explain the third paragraph, first ch of A Tale of Two Cities to me? i dont get wat theyre talking bout!?

Answer 1

this site has EVERYTHING you may want to know about the first few paragraphs

http://dickens.stanford.edu/archive/tale/issue1_gloss.html

Answer 2

The year is 1775, and life in England and France seems paradoxically the best and the worst that it can be. The rulers and ruling classes of both countries may have the best of life, but they are out of touch with the common people and believe that the status quo will continue forever.

In France, inflation is out of control and an oppressive social system results in intolerable and extreme injustices being committed against average citizens, who believe they have the worst of life. The breaking point—riotous rebellion—is near, and the populace of France secretly but steadily moves toward revolution.

Meanwhile, in England, people give spiritualists and the supernatural more attention than the revolutionary rumblings from American colonists, and an ineffective justice system leads to widespread violence and crime. While the English and French kings and queens carelessly ignore the unrest and misery prevalent in their countries, silent forces guide the rulers and their people toward fate and death.

Answer 3

Book The First: Recalled to Life Chapters 1–4
Summary: Chapter 1: The Period
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it
was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. . . .

(See Important Quotations Explained)
As its title promises, this brief chapter establishes the era in which the novel takes place: England and France in 1775. The age is marked by competing and contradictory attitudes—“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”—but resembles the “present period” in which Dickens writes. In England, the public worries over religious prophecies, popular paranormal phenomena in the form of “the Cock-lane ghost,” and the messages that a colony of British subjects in America has sent to King George III. France, on the other hand, witnesses excessive spending and extreme violence, a trend that anticipates the erection of the guillotine. Yet in terms of peace and order, English society cannot “justify much national boasting” either—crime and capital punishment abound.
Summary: Chapter 2: The Mail
On a Friday night in late November of 1775, a mail coach wends its way from London to Dover. The journey proves so treacherous that the three passengers must dismount from the carriage and hike alongside it as it climbs a steep hill. From out of the great mists, a messenger on horseback appears and asks to speak to Jarvis Lorry of Tellson’s Bank. The travelers react warily, fearing that they have come upon a highwayman or robber. Mr. Lorry, however, recognizes the messenger’s voice as that of Jerry Cruncher, the odd-job-man at Tellson’s, and accepts his message. The note that Jerry passes him reads: “Wait at Dover for Mam’selle.” Lorry instructs Jerry to return to Tellson’s with this reply: “recalled to life.” Confused and troubled by the “blazing strange message,” Jerry rides on to deliver it.
Summary: Chapter 3: The Night Shadows
A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. . . .

(See Important Quotations Explained)
The narrator ponders the secrets and mysteries that each human being poses to every other: Lorry, as he rides on in the mail coach with two strangers, constitutes a case in point. Dozing, he drifts in and out of dreams, most of which revolve around the workings of Tellson’s bank. Still, there exists “another current of impression that never cease[s] to run” through Lorry’s mind—the notion that he makes his way to dig someone out of a grave. He imagines repetitive conversations with a specter, who tells Lorry that his body has lain buried nearly eighteen years. Lorry informs his imaginary companion that he now has been “recalled to life” and asks him if he cares to live. He also asks, cryptically, “Shall I show her to you? Will you come and see her?” The ghost’s reaction to this question varies, as he sometimes claims that he would die were he to see this woman too soon; at other times, he weeps and pleads to see her immediately.

Answer 4

It would be nice if you would list the paragraph. Some of us haven't read the book in awhile.

Answer 5

one country is haveing a good time and the other is in the hole lol

Answer 6

Check out http://www.cliffnotes.com/ to help you.

Answer 7

if I had the book handy....