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A Tale of Two Cities: Book the First (Chapter 3 (Narrator: "Eighteen…

- - - - The narrator and Dr. Manette both have different reactions to the idea of being "recalled to life." The narrator can't believe that someone could be "dead." for eighteen years and not want to immediately come back. the doctor however is unsure if he even wants to be "recalled to life." He had given up hope a long time ago of ever living again, and he might not want to now.
  - - - Life is complicated. Human emotions are difficult to understand and everyone has their own life that they lead that is different than a person next to them. This is the point that Dickens is trying to make. In these two quotes, it is the best of times in the sense that narrator has realized that everyone has their own life and that it can be difficult to understand each other's lives. However, it is the worst of times in the sense that the narrator has also experienced death. Loss. Grief. Those feelings hurt. They can be some of the hardest to swallow, and most people looking on from the outside wouldn't be able to see those emotions.
- - - - Both quotes refer to the imprisonment of Dr. Manette. The first quote depicts the imprisonment as a disparity, in which the imprisonment has distraught the doctor to the extent that he must be kept under lock and key in order to keep from harming himself. This is shown as upsetting, as not only is it concerning that men have considered doing such things, but also have gone through and acted upon their harmful thoughts. The ruined mental state of the doctor is also seen as an idea of hopeful. Defarge presents the harm's duality. In spite of the horror that such an event and mental pitfall can occur, it can be good to motivate others. He can serve as a martyr for the revolutionaries who wish to fight to prevent such an event to happening to others in the future. This presents the duality of despair serving also as a spring of hope.
    - - The narrator clearly highlights the spilling of the wine as a fun moment, in which everybody got along. This break from reality was the best, since for a single moment everybody got along. However, the spilling of the wine also served to show the duality present in the book. This is shown through the contrast described by the narrator following the wine spillage. As everything went back to normal, people experienced responsibility, pain, and general dreariness. While moments like the wine spillage make the times great and worth living, most of life in the book was more towards the pessimistic side of the duality of the book, in which people are generally miserable.