Book II - Chapter XV. Knitting Practice Quiz — A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Book II - Chapter XV. Knitting
What has been happening at the Defarge wine-shop for three consecutive mornings at the start of Chapter 15?
Early drinking and brooding. Sallow-faced men have been gathering since 6 a.m., whispering and watching, though many have no money to actually buy wine.
Who is presiding over the wine-shop in Monsieur Defarge's absence?
Madame Defarge, who sits at her counter with a bowl of battered coins, knitting and appearing to see "something inaudible and invisible a long way off."
Who accompanies Monsieur Defarge when he arrives at the wine-shop at midday?
A mender of roads in a blue cap, whom Defarge introduces as "Jacques Five."
What former significance does the garret above the wine-shop hold?
It is the same room where Doctor Manette was imprisoned for years, sitting on a low bench making shoes. The Jacques now use it as a secret meeting room.
What are the code names used by the revolutionaries in the garret?
Jacques One, Jacques Two, Jacques Three, Jacques Four (Defarge), and Jacques Five (the road-mender). The name "Jacques" is used by all members of the secret revolutionary network.
What did the road-mender witness a year before his testimony?
He saw a tall man hanging underneath the Marquis St. Evrémonde's carriage by a chain as it ascended a hill at sunset.
How was the tall man eventually captured?
Six soldiers brought him through the village with his arms bound to his sides. He was lame, and the soldiers drove him with the butt-ends of their muskets, laughing when he fell.
What happened to the tall man in prison?
He was held in an iron cage high up behind bars, bloody and dusty, unable to wave because his hands were bound. Ultimately, he was hanged on a forty-foot gallows by the village fountain.
Who was Damiens and why is he mentioned in this chapter?
Robert-François Damiens was a historical figure who attempted to assassinate King Louis XV. He was publicly tortured and dismembered by four horses in Paris in 1757. Jacques Three mentions him to illustrate the savage punishments the aristocracy inflicts.
What did Defarge do with the petition for the condemned man?
He darted out before the King's horses in the street, risking his life, to present the petition directly to the King and Queen in their carriage.
What verdict do the Jacques reach about the Evrémonde family?
"To be registered, as doomed to destruction." Defarge decrees "Extermination" for "the château and all the race."
What is the "register" that the Jacques refer to?
It is Madame Defarge's knitting—a coded record in her own stitches and symbols that lists the names and crimes of those condemned to die in the coming revolution.
How does Defarge describe the security of Madame Defarge's register?
He says it would be "easier for the weakest poltroon that lives, to erase himself from existence, than to erase one letter of his name or crimes from the knitted register of Madame Defarge."
Why does the road-mender feel a "mysterious dread" of Madame Defarge?
He feels she could "pretend" anything—even claim to have seen him commit murder—and would "infallibly go through with it until the play was played out." Her cold determination terrifies him.
What does Madame Defarge say she is knitting when a bystander asks at Versailles?
"Shrouds." The man moves away from her as soon as he can.
Why does Defarge explain his decision to show the road-mender the King and Queen?
He uses the analogy: "Judiciously show a cat milk, if you wish her to thirst for it. Judiciously show a dog his natural prey, if you wish him to bring it down one day."
How does the road-mender react to seeing the royal court at Versailles?
He becomes temporarily intoxicated by the spectacle—cheering, crying, and shouting "Long live the King, Long live the Queen, Long live everybody and everything!" He even weeps with sentiment.
What strategic purpose does the road-mender's cheering serve, according to Defarge?
Defarge explains that the peasants' adulation makes the aristocrats more "insolent" and overconfident, which hastens the revolution: "it is the nearer ended."
What analogy does Madame Defarge use to describe the aristocrats at the end of the chapter?
She compares them to richly dressed dolls to be plucked apart and fine-feathered birds to be stripped. She tells the road-mender: "You have seen both dolls and birds to-day... now, go home!"
What does the forty-foot gallows "poisoning the water" symbolize?
The gallows erected beside the village fountain represents how aristocratic tyranny contaminates the most basic necessities of daily life. The fountain—a communal gathering place—is poisoned by the shadow and presence of state violence.
What literary device does Dickens use with the phrase "the shadow struck across the church, across the mill, across the prison"?
Anaphora and symbolism. The repeated "across" emphasizes how the shadow of the gallows—representing oppression—extends over every aspect of village life: religion, labor, and confinement.