An Epic Opener

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way...”

~Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Knot Your Typical Knitting... (2)

As I delve further into the book, my perspectives about various characters are constantly changing. Madame Defarge is a prime example of this. She was introduced in the beginning of the book as the wife of Monsieur Defarge with a passion for knitting. My original thoughts in regard to this pastime were along the lines of, That’s weird...I wonder why she does that? I simply disregarded her character as worthless and unimportant. However, now that I am much further along in the story, I am beginning to see how valuable and important Madame Defarge really is.
Madame Defarge’s knitting is not to be overlooked, as I originally perceived. In fact, it is what holds together all of her and her husband’s records and secret information about spies and other shady characters. What Madame actually knits is a code, and by looking back at her work she can tell exactly who she and her husband were talking to, what they said, and what they looked like. I find this to be extremely impressive and fascinating, and something to keep in mind as I continue reading A Tale of Two Cities.

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