A Tale of Two Cities Pre-Reading Flashcards
- What systematic problems did 18th Century France have in the way it collected taxes?
The Ancien Regime had a problem collecting taxes, the people with the money never paid taxes, also it had just funded the American Revolution
- Other than bankruptcy, what other factors contributed to tensions in France?
A hailstorm, destroyed crops and thus the prices of food, causing widespread hunger
And the nobles were the only ones to stay fed. Also the thinkers were questioning the idea of religion
- What radical move was carried out by the National Assembly on August 4th?
The 3rd estate broke away from the rich and made their own national assembly with the goal of making a french constitution
Which on August 4th abolished all effects by the Ancien Regime, quashing privileges for nobels and unfair taxation
August 26, they finished their constitution
- What was the Women’s March and what fueled it?
October 1789, Peasant women stormed Versailles castle with the intention of moving Marie Antoinette to Paris because of the high prices on food
- Why might the first phase of the French Revolution be considered not so revolutionary?
The national assembly wanted a monarchy, they needed a king for a functioning state, and they wanted political officials to be male landowners. (They ended up keeping the king, even though he didn’t like the new national assembly)
The only thing that changed was the location of the Royal family from Versailles to Paris
- Why did Louis XVI and the National Assembly decide to invade Austria? What was the result?
The Austrians promised to restore the French monarchy (backing Louis XVI originally), and invading them meant spreading quashing Monarchy support, spreading the revolution, and gaining food supply. Instead, the Prussians joined them against France
- What time period of the revolution was marked by the death of Louis XVI and why is it significant?
The assembly suspended the Monarchy and made a fair election where at least all men had an equal say, they held a trial for Louis and he was found guilty and sentenced to death by guillotine.
The Terror - the most sensational phase of the Revolution, guillotining of 16000 enemies to the revolution (Marrie Antoinette, and other French citizens)
- If not revolutionary, what does John Green argue made the French Revolution so radical?
Even though it ended with a monarchy (but a new constitution), the Christian Church (but less powerful), and a nobles class (with fewer benefits ) its effect applied universally. It opened up questions about rights and how people should be governed
Birth info
Born in Portsmouth England 1812, to John and Elizabeth Dickens, he was 1 of 8 children
Current events when he was born
Born into a volatile world, with the Napoleonic wars ending and the Victorian eras has ended which means that it was a time of rapidly changing values (middle class expanded) but people were forced to work in gruesome conditions
Childhood
When he was young his father was transferred to a different Naval base about 30 miles outside of London
He grew up here and thought it to be very lively, this town brought great memories
He was careless with his money (spent unwisely), in 1822 his dad was transferred to London at a reduced salary and the family would slowly fall further and further into debt
At 12 father was arrested for debt and he choose to bring the family except for Charles
while his family was in debtors prison
At 12 father was arrested for debt and he choose to bring the family except for Charles (Charles leaves school)
He worked as a shoemaker to earn money for his family while they were in Prison because they saw him as an asset
This was a sad time for him and he tried to keep it a secret most of his life but when his family got out they kept him working there to earn money even though he really hated it (this left a massive impact)
work
- After this, he began working as a clerk in a lawyer’s office, the only part he enjoyed was fooling around. He found the law boring
- Then he moved to be a parliamentary reporter or a political reporter
- Later in life (1836), (when he was struggling) he was approached with an offer to write for Chapman and Hall to write in the Pickwick papers.
Pickwick papers
The Pickwick Papers were a comedy series posted weekly in parts. He loved this writing, and gained more power in the company until he hired his own illustrator (the last one committed suicide) and the weekly edition started spreading like crazy. Much of his success is attributed to these papers, because once the series was over and they revealed who the writer was, he took off.
Even before he finished writing the Pickwick Papers, settled down in a house with his family to write Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nichelby.
In 1846 he published Donby and Sun, curing him of any money worries, but he still worked
Love:
- Maria Beadnel was his first love, he wrote poems to her but she was toying with his feeling (she couldn’t marry him cause he wasn’t rich) he said he could never love again
- Cathrine Hogarth was the daughter of a respected Journalist, whom he clearly didn’t love as much as her sister Maria, but he did dedicate his time and attention to her (married in 1836)
- His wife’s sister one day tragically died (Mary) and he was shattered by the loss, he was obsessed with her (maybe more than his actual wife): 1837
She appears in his fiction over and over again (death of Little Nell)
surprise letter
He began to feel held back by his big family feeling that he was missing out on life until one day
He received a letter from Maria Beadnell his first love to meet and found she was not who he remembered (later he writes a book with her as the character: Flora Finching [she was fat and 40 when he met] )
This is a very funny moment for historians in his journal
Depression
Dickens went into a deep depression and by 1856 he was so discontent with his life. He blamed it all on his wife Catherine
Tour
(1842) Dickens went to America and brought much attention, but he found America disappointing
Random Facts
He wrote over 20 novels, 14 of which are very famous
Known for creating vividly wonderful characters
A lot of his characters represent people he loved or people he knew in real life
He had an ambition to better himself by writing
A Tale of Two Cities Basic facts
Published 1859
TTC is a Historical Novel
Dickens used the information from Carlyle’s French Revolution to make his story
Published in: All the year round
Serial Publication
TTC was published weekly
Pro:
- extends audience to all classes
- Creates a direct relationship with readers
- With weekly releases people looked forward to it
Cons:
- pressure to produce
- Forced to create cliffhangers to keep audience engaged
What common theme in Dickens’s books made him popular
Social Injustice
Dickens was a social reformist, and in his writing liked to speak out against social injustices
What is Dover road?
The Dover Road was a mail route from London to Dover that was also used as a highway for anyone who paid.
It was riddled with highway robbers who stopped the carriages in the middle of the night and robbed the Passengers
How Many books
3 : book the first, book the second, and book the third
Population breakdown of France
1st Estate, 2nd estate, 3rd estate
the 1st and 2nd estates (clergy’s and nobility) made up 3% of the population, and were exempt from all taxes
