Body paragraph of Charles Darnay

In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Charles Darnay is a very caring, hard-working and intelligent person. For example he says, “I look only to sharing your fortunes, sharing your life and home, and bring faithful to you to the death. Not to divide with Lucie her privilege as your child, companion, and friend; but to come in aid of it, and bind her closer to you, if such a thing can be” (Dickens 103). Darnay is talking to Dr. Manette about his love of Lucie. He tells him he will never come between father and daughter. Darnay wants to share his life with Lucie and in return bind her closer to Dr. Manette. Not only will he stay loyal to Lucie but also to her father, Dr. Manette. Next, Dickens shows Darnay’s intelligence. For instance he says, “He read with young men…and he cultivated a task for its stores of knowledge and fancy. He could write of them, besides in sound English, and render them in sound English” (Dickens 99). Darnay is a well-educated man from all he does. He is said to be a Tutor and teaches young men all that he knows. This develops the expanse of his knowledge. He can write in English and speak it very well which is hard to do without the proper intelligence. Lastly, the author talks of how hard-working he is. For example he says to his uncle, “I must do, to live, what others of my countrymen, even with nobility at their backs, may have to do some day—work” (Dickens 95). In this scene, Darnay’s uncle, the Marquis, asks if he intends to live when Darnay refuses the fortune. Darnay says he wants to live as his countrymen does may have to do one day. He wants to work for his money and not have it supplied to him. His countrymen refer to people of his status and nobility. He knows that one day they will have to work and he will gladly follow them. This really shows how his character is not greedy at all. In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens creates Darnay to be a caring, hard-working and intelligent man.

Light and Darkness

In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens uses light and darkness to express the tone of hopelessness and love in Lucie and Dr. Manette’s relationship. For instance, Dickens writes, “Eagerness to lay the spectral face upon her warm young breast, and love it back to life and hope –so exactly was the expression repeated on her fair young face, that it looked as though it had passed like a moving light from him to her” (Dickens 32). The light represents the love that Dr. Manette wants to pass on to his daughter.  Lucie wants to love him and his pining to love her is passed on. Lucie wants to be near him and give him life. She shares the same desires as her father and Dr. Manette’s expression of eagerness moves on to Lucie. Next, Dickens talks about darkness. For example Dickens speaks, “Darkness has fallen in its place…and his eyes in gloomy abstraction sought the ground” (Dickens 32). Hopelessness is what the darkness is in this situation. He realizes as Lucie shares the same expression of longing, that it is hopeless. He doesn’t even know who this woman is, yet he wants to love her. His eyes turn to the ground because he doesn’t want to look at Lucie after realizing this. Lastly, the author talks about light and darkness together and how they can affect someone. For instance Dickens says, “Then the darkness closed in, the daughter laid her head…close to her father’s side…the darkness deepened and deepened until a light gleamed through the chinks in the wall” (Dickens 36). The darkness which in this case is misery is threatening to suffocate them. Dr. Manette knows he is living a terrible life and he hasn’t been present in his daughter’s life. Lucie knows she has just met him but she lies close to him. The misery seemed to consume them but then a light, which is love, shines through. Even though this is their first meeting and times seem dark, love still breaks through that barrier of misery. In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens explains that while there is hopelessness in Lucie and Dr. Manette’s relationship there is also love.

The Wine-Shop

In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens is foreshadowing the French Revolution. In the novel he says, “The time was to come, when that wine too would be spilled on the street-stones, and when the stain of it would be red upon many there” (Dickens 22). He is explaining how in the future the stones will be stained red, not with wine, but with blood. The blood will come from the peasants fighting in the French Revolution. Next, Dickens explains how the citizens from that time sensed a rebellion was coming. For example the author writes, “And one tall joker so besmirched, his head more out of  a long squalid bag of a night-cap than in it, scrawled upon a wall with his fingers dipped in muddy wine lees—BLOOD” (Dickens 22). This man sensed the rebellion. He knew soon these walls would be soaked in blood. The wine was red and greatly resembled blood. In another quote, Dickens really shows how the monarchy is doing nothing to help their citizens. For instance he says, “All the people within reach…run to the spot and drink the wine… others devoted themselves to the sodden and lee-dyed pieces of the cask, licking, and even champing the moister wine-rotted fragments with eager relish” (Dickens 21). Everyone instantly ran to get to the wine. This shows that they are not used to the luxury of wine and eagerly drink it up. People were so desperate for the wine that they greedily chomped on parts of the wet cask. The people were most definitely poor and it is obvious the monarchy doesn’t care about their people at all. They let their own people drink wine from the dirty and muddy street. Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities leads the reader to believe that the spilled wine leads to the French Revolution.

Family

There are many components to the topic of family. Barbara Kingsolver explains family through her excerpt, “Stone Soup”. She talks about divorce and really enforces the idea of family. Betty Smith is able to express her thoughts through her characters: Francie, Neeley, Johnny, and Katie. Her book, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, uses her characters as an outlet to explain the importance of family. I believe the function of family is to share affection, companionship, and emotional support. Also, family is a key component to socialization.

Family teaches each other the basic necessities in life and how to behave. Without family, the world would be out of control. Families depend on each other for love, care, and a home for comfort. Barbara Kingsolver really demonstrates that point when she says, “When I was a child, I had two parents who loved me without cease. One of them attended every excuse for attention I ever contrived, and the other made it to ones with higher production values.” (Kingsolver par.3). She really shows the love parents give to their children and how some parents are willing to fulfill their child’s every need.

Families teach each other disappointment. For example in A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, “I am not a happy man. I got a wife and children and I don’t happen to be a hard-working man. I never wanted a family.’ Again, that hurt around Francie’s heart. He didn’t want her or Neeley...Papa was no good. He said so himself. But she liked Papa better. ‘I love my wife and I love my children.’ Francie was happy again” (Smith 35). This quote shows how even though Johnny isn’t an ideal father, he taught Francie disappointment and she still loves him. Sometimes Johnny says some hurtful things but it teaches Francie to understand the feeling of disappointment.

Routines are also something families teach other and that is very important. Having a basic routine can make someone feel secure and safe. For instance, in A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, “Francie and Neeley got out of bed and they all sat around the table and ate after Papa had put three dollars down on the table and given the children each a nickel which Mama made them put in the tin-can bank explaining they had already received money that day from the junk […] So Johnny and Katie talked away the night and the rise and fall of their voices was a safe and soothing sound in the dark” (Smith 52). Johnny sings and Francie and Neeley sit to eat with Papa no matter the time. Then Francie and Neeley listen to Katie and Johnny while they talk away the night. It is a nice and sweet routine.

The ability be strong wouldn’t be possible without family. In “Stone Soup” Barbara Kingsolver says, “Women my grandmother’s age were likely to live with a fluid assortment of elderly relatives, in-laws, siblings, and children…A family so large and varied would not be easily be brought down by a single blow: It could absorb a death, long-illness, an abandonment here or there, and any number of irreconcilable differences” (Kingsolver par.21). This really shows that there is strength in numbers. Going through hard times can be made easier with family around. This quote really showcases that.

Family is something everyone needs. Betty Smith in A Tree Grows In Brooklyn shows that routines and disappointment are huge components of family. “Stone Soup” by Barbara Kingsolver really illustrates the importance that love and the ability to be strong is what makes family, well, family. Love, emotional care and affection will always be the definition and function of families. As you can see, family is a general idea that has many different meanings that make it very important.

Sacredness of the Ordinary

My item that I have chosen is my binder of stories. To other people it may seem like a random binder of papers but to me it's so much more.

I started writing when I was in sixth grade. I don't mean essays for class; I mean I started writing creatively. It was something that I was proud of and that I wanted to show off. Soon after I finished the first story, which was approximately forty pages, I realized that this was something I enjoyed. The story took me about a year because I got major writer’s block at some points.

I started on another story and my goal was fifty pages. I wanted to try to write more and to seventh grade me, fifty pages was a lot. For some reason, I loved to write war related stories. I never knew much about war but I knew violence very well. Watching action movies and playing video games taught me the concept of violence. I didn't like my stories being about ordinary life. I wanted to add supernatural events.

Anyway, my next story grew into something I never thought it would become. After a year, I was still writing it and my progress was rapid. I passed the fifty page mark. I didn't really have an outline for the book. I decided to just write and see where it took me.

It's been two years since I have started my second story and it has one hundred and eleven pages. Making it past one hundred was like a dream come true. I never thought in a million  years I would write something this long. I continue to write and hope I will finish it soon. It's still a work in progress and I hope to work on a better writing style in the future. Sometimes I feel like my stories aren't good enough but then I remember that no one has ever written a first book that was amazing. Every writer starts out with a draft.

The binder started to grow and from time to time I would read the stories in there and smile. I still can't believe I wrote those wonderful words. I was afraid to show this amazing new discovery to people. I was afraid they would hate it and I would give up on writing. Even today, I still haven’t shown anyone my writings. Sometimes I read my sister a quote from one of the stories but that’s it.

I wrote short stories only about two pages long and added them to the binder. The growing amount of stories in my binder made it special. I could physically see my progress. I also saw my progress when I started typing. I went back to type up the forty page story I wrote in  sixth to seventh grade and I noticed a lot of mistakes. I knew less about grammar and the proper way to write back then. I fixed what was wrong and I continued to learn.

I was happy with my writing but there was something that really weighed me down. It was all I thought about sometimes. What if I never publish? What if all those stories were for nothing? Then I remembered these stories were a part of me. It doesn't matter if nobody ever sees them. All the effort I put into writing made me a better reader and a better student.  Those stories represented my imagination down on paper and I will always cherish that. If I ever do publish, I will never forget where I started.