Bibliography: Dickens, Charles; A Tale of Two Cities; New York, New York; New American Library through Signet Publishing, 2/1960
            
             Genre: Realistic Fiction
            
             Setting: 1775 Paris and London (during the French Revolution.)
            
             Main Characters: Dr. Manette, Charles Darney, Sydney Carton.
            
             Plot: A revealing look how common people were treated and sometimes abused. The following quote has been used many times. " It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..." These are the opening words to this novel. Dickens reveals his sympathy towards the common man during this time period.
            
             Theme: The main theme is a reversal of characters in A Tale of Two Cities. Individuals and groups of people change dramatically from the outset of the book all the way up to its conclusion. Three of the most obvious changes in character are Sydney Carton, Madame DeFarge, and the French people as a whole.
            
             Evaluation: Charles causes the reader to ask what the novel is really about, just what the driving theme is. I think that this novel is about the different personalities of the many different and well-described characters throughout his novel. The story portrays a French physician, Dr. Manette, who has been wrongly put into prison in the Bastille for nearly eighteen years before the story even begins. Because he witnessed the aftermath of a crime that was committed by two other fellows, the doctor was thrown into prison. The entire prison experience is something that he can never fully shake free from. In moments of stress throughout the novel Dr. Manette often goes insane, a result of his time in prison. The story also concerns a man by the name of Jarvis Lorry, who, in the beginning of the book, is on his way to retrieve the doctor from the prison....