Meaningful Language

I felt that some meaningful language happened on page 229 in chapter 21 when the revolutionists, especially the Defarges, kill the governor. This scene, although gory and somewhat disgusting was actually, I believe, worded beautifully.

She stood immovable close to the grim old officer, and remained immovable close to him; remained immovable close to him through the streets, as Defarge and the rest bore him along; remained immovable close to him when he was got near his destination, and began to be struck at from behind; remained immovable close to him when the long-gathering rain of stabs and blows fell heavy; was so close to him when he dropped dead under it, that, suddenly animated, she put her foot upon his neck, and with her cruel knife - long ready - hewed off his head.


      This passage stood out to me as a beautiful passage in many ways. First, its length. The way that Dickens makes his sentences so long, flowing and able to keep the reader from pulling his head away, I think is amazing. This sentence really made me feel like I just read enough information if a chapter in only one sentence, which is why it was so meaningful and beautiful to read.

      Another reason why I thought this was so perfect is the way that repetition was used. "Stood immovable close" was used six times in one sentence and the way it was used after the semi-colon really just made the sentence worthwhile. I felt like every time I read that part it made me imaging how still everything kept on being which helped me understand why I liked this sentence so much.

     The word choice that Dickens uses, I believe is outstanding. Using hewed instead of a word like cut or  bore instead of cutting really made the sentence sound good. Also, when he used phrases such as suddenly animated, and, long ready, I really felt like those were good additions to sentences that helped with what point was trying to be told.

      Finally, the description that is used in this passage really helps with the detail and the beauty of the sentences potential. When Dickens talks about how the rest or the revolutionaries bored the governor along or when it is descriptive about how Madame Defarge cuts of the governors head shows great detail and helps make this sentence really a work of art.

To sum up, there are clearly many ways in which I felt this sentence really showed meaningful language.

OMG!

In the text in Part 2 Chapter 2, I found a particular section in the text that I found I understood completely. Although as we all know Dickens writes with such difficult sentence stucture and words, I feel as though this scene was a break through for me. When the Attorney-General is asking questions to Mr. Lorry, I felt like this was a part in the novel that made sense.

'"Mr Jarvis Lorry, are you a clerk at Tellson's Bank?"'
"'I am."'
"'On a certain Friday night in November one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, did business occasion you to travel between London and Dover by the mail?"'
"'It did."'...(71).


This is just part of the passage that I understood. I first understood the scene leading up to this event. I understood that they were in a courthouse to try and figure out if Darnay was innocent or guilty. I then, although the passage was hard, using words like occasion as a verb and referencing the year in literal numbers, made sense of what the passage was trying to tell me. Once I figured out what was going on in this passage, there was still something that felt distant to me. I just at first could not completely comprehend what Dickens was trying to say when Mr Attorney-General said, '"Did they alight on the road in the course of the night?"'(71). After reading where this sentence was in the context and the response to the question, I figured out that this question meant, did the people at the Dover mail confront you during that night. Now, this making sense to me, I could fully analyze this passage and make sense of it. This, I believe, was a big moment where I felt I fully understood what Dickens was trying to say, which helped me keep reading and understanding more of the reading assignment.

Helpful Image

A part in the story where I really thought that Dickens portrayed a scene very well was the scene with the starving people of France drinking the disgusting murk wine off of the ground. Dickens makes a helpful image for me to read while reading this part of the novel.

A direct quote showing that Dickens used a helpful image to better understand what is happening is on page 31:

Some men kneeled down, made scoops of their two hands joined, and sipped, or tried to help women, who bent over their shoulders, to sip, before the wine had run all out between their fingers.

This really stood out to me as a helpful image because the way he writes this scene, especially the passage above give the reader a clear picture as to what is happening in the scene. When he specifically says, "women, who bent over their shoulders, to sip, before the wine has run all out between their fingers" really made a clear picture in my head. This is because for him to explain that the women were over the men's shoulders trying to get wine left a clear image in my mine as to how the people in this scene were placed. Also, when he talks about the wine running through the women's fingers left a clear picture in my mind as to what actions the women took and also what their emotions were during this. I figured out the women's emotions because if one was starving and the only source of food was slipping through their hands, I could imagine that someone would be happy that they had something to eat, along with being scared due to thinking that they do not know the next time they will eat or drink. All in all, this scene helped create a very good image in my head while reading.