A Tale of Two Cities is a novel written by Charles Dickens in 1859. The book was originally published in Dickens' literary periodical All the Year Round, as Dickens had a falling out with his regular publishers. The first installment was printed in the first issue on April 30, 1859 and the last was printed thirty weeks later on November 26. The story begins in 1775 with Mr. Jarvis Lorry, a businessman who works at the Tellson bank, traveling to Dover to see Lucie Manette. He begins to tell Lucie that she is not an orphan as she once believed but that her father, Doctor Manette, was in the Bastille in Paris and has just been released. Monsieur Defarge, former servant of Doctor Mannette, has taken care of him since his release from prison. The doctor has lost part of his memory and spends a lot of time tinkering with shoes, a trade he learned in prison. Lucie and Mr. Lorry take the doctor back to London, where Lucie treats him. Five years pass and Charles Darnay is tried in London for treason for having provided the French and the Americans with the secrets of the English. Lucie and Doctor Manette met Darnay during a trip from Calais to Dover and told the court of his qualities. But then Mr. Sydney Carton, who looks exactly like Darnay, suddenly appears and allows Darnay to be acquitted. Meanwhile in France, Marquis Evremonde, Darnay's uncle, runs over a plebeian child with his carriage and shows no regret before rushing home. Darnay arrives later that night and renounces his identity as Evrémonde before leaving for England. The Marquis is assassinated that night by French revolutionaries. Both Darnay and Carton begin to fall in love with Lucie. A year passes and Da...... middle of paper ......belief in resurrection on a personal level and a societal level. This is seen when Carton creates a new life for the Controllers by sacrificing himself. This example also applies to the theme of the necessity of sacrifice. The French Revolution demonstrated that a French republic could only have been created if personal loves and loyalty were sacrificed for the good of the country. The final theme presented in the book is the revolutionaries' tendency toward violence and oppression. Dickens sympathized with the French peasants and showed their true need for liberation while focusing on the evil committed by the revolutionaries themselves. Personally, I have mixed feelings about this book. Although the novel has an interesting story, the story itself is sometimes difficult to follow. The book's writing style makes it confusing; but the storyline itself is interesting.