A tale of Two Cities

CONCLUSION
As historical retrospection stems from the concoction of human memory and thought, therefore it is plausible to assume that history would always be ambivalent as the understanding of it is produced through the act of recollection. A Tale of Two Cities, like its namesake, is undeniably filled with contradictions – in fact it is a story of contradictions, a medium where the narrator reveals these various contradictions and lays them bare to the reader. A Tale of Two Cities mimics its subject matter – the French Revolution – as it follows the complex trajectory of history, indirectly revealing how history is far too complex to be labeled into tiny, well-thought-of explanations, albeit the numerous attempts of Dickens’ contemporaries to use the genre as a way to mitigate their confusions, dilemmas, and fears of past historical events. History would always be ambivalent, which is made possible through the act of retrospection and recollection. Fiction, within a context of A Tale, serves as a way for Dickens to narrativize his understanding, doubts, and perspectives of the French Revolution, delivering a novel that aligns with Victorian England’s interpretation of the movement that occurred across the narrow English Channel. Through A Tale, Dickens lays out a groundwork of stories, and interconnecting characters, creating plausible scenarios that would allow him and his readership – the English people, to immerse and even insert themselves within the timeline of a historical event and divulge with these various ambivalences in a way that seems contemplative. A Tale allows its readers to dissect the novel similar to the way they would dissect a historical piece, allowing readers to formulate their own opinions of the French Revolution, while making peace with unanswered historical questions by allowing ambivalence to take hold.
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1^ Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1981.

2^ Woods, Samuel. H. Reading Literature: The Critical Approach. Nee York: random House Inc, 1971.

3^ Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publisher, 1985.

4^ Chesterton, G.K. Charles Dickens. London: Methuen and Co Ltd, 1956.

5^ Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction. Oxford.: Blackwell Ltd, 1995.

6^ Dickens, Charles. The Great Expectations. London: Collins Clear-Type Press, 1953.

7^ Foster, E.M. Aspect of the Novel. London: Edward Arnold Ltd,1974

8^ Perkings, George. The Theory of American Novel. London: Holt, Rienhart and Winston, 1970.

9^ Rohrberger, Marry and Samuel H. Woods, Jr. Reading and Writing about Literature. New York: Random House Inc, 1971.

10^ Stanton, Robert. Introduction to Fiction. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc, 1965.

11^ Wellek, Rene and Austin Warren. Theory of Literature. New York: Harcourt, Brace & world Inc, 1949.

12^ Oxford University Press, 1997. Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction. Oxford.: Blackwell Ltd, 1995.

13^ Woods, Samuel. H. Reading Literature: The Critical Approach. Nee York: random House Inc, 1971.