor woman protested, with tears" (p.169).

In the reading from Tuesday night, The Fellow of No Delicacy and The Honest Tradesman, when looking for ideas that related to our motif, the abnormal amount of tears caught my attention. When investigating from whom the tears were shed, I came across an interesting parallel between characters; Mrs. Cruncher and Mr. Carton. Although their paths have not yet crossed, there are definite similarities between these characters. Both have had their emotional state disregarded and abused by other characters. They both have had incredible difficulty with their love lives, or lack their of. And now in the back to back chapters this parallel becomes somewhat more apparent with both characters letting out their built up frustration.

Mysterious waters

"'May I go with you, father?' asked his son, briskly.
'No you mayn't. I'm a going - as your mother knows - a fishing. That's where I'm going to. Going a fishing.'
'Your fishing-rod gets rayther rusty; don't it, father?' (p165)"
Mr. Cruncher uses fishing as a cover for his real job. Fishing, though, actually seems very relevent; the ocean is the most mysterious thing known to man (other than outerspace). We live so close to it and yet we don't know much about it. Fisher's break the surface, probe the waters to try and catch something, once they catch it, they transport the dead fish to wherever it needs to go. Mr. Cruncher's son is cleary suspicious of his father's doings, but hmm... breaking the surface (of the ground?), transporting dead fish... (maybe a couple dead people too...?)
Sketchy.

Also on the following page (166), it says, "...rather than [Mr. Cruncher] would leave her for a moment to her own reflections."
This summer I went to Nicaragua where there was a body of water called Devil Bay (roughly translated), and it's rumored that the devil will take form of a stick or treasure chest to lure people out towards the middle. There's a sudden steep drop on the floor of the waters, where people drown in once they pass, thinking the water's still shallow. This mysterious rumor is quote popular, some people believe it, but some people think people might just be seeing their own reflections.
BASICALLY, water can be scary.

Water and Fate

"...sat there watching the running of the water and the rolling of the Fancy Ball- when the one woman who had stood conspicuous, knitting, still knitted on with the steadfastness of Fate. The water of the fountain ran, the swift river ran, the day ran into evening, so much life in the city ran into death according to rule, time and tide waited for no man, the rats were sleeping close together in their dark holes again, the Fancy Ball was lighted up at supper, all things ran their course" (117).

I thought this passage had a really interesting metaphor that it was presenting about water, that water and its forever state of flowing represents inevitability and fate. Dickens is saying that there are certain facts in life, certain things that are just going to happen and human just don't have any control over it. By his prior referencing of the "steadfastness of Fate," Dickens describes this kind of cycle of inevitable events in life; rivers running, day turning to night, people coming to their deaths.

Jerry's Side Job-page 159

"With his straw in his mouth, Mr. Cruncher sat watching the two streams, like the heathen rustic who has for several centuries been on duty watching one stream-saving that Jerry had no expectation of their ever running dry.  Nor would it have been an expectation of a hopeful kind, since a small part of his income was derived form the pilotage of timid women (mostly a full habit and past the middle term of life) from Tellson's side to the tides opposite shore.  Brief in such companionship was every separate instance, Mr. Cruncher never failed to become so interested in the lady as to express a strong desire to have the honour of drinking her very good health"(pgs. 159-160).

This passage describes Jerry as someone who escorts people across a stream like the "heathen rustic" god who carries souls over the river (as mentioned in a footnote).  Jerry makes some extra money form being an escort.  In this passage, the stream represents Fleet Street that Tellson's Bank is located on.  The people who constantly rush through the "stream" make up the water in it.  Jerry claims that the "stream never runs dry"; people are always rushing about this street.  This is why Jerry chooses to escort "timid women" across it for a tip so they don;t get run over by mobs of people. 

One question I have is: When the passage says, "from the Tellson's side to the opposite shore", is this simply talking about the road that Tellson's is on?  Or does it have a deeper meaning  such as talking about the different classes of people in different parts of town?

Let's look at page 117...

“The water of the fountain ran, the swift river ran, the day ran into evening, so much life in the city ran into death according to rule, time and tide waited for no man, the rats were sleeping close together in their dark hole again, the Fancy Ball was lighted up at supper, all things in their course” (p. 117).

Here, we see Dickens make a direct reference to the French Revolution that is to come. The fountain, the river, and the day all symbolize a chain of events. One thing leads to another; somehow, all these things are connected, and no matter what happens in between those events (death being inevitable) things must continue on as planned.

storm vs desert

"It was the rush and roar of rain that he typified, and it stopped him, for no voice could be heard in it. A memorable storm of thunder and lightning broke with that sweep of water, and there was not a moment's interval in crash, and fire, and rain, until after the moon rose at midnight. (p107)"

Literally, Carton was talking about the huge thunder storm that is brewing. The rain is so heavy and fast falling that his voice cannot even be heard through the racket.


"When he got out of the house, the air was cold and sad, the dull sky overcast, the river dark and dim, the whole scene like a lifeless desert. And wreaths of dust were spinning round and round before the morning blast, as if the desert-sand had risen far away, and the first spray of it in its advance had begun the overwhelming of the city. (p95)"

Literally, this was Dickens describing the lifeless scene outside of Striver's house.

Both these descriptions Dickens gave describe the two, conflicting opposite forces: rain and desert. This foreshadows the conflict between the epic conflicts that are soon to strike between the aristocrats (desert) and the peasants (rain).