A Tale of Two Cities, Book II - Chapter XXI. Echoing Footsteps quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What personal loss does the Darnay family experience during the peaceful years described in Chapter 21?

   • Dr. Manette suffers a relapse and returns to shoemaking
   • Correct answer: Their young son dies in childhood after a brief illness
   • Sydney Carton stops visiting the family entirely after a quarrel
   • Miss Pross leaves their household to return to England's countryside

   The Darnays' son dies young. He departs with the words: "Dear papa and mamma, I am very sorry to leave you both, and to leave my pretty sister; but I am called, and I must go!"

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2. 2

   Question 2. How often does Sydney Carton visit the Darnay household?

   • Every week, joining the family for Sunday dinner regularly
   • Correct answer: About half a dozen times a year, coming uninvited as permitted
   • Once a month, always bringing gifts for little Lucie and her brother
   • Only on holidays and birthdays, maintaining a careful formal distance

   Dickens writes that Carton "claimed his privilege of coming in uninvited" about "some half-dozen times a year, at most." He also notably never arrived "heated with wine."

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3. 3

   Question 3. What news does Mr. Lorry bring from Tellson's Bank on the July evening in 1789?

   • The French government has seized all English bank holdings in Paris
   • Correct answer: French customers are frantically sending their property to England
   • Tellson's Paris branch has been shut down by revolutionary forces
   • Charles Darnay's French estates have been confiscated by the crown

   Lorry says: "There is positively a mania among some of them for sending it to England." He describes "a run of confidence" upon Tellson's, reflecting the panic in France.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What weapons does Madame Defarge carry during the storming of the Bastille?

   • A musket, a bayonet, and a revolutionary flag to rally the crowd
   • Correct answer: An axe, a pistol, and a cruel knife tucked in her girdle
   • A pike, a torch, and a length of rope for binding prisoners
   • Only her knitting needles, which she uses as symbolic weapons of war

   Dickens writes: "Madame's resolute right hand was occupied with an axe, in place of the usual softer implements, and in her girdle were a pistol and a cruel knife."

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5. 5

   Question 5. How long does the siege of the Bastille last in Dickens's account?

   • A single fierce hour of concentrated bombardment and assault
   • Two fierce hours before the garrison raises the white flag
   • Correct answer: Four fierce hours of cannon, muskets, fire, and smoke
   • The entire day from dawn until sunset, nearly twelve hours

   Dickens marks the passage of time with "Two fierce hours" after the first assault, then "Four fierce hours" before the white flag appears and the fortress falls.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What cell does Defarge demand to see once inside the fallen Bastille?

   • The governor's private quarters where political records are stored
   • The underground dungeon where the most dangerous prisoners were kept
   • Correct answer: One Hundred and Five, North Tower—Dr. Manette's former cell
   • The armory where the prison's weapons and gunpowder are held

   Defarge demands: "Show me the North Tower! Quick!" and asks "What is the meaning of One Hundred and Five, North Tower?" This was Dr. Alexandre Manette's cell.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does Defarge find carved into the wall of cell 105?

   • A detailed map showing hidden escape tunnels beneath the fortress
   • Correct answer: The initials "A. M.," the words "a poor physician," and a scratched calendar
   • A coded message addressed to Ernest Defarge about the Marquis
   • The names of every prisoner who had occupied the cell over decades

   Jacques Three reads "A. M.!" and Defarge identifies it: "Alexandre Manette... And here he wrote 'a poor physician.' And it was he, without doubt, who scratched a calendar on this stone."

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does Defarge search for inside cell 105 after reading the inscriptions?

   • Gold or jewels that Dr. Manette may have hidden from the guards
   • Correct answer: A hidden document, searching the chimney, furniture, and straw bed
   • Dr. Manette's shoemaking tools as evidence of his imprisonment
   • A key to another cell where additional prisoners might be chained

   Defarge smashes the stool and table, searches the fragments, has Jacques Three rip open the bed, and pries at the chimney with a crowbar—clearly seeking a written document.

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9. 9

   Question 9. How does the governor of the Bastille die?

   • He is shot by Defarge during the final breach of the inner courtyard
   • He surrenders and is imprisoned in the cell formerly holding Dr. Manette
   • Correct answer: The mob beats him to death and Madame Defarge severs his head with her knife
   • He leaps from the fortress walls rather than face the revolutionary tribunal

   Madame Defarge "remained immovable close to him" as the crowd beat him, and "when he dropped dead under it... she put her foot upon his neck, and with her cruel knife—long ready—hewed off his head."

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10. 10

    Question 10. What is the "horrible idea" that Saint Antoine executes at the end of the chapter?

    • Burning the Bastille to the ground as a symbol of destroying tyranny
    • Correct answer: Hoisting soldiers on lampposts to demonstrate revolutionary power
    • Parading the freed prisoners through Paris as proof of their victory
    • Drowning the remaining prison guards in the Seine River at midnight

    Dickens writes: "The hour was come, when Saint Antoine was to execute his horrible idea of hoisting up men for lamps to show what he could be and do."

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11. 11

    Question 11. What extended metaphor does Dickens use to describe the revolutionary mob throughout this chapter?

    • A raging wildfire that consumes everything in its path without mercy
    • Correct answer: A living sea or ocean that rises, surges, and floods the fortress
    • A pack of wolves hunting prey through the narrow streets of Paris
    • A thunderstorm with lightning strikes representing each act of violence

    Dickens repeatedly describes the mob as "the living sea," which "rose, wave on wave, depth on depth" and "overflowed the city." The sea metaphor connects the peaceful murmurs of Lucie's home to the violent flood of revolution.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What final image closes the chapter, and what numbers does it emphasize?

    • One thousand revolutionaries marching with ten captured cannons and five flags
    • Correct answer: Seven freed prisoners, seven severed heads on pikes, and the keys of the Bastille
    • Twelve church bells ringing as three hundred soldiers surrender their arms
    • Five fires burning at the fortress corners and two drawbridges destroyed

    Dickens writes: "Seven prisoners released, seven gory heads on pikes, the keys of the accursed fortress of the eight strong towers" are escorted through the Paris streets.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does the chapter's final paragraph foreshadow about the Darnay family?

    • That Lucie will travel to Paris and personally witness the Revolution
    • Correct answer: That the revolutionary violence will eventually reach into Lucie's life
    • That Dr. Manette will return to the Bastille to reclaim his possessions
    • That Charles Darnay will join the revolutionaries against the aristocracy

    Dickens writes: "Now, Heaven defeat the fancy of Lucie Darnay, and keep these feet far out of her life! For, they are headlong, mad, and dangerous.” This foreshadows the Revolution's devastating impact on the Darnays.

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