7/21 Class Notes (Part 1)

·      How do our contemporary experiences of terror complicate our approach to A Tale of Two Cities?

·      How can we use this text as a way to discuss terror with our students?

·      How does the individual define justice outside of what is considered legal?

·      Is there a continuum of morality?

·      Do we have to be beholden to a collective?

Violence is pervasive in A Tale of Two Cities. This novel is a good opportunity to analyze violence with students. Some of our students are shocked by violence, while others are desensitized to it.  Some students are paralyzed by the anger of constantly being stopped and frisked by police, but they feel powerless to protest it.

“Citizens” in A Tale of Two Cities are supposed to participate in mob violence to show their patriotism. Tragedies of World War II and 9/11, help readers imagine 19^th century France, when terror was the norm.  Dickens isn’t advocating vigilante justice, although the death of the Marquis feels like justice. People won’t break away from the status quo if they are counting on a hero to handle the matter. Dickens advocates us all treating each other better as individuals, because mobs cannot be trusted to act justly.  Terrorist acts are violence against collectives because terrorists lose sight of individual peoples humanity. Defarge believes Darnay should be punished for his genetic lineage, she does not acknowledge his individuality. Defarge was raised in a system that encourages violence, and rather than overturn it, she perpetuates it.

The more heroic characters of A Tale of Two Cities however are those who demonstrate self-sacrifice and who are never celebrated. Miss Pross loses her hearing in her battle with Defarge, and Carton loses his life to help Lucie Mannette keep her family together. Carton’s death helps a beautiful city arise because Lucie and Charles’ relationship represent the idealism of a man who gives up his inheritance and woman his is the daughter of a highly moral doctor. On the other hand, the seamstress who is executed alongside Carton, is unsure that her death will lead to a better future. Her experience shows that terror is unmotivated.

Some people think the only appropriate retribution for justice is to inflict violence on a scale equal what has bee inflicted before. However, in Nichomachean Ethics Aristotle says virtue is the middle place between two extremes. The golden mean prevents us from villainizing others. Madame Defarge isn’t just a terrorist, she has clear motives. Madame Defarge’s revolutionary fervor can at times also seem like justice because she avenging violence committed against her family members, but she acts so unjustly that her death also seems justified. Characters like Madame Defarge complicate the hero/ villain binary. Madame Defarge believes she is enacting justice, but other characters see her as a terrorist. Defarge, like Dr. Manette is in fact traumatized. However, while Dr. Manette turns to shoemaking, Defarge lacks resilience and becomes a monster, bent on inflicting violence.