english 2H ATOTC Timed Write #3
Directions: Read the passage below, which is Sydney Carton’s prophetic vision at the end of Chapter
15 of Book the Third. Then, answer the following prompt:
How does Charles Dickens use literary devices and/or style elements todevelop a particular theme within the provided passage?
“I see Barsad, and Cly, Defarge, The Vengeance, the Juryman, the Judge, long ranks of the new
oppressors who have risen on the destruction of the old, perishing by this retributive instrument,
before it shall cease out of its present use. I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising
from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly free, in their triumphs and defeats, through
long years to come, I sent the evil of this time and of the previous time of which this is the
natural birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out.
“I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy, in that
England which I shall see no more. I see Her with a child upon her bosom, who bears my name. I see
her father, aged and bent, but otherwise restored, and faithful to all men in his healing office,
and at peace. I see the good old man, so long their friend, in ten years’ time enriching them with
all he has, and passing tranquilly to his reward.
“I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations
hence. I see her, an old woman, weeping for me on the anniversary of this day. I see her and her
husband, their course done, lying side by side in their last earthly bed, and I know that each was
not more honoured and held sacred in the other’s soul, than I was in the souls of both.
“I see that child who lay upon her bosom and who bore my name, a man winning his way up in that
path of life which once was mine. I see him winning it so well, that my name is made illustrious
there by the light of his. I see the blots I threw upon it, faded away. I see him, fore-most ofjust
judges and honoured men, bringing a boy of my name, with a forehead that I know and golden hair, to
this place—then fair to look upon, with not a trace of this day’s disfigurement—and I hear him tell
the child my story, with a tender and a faltering voice.
“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest
that I go to than I have ever‘ known.”
Theme statements take a singular tonic glove, war. sacrifice, loyalty, betrayal, etc.) and then
declare the author’s message about said topic as developed by the plot, characters, and literary
devices in a text.
Below are a few sample themes for A Tale of Two Cites that also may apply to the assigned passage.
For this timed write, you may choose to use or revise one of the themes below OR you may create
fitting theme statement on your own.
1. Sacrifice is necessary for future strength and happiness.
2. Violence will give way to a new and better society.
3. People are always capable of change and transformation.
4. Redemption involves a great sacrifice for others.
5. Sacrifice is essential to changing fate or history.
please use the self assessment to direct you on how to write it. make it a junior or senior level essay. make sure to do MLA format. I have attached my version of what i had so far. include a good attention getter and thesis.
