Non-Fiction

Chapter 21

“A Scene of Bloodshed and Violence…” (A Lesson in Identifying Point of View) In A Tale of Two Cities the French Revolution is a prime mover of plot. The historical setting provides an opportunity for teachers to pair literary study with an examination of primary historical documents. A number of primary documents are available online. The University of California at Santa Barbara has a collection of primary documents that feature British newspaper coverage of the French Revolution. This website can be accessed at “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution” is a comprehensive website put together by George Mason University and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The site presents essays, original documents, political cartoons, and songs. Students can find it at **http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/**
 * http://www.english.ucsb.edu/faculty/ayliu/research/around-1800/FR/index.html**

What To Do: 1. Read chapter 21, “Echoing Footsteps,” p. 246-258, depicting, in part, the storming of the Bastille. 2. This chapter is a fictional account based in part on Dickens’s reading of Thomas Carlyle’s //The French Revolution//. As you read jot down important facts and then discuss them with a partner.E 3. Now you have an opportunity to read an eyewitness report of a mob’s actions on August 19, 1792. Contrast it with Dickens’s account of mob violence. 4. Read Handout 2. Note any details that support Dickens’s account of the mob’s behavior. Does the unnamed writer of this article appear to be more or less partisan than Dickens? Cite examples in each to support your response. 6. **Summarizer**: Do you believe such actions could occur today? Where, when, and why? 7. **Homework**: Write a letter to the editor of the London Times. Give them two choices. They can write in defense of the September Massacre from the point-of-view of Monsieur or Madame Defarge, or they can write a condemnation in the persona of Doctor Manette or Charles Darnay. Points of view must be supported by references to the novel.
 * Activator:** Do you find the behavior of the mob believable or exaggerated?