Fore·shad·ow
verb (used with object): To show or indicate beforehand. I find it very interesting how Dickens foreshadows the French Revolution in chapter five. He uses the “joker” character in a very meaningful way to draw attention to the detail of the French Revolution that is soon to come.On the middle of page 32 Dickens writes, “...and one tall joker so besmirched... scrawled upon a wall with his finger dipped in muddy wine less - BLOOD. The time was to come, when that wine too would be spilled on the street-stones, and when the stain of it would be red upon many there.”
I think the word “besmirched” was a good choice to describe the joker. Besmirched means to soil, and I believe the joker is looking down at these poor citizens and making fun of them, but this makes the foreshadow of the French Revolution even more important. These people are poor and they’re on their knees for a small sip of wine while the wealthy smirk at them, and soon they’re going to want freedom from this starvation. I like how Dickens compares the muddy wine in the street to the blood from the rebellion, it grabs your attention.
Foreshadowing is a great way to grab and pull you into the book. I want to keep reading to find the significance of this short scene with the joker and how it ties into the main story of the book. I think Dickens voice is really empathetic for these poor families and I am curious to why he focused so much on this scene, so I read on. You can infer the blood has something to do with the French Revolution because of the time this is taking place, but you wonder why he is putting this detail in the start of a chapter.
Although I have to read on for class I really don’t consider it a homework assignment because I am excited to know what is going to happen. Any author should want that for readers and I think Dickens does a great job using foreshadowing to keep you engaged in your reading.
I agree Megan, Dickens does a great job foreshadowing the French Revolution through the joker and the spilling of the wine. I think that the word "blood" is the most important word in this passage when it comes to the foreshadow. I also think that the wine is symbolic for what is to come in the future, in this case blood. In the French Rev., the streets were literally filled with blood due to the reign of terror. Dickens does a great job hinting at this through portraying spilled wine on the streets of France.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Dickens has been using foreshadowing a lot during the first book, and I'm sure that it will become even more apparent as we read on. I'd like to add the fact that this entire scene is based on the poor; on the common peasants of the age. Dickens emphasizes this by going on to separate them from the wealthier people by transitioning to a scene in the wine shop. In this section, three patrons are talking about the "beasts" while gorging themselves with wine. This hints to me that this is going to be a war started by the poor, angry citizens that make up the majority of the country. I am looking forward to this, because reading this passage made me feel awful--the level of desperation in these characters' lives is horrible. I am looking forward to reading about them taking a stand.
ReplyDeleteI agree that in the first few chapters, I often found myself forshadowing also. The way Dicken's phrases a lot of his sentences, puts you in a state of curiosity and wonder because he doesn't give you an answer, he gives you something to think about. I also thought the scene with the joker was interesting because Dicken's put so much time and detail into such a small portion of chapter 5, that it really sticks in your brain as a significant section of the chapter. Along with what Jack said, the Reign of Terror was going on during this time period and the joker could be hinting towards that with the word "BLOOD" he wrote so profoundly with red wine.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with this blog post with the idea that Dicken's often puts the reader in a situation of foreshadowing. As Dicken's describe the joker writing "BLOOD" with the wine, I was so confused as to why he was doing this. After reading Megan's wallpost and Jack and Emma's comments, I understand their thoughts of this part of the chapter and the connection between the wine spilling and the French Revolution. These two things clearly have a connection and the description of the wine spilling through the streets has so much emphasis on the story thus far and I thought Dicken's did a really good job of spending so much time elaborating on the joker writing "BLOOD" and the families drinking the wine through the streets.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the idea that this "Joker" is looking down on the less fortunate citizens, but rather he is making a joke about their hopeless situation where there is obviously going to be a lot of bloodshed and chaos; and for lack of a better phrase he is trying to "lighten the mood." The joke of writing "Blood" on the wall in wine was similar to when the citizens got together and laughed and danced in the streets together because of the misfortune that they shared. It was more of a way of portraying their situation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Megan and I think that this is a very good post. I also could relate to this post because I almost wrote about the BLOOD myself. Throughout the whole entire scene with the wine I had already created in my head that it had something to do with blood and on the next page we find the Joker writing in wine "Blood" There is a great deal of foreshadowing in this scene, I pictured my church when they raise the wine and refer it to the blood of christ. I think that Dickens is not only describing the great deal of thirst in Paris but he did a two in one by also throwing in foreshadowing on how that this red stain will soon be something else- probably blood from the French Revolution. These two pages really intrigued me.
ReplyDeleteThe joker was also a sort of random character and I wonder if he will become important. Of all people why would he write "BLOOD" in wine?
Great passage choice, Megan, and congrats on getting so many comments on your blog post!
ReplyDeleteHere's my question: When you write, "I like how Dickens compares the muddy wine in the street to the blood from the rebellion, it grabs your attention." can you give a specific example of word(s) that grab your attention?