Period 1 TOTC Illum Blog 3
“Darkness closed around, and then came ringing of church bells and the distant beating of the military drums of the Royal Guard, as the women sat knitting, knitting. Darkness encompassed them. Another darkness was closing in as surely, when the church bells, then ringing pleasantly in many an airy steeple over France, should be melted into thundering cannon; when the military drums should be beating to drown a wretched voice, that night all potent as the voice of Power and Plenty, Freedom and Life. So much was closing in about the women who sat knitting, knitting, that they their very selves were closing in around a structure yet unbuilt, where they were to sit knitting, knitting, counting dropping heads.” (Page 143)
I thought that this quote was interesting and also brought up a lot of questions. In the quote the church bells are most likely referring to the marriage of Lucie and her having to make her choice. The military refers to the spy, John Barsad. Thought this parts seem clear there are other parts that are confusing. In this chapter the only woman is Mrs. Defarges who is knitting but the quote refers to women, plural. So the question is who are the other women referred to in this quote and why are they important?
Also in this chapter, Mrs. Defarges is knitting the peoples names that she hears, so what is the point of her actions? Also, what does Dickson’s mean when he talks about the unbuilt structure? Overall this quote has more meaning then meets the eye. So what to you all think?
~Lauren Gress~
Category: Per 1 ToTC Illum 3 comments »
February 28th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
The first sentence of that quote is very suspenseful. The repition of the word knitting especially adds a lot of suspense. I can’t put my finger on it but for some reason it makes me nervous feeling. I think that the other women mentioned are women who hvae just been married because after Lucie got married to Darnay Mrs. Defarge added his name to the list. This leads me to believe that there is a chain.
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Hey guys! Sorry it took me so long to comment, but I’ve been having difficulties with the internet over the last couple of days and we only just got it working now.
I really liked the quote you picked out, Lauren. It’s very interesting, and it does give off a mysterious vibe. Some things I would like to note about the quote: Dickens repeatedly uses the word “knitting”. I know this was already mentioned, but the world is always in a pair of two – knitting, knitting. That was just a little something that I wanted to point out. Repetition of a word usually leads the reader to believe that there is something important about it. Anyway, I also thought that the questions you asked were very thought provoking. I’m really not sure why Dickens would use the plural form of “woman” for this section. I actually did not pick up on that while reading the chapter. One thought that I had was that perhaps he was using Power, Plenty, Freedom, and Life as the other women. One of the terms we have in America is Lady Liberty, correct? And liberty is pretty much the same thing as freedom, so couldn’t there be a Lady Freedom as well? Now onto the second part of the question. If you take my theory to be legitimate, I would have to guess that this shows how the four “ladies” are beginning to be lost as the mob and anarchy is “closing in” upon them. The four concepts are the ones that bring about the deaths of people who break their rules, but now the rules are being turned against the people who wrote them. I don’t know if that makes any sense to anyone besides me. Going back to my idea about the mob and anarchy, I think the unbuilt structure might be the new government that is forming out of the revolution. They haven’t fully designed it yet, but it is beginning to come to life.
Those are my ideas – my long, confusing, and most likely incorrect ideas. Once again, I want to say sorry for posting so late and hopefully this doesn’t happen again!
Erin B
March 24th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Erin B
Quit selling yourself short!