GRADE 10- Honors
Summer Reading 2015
East Hill Christian School
Novel: A Tale of Two
Author: Charles Dickens
Cities
(this novel is read in addition to The Heart Mender)
For this assignment to be beneficial, summer reading should take place over the course of the
summer. The books chosen will stir the imagination and will keep the gift of reading alive. Summer
lends itself to many other fun activities like movies, music, video games, and social media which can
occupy a student’s time and attention. To sit and read a book can reap so many rewards if it is
intentional and planned out. Rather than reading CliffsNotes, SparkNotes, etc. and/or watching a
movie version of the book, students should read the unabridged text to receive maximum benefit.
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS: All work should be turned in on the first day of school to the English
teacher. The summer reading answers should be typed. Please follow the numbering sequence for
each chapter and keep all answers succinct. The questions do not need to be re-typed on the
answer sheet. All work should be placed in a folder with the student’s name and grade level on the
outside. A grade will be given on the summer reading project that will be made up of the answers
portion as well as a quiz or test during the first week of school.
For questions about the summer reading project, please call the school office at 850.438.7746 or
email Mrs. Kelly at [email protected].
BOOK ONE: RECALLED TO LIFE
Chapters 1-2
1. Who is the “king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face”?
2. How does this first chapter involve the first book’s title?
3. On what precise date does this chapter open?
4. What was the guard’s initial reaction to the arrival of Jerry Cruncher?
5. Why has Dickens been so specific about the guard’s weapons?
Chapters 3-4
6. What is Cruncher’s reaction to the message he is to take to Tellson’s?
7. What particulars are given about Jerry’s appearance?
8. Who is Mr. Lorry waiting for in Dover?
9. What news does Mr. Lorry have for the young Lady?
10. What is her reaction to the news?
Chapter 5
11. What are the people’s reactions to the broken wine cask?
12. Describe Defarge and his wife.
13. What is the significance of Madame Defarge’s knitting?
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Chapter 6
14. What is Dr. Manette doing when they enter the room?
15. What physical characteristic tells us that Lucie is indeed the Doctor’s daughter?
16. How is the conclusion of the first book both pathetic and comic?
BOOK TWO: THE GOLDEN THREAD
Chapters 1-2
1. Describe Tellson’s bank. What is the bank’s attitude toward change?
2. How do Jerry’s hands and boots constitute a mystery?
3. How is Dickens critical of both the Old Bailey and Bedlam?
4. Who is being tried, and what is the charge against him?
5. Who is present in the courtroom to act as witnesses for the prosecution?
Chapter 3
6. Where did Mr. Lorry, Miss Manette, and Dr. Manette first meet Charles Darnay?
7. What does Mr. Stryver say about Mr. Basard and Mr. Cly?
8. What is the verdict?
Chapters 4-5
9. What do you think Carton’s and Darnay’s roast foreshadows?
10. What suggestion does Dickens implant in the reader’s mind by the closing line of the chapter?
11. What is the relationship between the so-called Jackal and Lion?
12. What is Carson’s job?
Chapter 6
13. Where does Mr. Lorry go most Sundays? Why?
14. Describe Miss Pross as she appears on the surface and how she really is once you get to know
her?
15. Who are the “hundreds of people” that visit the Manette’s on Sundays?
Chapters 7-8
16. Describe the “accident” that befalls the Monsieur the Marquis in the streets of Paris.
17. What is the Marquis’s attitude toward this “accident”?
18. What are the conditions in the Marquis’s home village?
19. Who is the Marquis expecting? Can you guess the identity of this person?
Chapter 9
20. Of what does Darnay accuse his uncle?
21. What is Darnay’s opinion of his family’s behavior and what does he plan to do about it?
22. What happens to the Marquis, and what does the note tell us?
Chapters 10-11
23. In proclaiming his love for Lucie, how does Charles show consideration for Dr. Manette?
24. What are the two promises that the Doctor makes Charles?
25. What future plan does Stryver confess to Carton?
26. What does Stryver advise Carton to do?
Chapter 12
27. Why does Stryver stop in to tell Mr. Lorry of his plans?
28. What is Mr. Lorry’s reaction to Stryver’s news?
29. What does Mr. Lorry offer to do for Stryver?
Chapter 13
30. In his talk with Lucie, what is Carton’s opinion of himself?
31. What does Carton say he would do if Lucie should love him?
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32. What promise does Carton make Lucie? Where do you think this promise will lead him?
Chapter 14
33. Whose funder procession does the crowd attached? Why do they attack it?
34. What is Jerry Cruncher’s reaction to the mob violence?
35. Describe Mr. Cruncher’s “fishing tackle.”
Chapters 15-19
36. What was the fate of the marquis’s killer, and who reported that fate to Defarge?
37. Why is Defarge depressed, and how does Madame Defarge comfort him?
38. What does the spy learn from the Defarges and what do they learn from him?
39. What are the doctor’s feelings about Lucie’s impending marriage?
40. What does Charles tell the Doctor on the morning of his marriage to Lucie?
41. What two things does Mr. Lorry do in reaction to the Doctor’s condition?
42. What does the doctor say is the one thing that could bring on another relapse? What does he
mean by this?
Chapters 20-24
43. What request does Carton make of Charles?
44. What does Lucie request of Charles?
45. Where did Defarge demand to be taken first? Why?
46. Who was Old Foulon and what was his fate?
47. What is the symbol of the revolutionaries?
48. What happens at the Marquis’s villa? What is this an example of?
49. Why is Mr. Lorry going to France? What is his mission?
BOOK THREE: THE TRACK OF A STORM
Chapters 1-3
1. What type of reception does Charles receive in France?
2. What is the “emigrant decree,” and how does it affect Charles?
3. What horrible thing is located in the courtyard of Tellson’s in Paris? What makes it horrible?
4. What is the mob’s reaction to the Doctor’s plea for help?
5. Who is the messenger that comes to Mr. Lorry, and what is his message?
6. What doe Lucie ask of Madame Defarge, and how does she respond?
Chapters 4-6
7. What conditions does the Doctor find in the prison?
8. What is the new legal order in France at this time?
9. What small scrap of good news does the Doctor bring Lucie?
10. What is the Carmagnole, and why does Lucie think it is terrible?
11. Who orchestrates Charles’s acquittal, and is his defense built on fact or emotion?
12. What is the mob’s reaction to Charles’s acquittal, and why is this surprising?
Chapters 7-9
13. Why do Charles and his family stay in France, and what is their style of living there?
14. What happens to Charles during his first night of freedom?
15. Who do Miss Pross and Jerry Cruncher run into while shopping?
16. Who does Carton know this man as?
17. What is Barsard going to do for Carson? What do you think Caron’s plan is?
18. Who are Charles’ accusers? Why is one of them particularly surprising?
Chapter 10
19. Who are the twin brothers who need the Doctor’s services?
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20. Who had the Doctor put in prison and why?
21. What was the last thing the Doctor wrote in his account, and what effect does its reading have?
Chapters 11-12
22. Why didn’t Lucie collapse when Charles was condemned, and what does this say about her?
23. Why did Carton encourage Dr. Manette to continue his efforts to free Charles? What does this
say about Carton?
24. Why did Carton go to Defarge’s wine shop?
25. What papers does Carton give Mr. Lorry to hold?
Chapters 13-14
26. What does Charles write in his “last” letter?
27. How does Carton get Charles to go along with his plan?
28. What plan are Miss Pross and Mr. Cruncher following and why?
29. What happens between Miss Pross and Madame Defarge?
Chapter 15
30. At the execution, what do they say about Carton?
31. What does Carton foretell for Charles and Lucie, and how does their future bring honor to his
name?
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