A Tale of Two Cities

The Psychology of the MobEnglish 9(1)Ms. BotelhoMs. Janson

Mr. Gorman

Activator: Free write about these lyrics. What’s the message?

Oh...Come on!Close the city and tell the people that something's coming to callDeath and darkness are rushing forward to take a bite from the wall, ohYou've nothing to sayThey're breaking awayIf you listen to foolsThe mob rulesThe mob rules...Kill the spirit and you'll be blinded, the end is always the samePlay with fire, you burn your fingers and lose your hold of the flame, ohIt's over it's doneThe end, the big deathIf you listen to foolsThe mob rules...You've nothing to sayOh they're breaking awayIf you listen to foolsBreak the circle and stop the movement, the wheel is thrown to the groundJust remember it might stop rolling and take you right back aroundYou're all fools, fools rules rulesThe mob rules

Essay Prompt: As the plot of A Tale of Two Cities moves forward into the French Revolution and the ensuing Reign of Terror, how do crowds change and evolve in the story? Why does Dickens make a point of doing this? Be sure to integrate and provide an answer to the why

question in your thesis. Consider our discussions of mob psychology: why people in crowds behave the way they do, how irrationally people act in crowds, how their individuality is lost, how and why the level of violence changes. Be specific about the subtle differences in crowds. Make sure you complete your essay organizer and reflection.Use at least three crowd scenes as evidence.Use at least three critical pieces of textual evidence (DQE) in each body paragraph. Follow proper quotations style. You need only concentrate on Book the First and Book the Second.Write a conclusion that wraps up your ideas and looks forward into the novel: think of connecting your thesis to what happens in Book the Third in terms of crowd scenes and plot.Proofread!!!

Getting Started Before attempting your essay, be sure

you understand the topic.

What exactly is “mob psychology?”

Definitions

Mob- a group of individuals acting together without planned direction, logic or reason, and no sense of right or wrong or morals

Psychology- the scientific study of human and animal behavior with the object of understanding why living beings behave as they do

Contemplating the Topic

So, why does a particular mindset emerge when people are in large group, whether or not they believe or even understand the mindset?

Hitting Home

Imagine Swansea, a civilized community, experiences a shortage of some vital resource, such as fuel, bread or water. Would uncivilized behavior take over?

Would human selfishness cause some to get that resource at all costs, even if it means harm to others?

Would "harm" here include depriving others of this resource, or even trampling them?

Responding to R. King On April 29, 1992, a jury

announced a not-guilty verdict for four white police officers who were videotaped beating Rodney King, a black man, in Los Angeles, CA. Within hours, protests and demonstrations turned violent, and by 8 p.m. that night, full-scale mobs had broken out and were spreading throughout Los Angeles.

Mob Behavior A mob is a crowd that can take violent,

illegal actions, reacting out of fear or anger. The crowd takes on a mob mentality.

The people making up the "mob" do things they normally would not do because the crowd makes them anonymous; this anonymity, combined with the actions of the rest of the crowd, makes them feel like they can smash, burn or beat whatever and whomever they want.

The French Mob- The English Mob

Relevant Chapters

(1.5) (2.14) (Set in England

although the events of the chapter impact happenings in France)

(2.22) (2.23)

(2.2) (2.3) (2.6) (2.21)

The first mob Dickens exposes is playful in nature. Although the people of St. Antoine are hungry and deprived, the gathering outside Defarge’s wine shop never turns violent. However, we see the first signs of aggression in a mob as they race one another for wine, pushing each other out of the way. Once the wine is soaked up, people return to their tasks.

Dickens is cautious to warn that the people’s faces were stained with a tigerish smear, suggesting the animal within.

The Broken Wine Cask

Cly’s Funeral

In Book II, Chapter 14, Dickens continues his criticism of mob mentality. The crowd that follows Cly’s funeral processions lacks justification of purpose. Cruncher asks three passer-bys who they follow before one can provide an answer. In this scene, Dickens prepares the reader for the mob violence in the latter chapters of Book 2.

At one point, the crowd plots to remove the deceased from the coffin, and even the guards are unwilling to impose any restraint for fear of death. The crowd’s anger and excitement is not only contagious as it expands throughout the scene, it increases in intensity. Once Cly is interred, the scavengers search for more bait to feed their thirst for violence.

After Cly’s burial, the crowd seeks to release built emotions. Innocent passer-bys become victim to torment and store owners close shop for fear of plundered goods.

The Crowd that Storms the Bastille

“With a roar that sounded as if all the breath in France had been shaped into the detested word, the living sea rose, wave on wave, depth on depth, and overflowed the city to that point. Alarm-bells ringing, drums beating, the sea raging and thundering on its new beach, the attack began” (2.21)”

Remember, "mobs" do things they normally would not do because the crowd makes them anonymous. Therefore, the “sea” is the perfect metaphor for capturing the anonymity of the crowd.

Making Connections

“For, they are headlong, mad, and dangerous; and in the years so long after the breaking of the cask at Defarge's wine-shop door, they are not easily purified when once stained red” (2.21).

What stained the mob? How could they be purified?

Building Intensity

So, Dickens brings us back to the beginning, revealing that this mob is the same mob we first experienced outside Defarge’s wine shop. So why did the mob change from playful to murderous?

Initially, the mob in the streets of St. Antoine is pitied, but by Book II, Chapter 24 the mob is a feared force.

So What Happened?

1. Defarge makes a show of Manette to band together revolutionaries.

2. Monsieur kills Gaspard’s son.3. Peasants continue to live with filth, hunger and misery.4. The Marquis is killed by Gaspard, but, in retaliation,

Gaspard is killed and his body hangs over the well, poisoning the water.

5. Successful attack on the Bastille.6. The Killing of Foulon- “Let them eat grass”7. They burn the house of the Marquis8. Ousting of the aristocracy

The confidence of the mob builds and the fury intensifies.

4-3-2-1 Write!-Think of 4 mob scenes within the novel. What happens? How would you characterize those mobs. What are some important words or quotes that stand out to you? Write your observations down.

- Now, think of 3 words to describe these mobs in general. Write them down.

-Think of at least 2 reasons why the mob acted the way that they did and why the violence escalated.

-Think of 1sentence that condenses those reasons for why the mob changes and the descriptions of how they acted. (Thesis)

Hooking the Reader

Passion is the mob of the man, that commits a riot upon his reason.

William Penn

Get together a hundred or two men, however sensible they may be, and you are very likely to have a mob.Samuel Johnson   

A hungry mob is an angry mob. Bob Marley

Humanity to me is not a mob. A mob is a degeneration of humanity. A mob is humanity going the wrong way. Frank Lloyd Wright

Model Thesis:

Dickens’ mob consistently acts with indifference to ethical considerations throughout the book, but the mob that initially presents itself in a playful manner, turns deadly in response to squalor and degradation.