The opening sentence is a duality: "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 season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair." This is a great link! http://bookstove.com/historical-fiction/ (I only was able to post parts. It has the page numbers to the ideas) DUAL CHARACTERS AND THEMES Dickens utilizes contrast in events, themes, and characters symbolically to represent the disparity between the wealthy and the underprivileged. He demonstrates the resemblance between revolutionary France and Dickens modern England by showing the wide gap between rich and poor in both countries, and by doing so he suggests the possibility of an English Revolution, and cautions his readers to examine the consequences of living in a society so divided that while the poor are on the streets, scrambling and groping for a single drop of wine, the rich are sitting in their chambers being served hot chocolate by a multitude of servants. A foil: a character who serves the purpose of highlighting attributes in another character through dissimilarity. In order for a character to be a foil, though, they must also have a crucial common attribute. The most important example of a foil is that of Sydney Carton, an alcoholic barrister who works as the assistant to a less intelligent, but more ambitious lawyer. Sydney Carton is the idlest and most uncompromising of men (page 102), and his behavior is described as half-insolent (page 97)....He is a foil Charles Darnay, a young man of about twenty-five, well-grown and well-looking a young gentleman (page 73). Charles is former a French aristocrat who renounced his title and is working as a French tutor in England. He is ambitious, courageous, and certainly not an alcoholic. etc. Love and hate are arguably the most important contrasting themes in A Tale of Two Cities, because they tie all the characters to Lucie Manette, the central character in the book. The love that Charles, Sydney, Doctor Manette, Lucies father, have for Lucie is understandable, but the love Miss Pross, Lucies nanny and the familys devoted friend (Page 432), has for Lucie is exceptional. Miss Pross love starkly contrasts with the hate that the books antagonist, Madame Defarge, the familys malevolent enemy (Page 432), has for her. Miss Pross and Madame Defarge significance is mostly as symbolic characters, each representing their feelings toward Lucie: etc. Contrasting events are also featured in A Tale of Two Cities, specifically the contrast between the comfort of the Manette household in London and the violence and desperation in the slums of France. Lucie and her father live in his quiet lodgings (Page 108) in Soho-square, far away from the the suburb of Saint Antoine, in Paris (Page 35). The starving residents of Paris, where Hunger [is] prevalent everywhere (Page 36), reach and grope for the remnants of a single cask of wine (Page 34), while Lucie and her father reside quietly in his tranquil (Page 109) home, a harbour from the raging streets (Page 109). etc.