Summary
Book II, Chapter 14 of A Tale of Two Cities centers on Jerry Cruncher, the odd-job man for Tellson's Bank, and reveals his secret nighttime profession as a "resurrection man" -- a grave robber who digs up corpses and sells them to surgeons. The chapter unfolds in three acts: a riotous funeral procession, a nocturnal expedition to a graveyard, and a grim domestic aftermath.
Jerry sits on his stool outside Tellson's Bank on Fleet Street when a funeral cortege passes, drawing a hostile mob. The crowd learns the deceased is Roger Cly, the Old Bailey spy who testified against Charles Darnay in his treason trial. The single mourner flees, the mob seizes control of the hearse and mourning coach, and a chaotic procession proceeds to the churchyard of Saint Pancras. Jerry joins eagerly, concealing himself in the mourning coach. After the burial, the crowd devolves into a full-scale riot -- chasing innocent passersby as supposed "spies," breaking windows, and plundering public houses -- until a rumor that the Guards are coming disperses them.
Jerry's "Fishing" Expedition
Jerry lingers in the churchyard, eyeing the fresh grave with professional interest. That evening at home, he warns his wife that if his "wenturs" go wrong, he will blame her prayers. He announces he is going "fishing" -- a transparent euphemism that Young Jerry sees through, noting his father's "fishing-rod" is getting rusty. After the household retires, Jerry retrieves a sack, crowbar, rope, and chain from a locked cupboard and sets out near one o'clock in the morning.
Young Jerry secretly follows his father through the dark streets. He watches as Jerry and two companions scale the iron gate of a churchyard and begin digging up a grave with spades and a great corkscrew-like instrument. When they haul a coffin to the surface, the terrified boy flees, imagining the coffin hopping after him through the streets in one of 's most vividly comic nightmare sequences.
The Morning After
At dawn, Jerry returns home empty-handed and furious. He accuses his wife of sabotaging his work through prayer, knocking her head against the bedboard. At breakfast there is "no fish" -- confirming his expedition failed. Walking to Tellson's the next morning, Young Jerry asks his father what a "Resurrection-Man" is. Jerry guardedly explains it is a tradesman dealing in "Scientific goods." The chapter ends with Young Jerry's cheerful declaration that he wants to be a resurrection man when he grows up, and Jerry's private hope that his son "will yet be a blessing."
Themes and Significance
The chapter develops the resurrection motif that runs throughout the novel, here given a darkly ironic twist: Jerry's "resurrections" are a grotesque parody of the theme of being "recalled to life." Mob mentality is on full display as the funeral crowd transforms into a destructive riot, foreshadowing the far more violent mobs of the French Revolution to come. The title "The Honest Tradesman" is deeply ironic, as Jerry uses the language of respectable commerce to dignify grave-robbing. also seeds an important plot connection: Roger Cly's burial will prove significant later in the novel when doubts arise about whether Cly was truly dead.