Tale Of Two Cities Theme Essay

As Sydney Carton confesses to Lucie, “...you kindled me, heap of ashes that I am, into a fire — … quickening nothing, lighting nothing, doing no service, idly burning away” (Dickens, 151). This quote is an embodiment of the desolate and depressed themes in both A Tale of Two Cities and Salt to the Sea. Ruta Sepetys writes about four characters named Joana, Florian, Emelia, and Alfred tied together by fate during the end of World War II. Joana, Florian and Emilia develop a bond as they travel across wartorn land in an attempt to reach the Wilhelm Gustloff, a ship where Alfred works as a young Nazi that will supposedly carry German people to safety. On the way, secrets will follow as their group passes checkpoints, ultimately boarding the ship on time just for it to be sunk by Russian missiles

In the case of WWII, non-germanic families lived in fear of segregation instigated by Hitler and his Nazis. The inclement mood of the time has Florian witness the demise of his father and separation of his younger sister. When reminiscing about his family, Florian wonders if he would even recognize his family after all the time he has spent apart from them. Later, he is consoled by an old shoe maker that tells him that family never really leaves and that he will be able to recognize his sister again. Again, in A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens elaborately poses Charles in a prison far away from the love of his life and his child. French political unrest and the savage mob mentality of all the citizens in France cause Charles to be captured and wrongly imprisoned. The novel also begins with the discovery of Lucie’s father and his resurrection from an unhealthy state of life and although tension was not present at the time of his arrest, the journey back to France strengthens Mr. Manette’s determination to reunite his family grows as well the protectiveness he feels toward Lucie and her