Student Essay on Symbol in A Tale Of Two Cities

Symbol in A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Essay

The symbol that Dickens uses to foreshadow the people and events that will affect the lives of the main characters is knitting. At the end of chapter seven Madame Defarge is knitting, and while she knits she is watching the little boy get run over by the Marquis. She is watching the story unfold with little or no emotions. "When the one woman who had stood conspicuous, knitting, still knitted on with the steadfastness of Fate," (101). As Madame Defarge observes this scene, she just stands there, noticeable, and knits. She keeps on knitting, and what she is knitting grows just as the characters' relationships will grow, and how they will come in contact with many more people throughout the book. "Then she glanced in a casual manner round the wine-shop, took up her knitting with great apparent calmness and repose of spirit, and became absorbed in it," (29). Her casual way of being shows that she has little emotions. She watches everything around her but never reacts to it. She still keeps knitting, and what she's knitting keeps on growing, just like the characters and their lives with new people. Dickens has led the reader to believe that Madame Defarge is not a really caring person. It's as if she doesn't care about anyone but herself and her knitting. When she knits it's almost saying that her knitting is more important than a poor child's life. The revolution is coming, and her knitting also symbolizes the growing tensions between people.

Works Cited

A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens