October 10th, 2013
A Tale of Two Cities: Weekly Log 4
Choose one theme from the novel and relate it to a movie, song, or video game.
In Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities, one of the reoccurring themes, the preservation of family groups, is shown through the relationship between Lucie Manette and her father Dr. Manette. The same theme can be shown in a similar relationship between Jean Valjean and his adopted daughter, Cosette, in the movie Les Miserables, based off of the novel by Victor Hugo. It is present in the way that their bonds have grown stronger due to conflicts in the past, bringing the fathers back from the darkness to the light, and the fathers realising that other men will eventually come in to their daughters’ lives, but a space in their heart will always be dedicated to their fathers.
An obstacle that both family groups have had to overcome in A Tale of Two Cities and in Les Miserables, was the imprisonment of the father figures, Jean Valjean and Dr. Manette, for many years when the daughters were young. Valjean broke his probation after nineteen years in prison, wanting a fresh start someplace new, which caused him to become a wanted man with a price on his head. Years later, just before he adopted Cosette, his past caught up with him, and he was forced to take Cosette and run. For the rest of his life, he was forced to hide who he really was, and what had happened to him, from Cosette to preserve her happiness and to protect her. It wasn’t until the time of her wedding that Cosette found out all that her father had done for her, and in the end, the deception only served to make their bond stronger. In A Tale of Two Cities, Lucie Manette found out about her father’s imprisonment right away, but had thought him to be dead for the years before that. By hearing that he had been locked away for so long, and didn’t even realise he had a daughter, Lucie did not push this stranger away, but held him closer to her heart in fear that they would be separated again. “He has been found under another name; his own, long forgotten or long concealed. It would be worse that useless now to inquire which; worse than useless to seek to know whether he has been for years overlooked, or always designedly held prisoner. (page 34)” Lucie did not know all that had happened to Dr. Manette, or why, but their bond was strengthened as well due to the conflicts that had occurred in her father’s past. These conflicts in their pasts that both families had to overcome brought them closer together and strengthened their relationship, which can be related back to the theme of the preservation of family groups.
The Essay on Cars Father Years Black
Photographs I picked one photograph of my parents the day in which we went to a wedding in the Bronx. I picked this photo because of the reason that it lack some important information about their behavior for that day. This photo was taken in my house in the living room. My father is next to my mother and they are next to a collection of miniature cars which my father has bought along his years. ...
In both A Tale of Two Cities and Les Miserables, both of the father figures, Dr. Manette and Jean Valjean, have been beaten down and broken over the course of their lives, but were “recalled to life” by their daughters. The light that Lucie Manette and Cosette brought into their lives gave them something to live for once again, and gave them the strength to carry on, for their own daughter’s sake. In Les Miserables, when Valjean’s past catches up to him, and he is falling back into fear that he only recently escaped, a series of events leads him to adopt Cosette in order to take her away from the abusive household she was currently living in. Having someone as young and innocent as Cosette in his life forced him to be strong and courageous, instead of frightened and cowardly as he could have become. In A Tale of Two Cities, when we first met Dr. Manette, he was a broken man, one who had been in prison for eighteen years and referred to himself by his cell number, “One Hundred and Five, North Tower.” Then Lucie entered his life and right away she began to bring light back to his world. Her soft, tender touch caused him to remember her mother, and all the events that had occurred since he saw her last, and it was as if he was a blind man seeing the light for the first time. “His cold white head mingled with her radiant hair, which warmed and lighted it as though it were the light of Freedom shining on him. (page 53)” Both Cosette and Lucie brought their fathers comfort and healed their broken souls. By recalling them to life, another example of preservation of family groups was shown in A Tale of Two Cities and Les Miserables.
The Term Paper on Father-Daughter Conflicts in Shakespeare’s Plays
William Shakespeare is a playwright and poet with no need of introduction. He has written several of the most distinguished and well-received plays in the history of literary writing. With so much reflection focused on his works and writings, little is said about Shakespeare’s personal life. It has been generally accepted however that Shakespeare himself had two daughters and one son. Shakespeare ...
Over the course of A Tale of Two Cities and Les Miserables, Jean Valjean and Dr. Manette come to realize that they cannot keep their daughters as close to their sides as they did when they were younger. As Cosette and Lucie grow up, they will need to explore more of the world and meet new people to be happy. Once they realize this, Valjean and Dr. Manette are willing to set all other things aside to ensure their daughters’ happiness. During the time of the revolution, Valjean journeys to a barricade in Paris where Cosette’s love interest, Marius, is fighting along with many other men. He risks his life on the battlefield to help Marius and drags him through the sewers, away from the fighting, to protect him. In A Tale of Two Cities, Dr. Manette is still weary and a bit nervous around other people, even five years after he and Lucie were reunited. She is his everything, and he doesn’t want her to be taken away from him. However, when Charles Darnay approaches him and asks that he vouches for the true nature of his love for Lucie, Dr. Manette realizes that this man could make Lucie happier than she already is. He knows that having another man in Lucie’s personal life could distance them from the close relationship they have, but there will always be a special part of her heart dedicated to her father. “I give the promise without any condition. I believe your object to be, purely and truthfully, as you have stated it. I believe your intention is to perpetuate, and not to weaken, the ties between me and my other and far dearer self. If she should ever tell me that you are essential to her perfect happiness, I will give her to you. page 140)” When love interests draw their daughters away from their sides, Valjean and Dr. Manette are willing to set Cosette and Lucie free by letting them go. By being understanding and compassionate, the fathers are showing examples of the theme of preservation of family groups.
The Essay on Darnay Manette Lucie Carton
Dr. Alexander manet te was a prisoner in the Bastille for 18 years. He is released and taken back to London by Jarvis Lorry of Tell son Bank. Dr. Manette is a little crazy because of all the years he spent locked up in solitary confinement. He has a daughter, Lucie, who was a young girl when he was sent to prison. On a boat trip, Lucie meets a young man named Charles Darnay and is taken with him. ...
In Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, the preservation of family groups is a reoccurring theme, mainly shown by Lucie Manette and Dr. Manette’s relationship as father and daughter. The same theme can be found in Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, being shown through Cosette and Jean Valjean. In both stories, the family bonds are strengthened by the time the fathers spent in jail and the conflicts that it brought later on, the daughters recalling their fathers to life by giving them reason to heal, and the decisions the fathers make to let their daughters become independent women. The ties between family members are ones that cannot be broken, and have helped these people carry on during the hardest of times, and the conflicts that have yet to appear.
