Tale of Two Cities Book II, the Golden Thread

Tale of Two Cities Book II, The Golden Thread Chapter V, The Jackal

Those were drinking days, and most men drank hard. So very great is the improvement Time has brought about in such habits, that a moderate statement of the quantity of wine and punch which one man would swallow in the course of a night, without any detriment to his Detriment- injury, damage reputation as a perfect gentleman, would Was drinking acceptable during this time period? seem, in these days, a ridiculous exaggeration. The learned profession of the law was certainly not behind any other learned profession in its Bacchanalian Bacchanalian: drunken revelry (Bacchus- god of wine) propensities; neither was Mr. Stryver, Propensities: tendencies, habits already fast shouldering his way to a large Lucrative: profitable; Compeers: person of equal status or rank and lucrative practice, behind his Was Stryver an equal to his compeers when it came to drinking? compeers in this particular, any more than in the drier parts of the legal race. A favourite at the Old Bailey, and eke at the Whereas the Old Baily was a criminal court, the Sessions court primarily involved Sessions, Mr. Stryver had begun cautiously civil matters—lawsuits involving property damages rather than criminal acts. Staves: planks, rods to hew away the lower staves of the ladder What does Dickens mean that Stryver has started to remove the lower rings of the on which he mounted. Sessions and Old ladder on which he mounted? Have you ever heard of the ladder of success? Bailey had now to summon their favourite, specially, to their longing arms; and shouldering itself towards the visage of the Visage: face Lord Chief Justice in the Court of King's Florid: red complexion (perhaps from excessive drinking); countenance: expression Bench, the florid countenance of Mr. Stryver might be daily seen, bursting out of the bed of wigs, like a great sunflower The bed of the wigs would be the ______? pushing its way at the sun from among a Explain the simile of the sunflower. rank garden-full of flaring companions. It had once been noted at the Bar, that while Mr. Stryver was a glib man, and an Glib- shallow, superficial; unscrupulous- unprincipled, crooked unscrupulous, and a ready, and a bold, he had not that faculty of extracting the Faculty: ability essence from a heap of statements, which So, if he doesn’t have the faculty to pull out the important information from all the is among the most striking and necessary pieces of evidence, how does he win his cases? This is an important skill for a lawyer, isn’t it? of the advocate's accomplishments. But, a Note Dickens’s sarcasm here.

1 remarkable improvement came upon him as to this. The more business he got, the greater his power seemed to grow of getting at its pith and marrow; and however late at night he sat carousing Carousing- partying with Sydney Carton, he always had his So he drinks all night long with Carton, but then in the morning he understands his points at his fingers' ends in the morning. court cases? Hm….. Sydney Carton, idlest and most Note the description of Carton- “most unpromising of men” unpromising of men, was Stryver's great The Hilary term was one of the four yearly terms of the British court, lasting from ally. What the two drank together, between January 11- January 31. Michaelmas refers to the Christian Feast of St. Michael, Hilary Term and Michaelmas, might have traditionally on September 29. So Carton and Stryver’s drinking bouts would begin in early January and last to the end of September…. So how many months do they floated a king's ship. not have Bacchanalian revelries? Stryver never had a case in hand, They drank so much that all the alcohol they consumed was enough fluid to do anywhere, but Carton was there, with his what? hands in his pockets, staring at the ceiling of the court; they went the same Circuit, The “Circuit” refers to the “journey of judges [or barristers] through certain appointed areas, for the purpose of holding courts or performing other stated and even there they prolonged their usual duties at various places in succession” or to “[t]hose making the circuit; the judges orgies late into the night, and Carton was and barristers" (OED). rumoured to be seen at broad day, going Orgies: parties, revelries, etc. home stealthily and unsteadily to his Stealthily: slyly, cautiously; Dissipated: immoral Note the description of Carton going home “Stealthily and unsteadily to his lodgings, like a dissipated cat. At last, it lodgings, like a dissipated cat.” What impression do we get of Carton from this? began to get about, among such as were interested in the matter, that although What is being implied about who has the real legal ability in this odd partnership? Sydney Carton would never be a lion, he was an amazingly good jackal, and that he The jackal is a dog-like animal that hunts in packs and howls at night. It used to be rendered suit and service to Stryver in that believed that jackals would run before lions and hunt down their pray for them. humble capacity. This is most likely what the author means when he says that Carton was Stryver’s “jackal” "Ten o'clock, sir," said the man at the tavern, whom he had charged to wake him —"ten o'clock, sir." "What's the matter?" "Ten o'clock, sir." Who is the tavern worker waking up? "What do you mean? Ten o'clock at night?" "Yes, sir. Your honour told me to call you." "Oh! I remember. Very well, very well." After a few dull efforts to get to sleep again, which the man dexterously combated by Dexterously- cleverly, ingeniously stirring the fire continuously for five How does the waiter get Carton to wake up? I would have just thrown cold water minutes, he got up, tossed his hat on, and on his face, but this guy was a little nicer. walked out. He turned into the Temple, and, having revived himself by twice pacing The King’s Bench Walk and the Paper Buildings are two streets in the Temple area the pavements of King's Bench-walk and of London. Paper-buildings, turned into the Stryver Whose house (chambers) did he go to? chambers. The Stryver clerk, who never assisted at these conferences, had gone home, and the Why would Stryver not keep his clerk on for a business conference? Stryver principal opened the door. He had his slippers on, and a loose bed-gown, and his throat was bare for his greater ease. He Stryver answers the door. How does Stryver appear? had that rather wild, strained, seared marking about the eyes, which may be observed in all free livers of his class, Free livers of his class… what is Dickens referencing here? What has Stryver been from the portrait of Jeffries downward, and up to? Note the drinking age at the end of the sentence.

2 which can be traced, under various disguises of Art, through the portraits of every Drinking Age. "You are a little late, Memory," said Stryver. "About the usual time; it may be a quarter Why is Stryver calling Carton “Memory”? of an hour later." They went into a dingy room lined with books and littered with papers, where Dingy- dark, faded there was a blazing fire. A kettle steamed upon the hob, and in the midst of the wreck of papers a table shone, with plenty Hob- stove of wine upon it, and brandy, and rum, and Dark room, blazing fire, a table with plenty of what on it? sugar, and lemons. "You have had your bottle, I perceive, Sydney." "Two to-night, I think. I have been dining with the day's client; or seeing him dine— it's all one!" "That was a rare point, Sydney, that you brought to bear upon the identification. How did you come by it? When did it strike Stryver asks Carton how he came upon the winning case point today. What did you?" Carton figure out? What was the winning point? "I thought he was rather a handsome fellow, and I thought I should have been much the same sort of fellow, if I had had Note Carton’s deflection of praise and his humorous tone. any luck." Mr. Stryver laughed till he shook his precocious paunch. "You and your luck, Sydney! Get to work, Precocious: well developed; paunch: gut, stomach get to work." Sullenly enough, the jackal loosened his Who does Stryver think he is? He’s bossing poor Carton around! dress, went into an adjoining room, and came back with a large jug of cold water, a Sullenly: Gloomily adjoining: connecting basin, and a towel or two. Steeping the Basin: washbowl towels in the water, and partially wringing them out, he folded them on his head in a What does Carton do with the towels? See the picture at the beginning of the manner hideous to behold, sat down at the chapter. table, and said, "Now I am ready!" What do you suppose the cold water and towels suggest? Why would Carton be doing this? "Not much boiling down to be done to- night, Memory," said Mr. Stryver, gaily, as Remember Dickens joked earlier about how Stryver didn’t have the ability to he looked among his papers. “extract the essence from a heap of statements.” So what is Carton going to be "How much?" boiling down? "Only two sets of them." "Give me the worst first." Two sets of what? "There they are, Sydney. Fire away!"

The lion then composed himself on his Note the lion and the jackal metaphor continues. What adjectives (description back on a sofa on one side of the drinking- words) would be associated with lions? I’ll give you one: majestic. table, while the jackal sat at his own paper- bestrewn table proper, on the other side of Why would Stryver be the lion? What status does he hold in the legal sphere? it, with the bottles and glasses ready to his hand. Both resorted to the drinking-table without stint, but each in a different way;

3 the lion for the most part reclining with his hands in his waistband, looking at the fire, Who is hard at work and who is just relaxing? or occasionally flirting with some lighter document; the jackal, with knitted brows and intent face, so deep in his task, that his eyes did not even follow the hand he Notice how the word knitting is reoccurring throughout the novel. We saw it in the stretched out for his glass—which often previous chapter with the judge. Who did we first associate this word with (Book 1)? groped about, for a minute or more, before it found the glass for his lips. Two or three Carton so deep in thought that he doesn’t look up from his work, so his hand gropes times, the matter in hand became so about for what? knotty, that the jackal found it imperative on him to get up, and steep his towels Context clues- Knotty-If something is knotty it means that it is ______anew. From these pilgrimages to the jug Have you ever tried to get your shoes untied, but you had to ask someone for help. and basin, he returned with such Why because the knots are what? eccentricities of damp headgear as no Imperative: necessary words can describe; which were made the Two or 3 times the cases were difficult, so what did Carton do? more ludicrous by his anxious gravity. Pilgrimages: journeys; Eccentricities: peculiarities, odd habits At length the jackal had got together a Ludicrous: absurd, ridiculous; gravity: seriousness compact repast for the lion, and proceeded to offer it to him. The lion took it Compact repast: a dense and small meal with care and caution, made his selections from it, and his remarks upon it, and the jackal assisted both. When the repast was The lion makes remarks on it which the jackal helps him come to… He can’t even fully discussed, the lion put his hands in his comment on the case without help!! waistband again, and lay down to meditate. What do you think of Carton and Stryver’s relationship? What does it say about Carton? About Stryver? The jackal then invigorated himself with a bumper for his throttle, and a fresh Invigorated: refreshed, strengthened, energized Bumper- “cup or glass of wine, etc., filled to the brim, esp[ecially] when drunk as a application to his head, and applied himself toast” and derives from the word “bump,” in connection with a “‘bumping,’ i.e. [a] to the collection of a second meal; this was large, ‘thumping’ glass.” The jackal’s throttle is his throat. administered to the lion in the same How is Carton refreshing himself? manner, and was not disposed of until the Two things: clocks struck three in the morning. 1) 2) How long does it take Carton to collect the second meal for the lion? "And now we have done, Sydney, fill a bumper of punch," said Mr. Stryver. The jackal removed the towels from his head, which had been steaming again, shook himself, yawned, shivered, and complied. "You were very sound, Sydney, in the matter of those crown witnesses to-day. Sound: thorough, legally valid Every question told." Did I miss something? Didn’t Stryver interrogate the witnesses today? Why is he "I always am sound; am I not?" complimenting Carton for being thorough with the questioning? "I don't gainsay it. What has roughened your temper? Put some punch to it and Note Carton’s sharp remark Gainsay: oppose smooth it again." Stryver says, “What’s got your knickers in a knot?” Why does he want Carton to With a deprecatory grunt, the jackal again drink some more punch? complied. Deprecatory: disapproving. "The old Sydney Carton of old Shrewsbury How does Carton seem right now? School," said Stryver, nodding his head over him as he reviewed him in the present What are we learning about Carton’s past? What impact did this behavior probably and the past, "the old seesaw Sydney. Up have on his reputation and his career? 4 one minute and down the next; now in spirits and now in despondency!" "Ah!" returned the other, sighing: "yes! The Despondency- depression, unhappiness same Sydney, with the same luck. Even then, I did exercises for other boys, and seldom did my own." What did Carton used to do for the other kids in school? "And why not?" "God knows. It was my way, I suppose." He sat, with his hands in his pockets and Stryver asks him why didn’t you ever do your own work? his legs stretched out before him, looking at the fire. Considering the ending of the previous chapter, how do you think Carton feels about himself? "Carton," said his friend, squaring himself at him with a bullying air, as if the fire- grate had been the furnace in which sustained endeavour was forged, and the one delicate thing to be done for the old Sydney Carton of old Shrewsbury School Sustained: continued endeavor: effort, struggle forged: made was to shoulder him into it, "your way is, and always was, a lame way. You summon What does Dickens mean by this description? no energy and purpose. Look at me." Why is Stryver going to shoulder Carton into it? "Oh, botheration!" returned Sydney, with a lighter and more good-humoured laugh, What is Stryver trying to do? "don't you be moral!" "How have I done what I have done?" said Stryver; "how do I do what I do?" "Partly through paying me to help you, I suppose. But it's not worth your while to apostrophise me, or the air, about it; what you want to do, you do. You were always in HA! What is Carton’s reply when Stryver asks how he got to where he is now? Who has been doing all the work for Stryver? the front rank, and I was always behind." Apostrophize: address an absent/imaginary person or a personified abstraction "I had to get into the front rank; I was not born there, was I?" Stryver was always in front of the ranks, and Carton was always left where? "I was not present at the ceremony; but my opinion is you were," said Carton. At this, he laughed again, and they both laughed. "Before Shrewsbury, and at Shrewsbury, The ambiguity of this conversation is in the contrast between someone’s rank and ever since Shrewsbury," pursued based on birth and based on effort. Carton, "you have fallen into your rank, and Are some people born with advantages? Is success determined by effort alone? I have fallen into mine. Even when we were fellow-students in the Student-Quarter of Paris, picking up French, and French law, and other French crumbs that we didn't get much good of, you were always Poor Carton! somewhere, and I was always nowhere." "And whose fault was that?" "Upon my soul, I am not sure that it was not yours. You were always driving and riving and shouldering and passing, to that restless degree that I had no chance for my life but in rust and repose. It's a gloomy Stryver was always pushing to get ahead, so all that Carton could do was “rust and thing, however, to talk about one's own repose(rest).” What do you think he means by this? past, with the day breaking. Turn me in some other direction before I go." Carton remarks that this is getting too serious/depressing. We need happy "Well then! Pledge me to the pretty thoughts for the morning.

5 witness," said Stryver, holding up his glass. "Are you turned in a pleasant direction?" Stryver suggests a toast to which character? Apparently not, for he became gloomy again. At the mention of Lucie, what happens to Carton? "Pretty witness," he muttered, looking down into his glass. "I have had enough of witnesses to-day and to-night; who's your Take note of Carton’s comment and try to imagine his tone/attitude. pretty witness?" "The picturesque doctor's daughter, Miss Manette." "She pretty?" "Is she not?" "No." "Why, man alive, she was the admiration of the whole Court!" Stryver points out that everyone was admiring her! "Rot the admiration of the whole Court! Who made the Old Bailey a judge of beauty? She was a golden-haired doll!" Golden-haired doll… do you think this is the olden day version of calling a girl a "Do you know, Sydney," said Mr. Stryver, Barbie doll? looking at him with sharp eyes, and slowly drawing a hand across his florid face: "do you know, I rather thought, at the time, that you sympathised with the golden- haired doll, and were quick to see what happened to the golden-haired doll?" "Quick to see what happened! If a girl, doll or no doll, swoons within a yard or two of a man's nose, he can see it without a perspective-glass. I pledge you, but I deny the beauty. And now I'll have no more drink; I'll get to bed."

When his host followed him out on the His host is Mr. Stryver staircase with a candle, to light him down What is Dickens personifying here? the stairs, the day was coldly looking in Note the personification and the strong imagery. What is the weather most likely through its grimy windows. When he got supposed to parallel? 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 to overwhelm the city. Waste forces within him, and a desert all around, this man stood still on his way What is the significance of this “vision” or “mirage”? across a silent terrace, and saw for a moment, lying in the wilderness before him, a mirage of honourable ambition, self- denial, and perseverance. In the fair city of Mirage: hallucination, fantasy this vision, there were airy galleries from which the loves and graces looked upon him, gardens in which the fruits of life hung

6 ripening, waters of Hope that sparkled in his sight. A moment, and it was gone. Climbing to a high chamber in a well of houses, he threw himself down in his clothes on a neglected bed, and its pillow was wet with wasted tears.

Sadly, sadly, the sun rose; it rose upon no sadder sight than the man of good abilities Attributing a human emotion like sadness to an inanimate object like the sun is a and good emotions, incapable of their special type of personification called Pathetic Fallacy. directed exercise, incapable of his own help Why is the sun so sad? and his own happiness, sensible of the blight on him, and resigning himself to let it What is Dickens saying about Carton’s character in this paragraph? eat him away.

Blight: mark, affliction, stain

In this chapter, take note of the contrast between light and darkness again.

Summarizer: Explain the significance of the extended metaphor in this passage: Mr. Stryver as the lion and Mr. Carton as the jackal. Use evidence from the text to support your answer.