The People and the Wine

After reading the chapter titled The Wine shop in the book Tale of Two Cities, I found myself coming back to just one specific part of the chapter. The part of the chapter that I went back to was at the beginning of the chapter where it talked about how a cask of wine was dropped in the street and there was a flood of people drinking it right off the ground.

I found myself engulfed in this section because Dickens uses such descriptive wording that makes it possible for me to see in my mind what this scene looks like. For an example in one section Dickens describes all the business being put on hold for the people to go and drink from the road where the wind had been spilled Dickens also used descriptive wording to describe how the wine flowed through the cracks of the street, that made the wine look like pools of blood. When it comes to this part of the chapter I was able to visualize what this scene would look like and to me it reminded me of a heard of animals all trying to drink out of the same watering hole.

When it came to how the people in this scene were described all drinking the wine it seemed chaotic, people leaning over each other just for the smallest taste of wine. The towns people were all using different things to drink the wine and some even resorted to sucking or chewing on the wood of the wine cask. Some used their fingers, others used mugs while the woman used handkerchiefs to drip the wine into their mouths as well as into the mouths of their children. When I read this I was surprised, what mother would let their child drink wine in any amount. This to me just shows how different life was back then, then how it is now. Because now it is not the smartest thing to do (ie give your child wine).

Overall this scene just shows the extremes some people will go to to get something they may enjoy. Back then it was for a small sip of wine, when today it maybe a homeless person just looking for some where to sleep out of the rain. I feel that scenes like this get over looked because people who have what they need to live don't always take the time to look at others and what they might do to get anything just to make it through their lives.