A Tale of Two Cities, Book II - Chapter XXIII. Fire Rises quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What has replaced the aristocrats in the French villages at the opening of Chapter 23?

   • Foreign soldiers occupying the countryside on behalf of the king
   • Correct answer: Strange faces of low caste—rough, travel-worn revolutionary agents
   • Wealthy merchants from Paris buying up abandoned estates
   • Religious missionaries attempting to restore order to the peasants

   Dickens writes that the change "consisted in the appearance of strange faces of low caste, rather than in the disappearance of the high caste" aristocrats.

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2. 2

   Question 2. How do the mender of roads and the stranger identify each other as revolutionaries?

   • They exchange written letters sealed with the Defarge wine shop mark
   • Correct answer: They use the code name "Jacques" and the ritual greeting "Touch then"
   • They display red sashes hidden beneath their coats as a secret signal
   • They whistle a specific tune associated with the storming of the Bastille

   The stranger asks "How goes it, Jacques?" and the mender of roads replies "All well, Jacques." They then join hands with "Touch then!"—the recognition ritual of the Jacques network.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What does the stranger ask the mender of roads to do before departing at sunset?

   • Gather two hundred men to storm the château at midnight
   • Correct answer: Wake him from sleep, as he has walked two nights without resting
   • Deliver a message to Monsieur Gabelle warning him to flee the village
   • Hide his weapons beneath the pile of stones near the highway

   The exhausted stranger says: "Will you wake me, before departing? I have walked two nights without resting. Let me finish my pipe, and I shall sleep like a child."

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4. 4

   Question 4. What clothing change signals the mender of roads' revolutionary allegiance?

   • He wears a tricolor sash around his waist instead of his leather belt
   • Correct answer: He wears a red cap in place of his former blue one, the symbol of revolution
   • He has replaced his wooden shoes with the boots of a dead aristocrat
   • He ties a white handkerchief around his arm as a sign of the new Republic

   Dickens notes the mender of roads "wore a red cap now, in place of his blue one"—the red cap (bonnet rouge) being the iconic symbol of the French Revolution.

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5. 5

   Question 5. How many figures set the château on fire, and from which directions do they approach?

   • Two figures approach from the east and west sides of the courtyard
   • A single figure enters through the front gate carrying four torches
   • Correct answer: Four figures approach from East, West, North, and South to converge in the courtyard
   • Six figures emerge from the village fountain and march together toward the estate

   Dickens writes: "East, West, North, and South, through the woods, four heavy-treading, unkempt figures crushed the high grass and cracked the branches, striding on cautiously to come together in the courtyard."

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6. 6

   Question 6. What is the soldiers' response when asked to help save the burning château?

   • They march down to fight the fire but are overwhelmed by the mob
   • They arrest the rider for disturbing their garrison with false alarms
   • Correct answer: They give no orders and answer with shrugs: "It must burn"
   • They send a small detachment that arrives too late to save the building

   The officers "looked towards the soldiers who looked at the fire; gave no orders; and answered, with shrugs and biting of lips, "It must burn.""

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7. 7

   Question 7. How do the mender of roads and the villagers react while the château burns?

   • They attempt to extinguish the fire but lack sufficient water and equipment
   • Correct answer: They stand with folded arms at the fountain watching, then light candles in celebration
   • They flee to the countryside in fear that the soldiers will blame them
   • They loot the château for valuables before the fire reaches the upper floors

   The mender of roads and "two hundred and fifty particular friends, stood with folded arms at the fountain, looking at the pillar of fire." They then light candles in every window and ring the church bell for joy.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What veiled threat does the mender of roads make against Monsieur Gabelle?

   • He warns that Gabelle's name will be added to the list for the guillotine
   • Correct answer: He remarks that carriages make good bonfires and post-horses would roast
   • He tells Gabelle the Jacques have already sentenced him to death by hanging
   • He threatens to pour molten lead from the château onto Gabelle's house

   When Gabelle hesitates to lend candles, "the mender of roads, once so submissive to authority, had remarked that carriages were good to make bonfires with, and that post-horses would roast."

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9. 9

   Question 9. Why does the mob target Monsieur Gabelle after the château burns?

   • He is the Marquis's cousin and a member of the Evrémonde family by blood
   • He had personally ordered soldiers to fire on the villagers during a protest
   • Correct answer: He is associated with the collection of rent and taxes for the aristocrats
   • He had been secretly sending information about the Jacques to Paris authorities

   The village "bethinking itself that Monsieur Gabelle had to do with the collection of rent and taxes" turned on him as a symbol of the old system of extraction.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does Gabelle resolve to do if the mob breaks down his door?

    • Surrender peacefully and beg for mercy from the revolutionary tribunal
    • Set fire to his own house to destroy the tax records stored inside
    • Correct answer: Pitch himself headfirst over the parapet to crush a man or two below
    • Escape through a hidden tunnel beneath his posting-house to the garrison

    Gabelle, "a small Southern man of retaliative temperament," resolves "to pitch himself head foremost over the parapet, and crush a man or two below" rather than be taken.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does the stone face with "two dints in the nose" represent as the château burns?

    • A medieval gargoyle that the villagers had always feared as a bad omen
    • Correct answer: The face of the cruel Marquis, appearing to burn at the stake in torment
    • A religious icon that the revolutionaries see as a sign of divine approval
    • The carved portrait of the original builder of the Evrémonde estate

    Dickens writes that the stone face "became obscured: anon struggled out of the smoke again, as if it were the face of the cruel Marquis, burning at the stake and contending with the fire."—a symbolic punishment.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What happens "within a hundred miles" of the village, according to the chapter's closing passage?

    • The king's army restores order and arrests the leaders of the rural uprising
    • Correct answer: Other functionaries are found hanging in the streets, and more fires burn across France
    • The peasants organize a formal government to replace the fleeing aristocracy
    • Foreign powers invade to protect the French aristocrats from revolutionary violence

    Dickens writes that "there were other functionaries less fortunate" whom "the rising sun found hanging across once-peaceful streets," and that "whosoever hung, fire burned"—the revolution is spreading everywhere.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does Dickens compare the fire's wind to in describing the château's destruction?

    • A great ocean wave crashing over the walls of a coastal fortress
    • Correct answer: A red-hot wind driving straight from the infernal (hellish) regions
    • A biblical plague of locusts consuming every standing structure in its path
    • A volcanic eruption like the one that destroyed the ancient city of Pompeii

    Dickens writes: "a red-hot wind, driving straight from the infernal regions, seemed to be blowing the edifice away"—connecting the revolutionary fire to hellish judgment.

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14. 14

    Question 14. What is the significance of the chapter title "Fire Rises"?

    • It refers only to the literal fire that consumes the Marquis's château at night
    • It describes the volcanic eruptions occurring in southern France during the Revolution
    • Correct answer: It symbolizes both the literal flames and the unstoppable rise of revolutionary anger
    • It alludes to the phoenix myth, suggesting France will be reborn from the ashes

    The title works on two levels: the literal fire destroying the château and the metaphorical "rising" of revolutionary fervor across France that no authority can extinguish.

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