A Tale of Two Cities, Book III - Chapter XIII. Fifty-two quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. How many prisoners are condemned to the guillotine on the day of this chapter?

   • Thirty-six, matching the number of months of the Terror
   • Correct answer: Fifty-two, matching the number of weeks in a year
   • One hundred, a round number chosen for its symbolic weight
   • Twenty-four, matching the hours in a day of Revolution

   Dickens writes: "They were in number as the weeks of the year. Fifty-two were to roll that afternoon on the life-tide of the city."

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2. 2

   Question 2. To whom does Darnay write farewell letters during his last night?

   • To Lucie, Doctor Manette, and Sydney Carton for their past friendship
   • Correct answer: To Lucie, Doctor Manette, and Mr. Lorry to settle all affairs
   • To Lucie, Mr. Lorry, and Miss Pross asking them to care for his child
   • To Lucie and Doctor Manette only, having no other close friends

   Darnay writes a long letter to Lucie, then to her father, then to Mr. Lorry to commend them all and explain his worldly affairs. Notably, "He never thought of Carton."

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3. 3

   Question 3. What does Darnay dream about on his last night alive?

   • A nightmare of the guillotine and the angry mob watching his execution
   • Correct answer: Being free and happy at home in Soho with Lucie, who says it was all a dream
   • His childhood at the Evremonde estate before he renounced the family name
   • Meeting his dead mother, who warns him about his uncle's crimes

   Darnay dreams of being "free and happy, back in the old house in Soho... unaccountably released and light of heart" with Lucie telling him "it was all a dream, and he had never gone away."

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4. 4

   Question 4. How does Sydney Carton gain access to Darnay's cell in the Conciergerie?

   • He bribes the head gaoler with gold coins provided by Mr. Lorry
   • Correct answer: He uses his power over the spy Barsad, one of the prison keepers
   • He disguises himself as a priest offering last rites to the condemned
   • He presents forged papers from the Revolutionary Tribunal

   Carton tells Darnay: "I am accidentally possessed of a power over one of the keepers here, and in virtue of it I stand before you." That keeper is the spy Barsad.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What pretext does Carton use to begin the exchange with Darnay?

   • He says he brings news that the court has ordered a retrial for Darnay
   • Correct answer: He claims to carry a most earnest, pressing request from Lucie
   • He tells Darnay that a secret passage has been found for escape
   • He announces that Mr. Lorry has arranged a bribe for the judges

   Carton says: "I bring you a request from her... A most earnest, pressing, and emphatic entreaty, addressed to you in the most pathetic tones of the voice so dear to you."

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6. 6

   Question 6. How does Carton render Darnay unconscious?

   • He strikes him on the head while Darnay is distracted by writing
   • He puts a sleeping powder into a cup of water he offers Darnay
   • Correct answer: He slowly brings a cloth soaked in drugging vapour to Darnay's face while he writes
   • He presses a nerve point on Darnay's neck that causes him to faint

   While Darnay writes the dictated letter, Carton's hand "slowly and softly moved down close to the writer's face." Darnay asks, "What vapour is that?" before losing consciousness.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What do the two guards believe about the unconscious figure they carry out?

   • They think he is a condemned prisoner who tried to escape and was recaptured
   • Correct answer: They believe he is a visitor overcome with grief at his friend's fate
   • They assume he is a doctor who fainted while treating a sick prisoner
   • They think he is a government official who collapsed from exhaustion

   One guard says: "So afflicted to find that his friend has drawn a prize in the lottery of Sainte Guillotine?" They see nothing unusual in a visitor fainting from distress.

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8. 8

   Question 8. Who is the only person among the fifty-two to recognize that Carton is not Darnay?

   • Barsad the spy, who confronts Carton in the assembly room
   • A fellow aristocrat who knew Darnay from the London trial years before
   • Correct answer: The young seamstress, a frail girl who had been with Darnay at La Force
   • The head gaoler, who studied Darnay's face during the sentencing

   The seamstress approaches Carton and, after studying his face, whispers: "Are you dying for him?" She alone notices the difference.

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9. 9

   Question 9. For whom does Carton say he is dying?

   • For Darnay alone, to repay the debt of their friendship
   • For France, hoping his death will hasten the end of the Terror
   • Correct answer: For Darnay, his wife, and his child—the family he loves
   • For Doctor Manette, to atone for the Evremonde family's crimes

   When the seamstress asks "Are you dying for him?" Carton replies: "And his wife and child. Hush! Yes." His sacrifice is for the entire family.

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10. 10

    Question 10. How is the unconscious Darnay identified at the Paris barrier checkpoint?

    • As Charles Darnay, a pardoned prisoner released by special order
    • As Alexandre Manette, a second French physician in the party
    • Correct answer: As Sydney Carton, an English advocate not in strong health
    • As an unnamed servant traveling with the Lorry household

    At the barrier, the official reads the papers: "Sydney Carton. Advocate. English." The unconscious Darnay is passed off as Carton, explained as unwell and overcome by parting from a friend.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What condition is Doctor Manette in during the escape from Paris?

    • He is sharp and alert, helping Lorry answer the officials' questions
    • Correct answer: He is helpless and inarticulately murmuring, attributed to "Revolution-fever"
    • He is physically injured from a beating at the hands of revolutionaries
    • He is pretending to be ill as part of the escape plan's cover story

    Manette is described as "this helpless, inarticulately murmuring, wandering old man." The officials note: "Apparently the Citizen-Doctor is not in his right mind? The Revolution-fever will have been too much for him?"

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12. 12

    Question 12. What narrative technique does Dickens use during the flight from Paris?

    • He switches to an epistolary format, with Lorry writing a letter about the escape
    • Correct answer: He shifts from past tense to present tense, creating urgency and immediacy
    • He uses footnotes to explain the historical geography of the escape route
    • He shifts to Doctor Manette's perspective through a recovered journal entry

    At the barrier scene, Dickens switches to present tense: "The papers are handed out, and read," creating a breathless, immediate quality that heightens the suspense of the escape.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What chilling response do the postilions give when told fifty-two are going to the guillotine?

    • "A terrible number! God have mercy on France and all its people"
    • Correct answer: "A brave number! The Guillotine goes handsomely. I love it"
    • "Too many! Even the Republic cannot justify such slaughter"
    • "Only fifty-two? Yesterday it was sixty—the Terror is slowing down"

    One postilion says: "A brave number! My fellow-citizen here would have it forty-two; ten more heads are worth having. The Guillotine goes handsomely. I love it. Hi forward. Whoop!"

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14. 14

    Question 14. What is pursuing the carriage at the end of the chapter?

    • A detachment of Republican soldiers sent to recapture the fugitives
    • Correct answer: Wind, clouds, and moon—but so far, nothing else that threatens them
    • Madame Defarge's agents on horseback, closing the distance rapidly
    • A second coach carrying Barsad, who has betrayed Carton's plan

    Dickens writes: "The wind is rushing after us, and the clouds are flying after us, and the moon is plunging after us, and the whole wild night is in pursuit of us; but, so far, we are pursued by nothing else."

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15. 15

    Question 15. What broader theme does Carton's sacrifice in this chapter represent?

    • The futility of individual action against systemic political violence
    • Correct answer: The resurrection and redemption of a wasted life through selfless love
    • The dangers of romantic obsession leading to self-destructive behavior
    • The superiority of English virtue over French revolutionary corruption

    Carton's sacrifice embodies the novel's central theme of resurrection. Having earlier recalled the scripture "I am the resurrection and the life," Carton redeems his wasted existence through an act of supreme love, giving his life so that Lucie and her family may live.

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