#carton classics

[artist-issues]

How many times do we have to say:

Create characters with strength of virtue, not strength of skills.

I just finished A Tale of Two Cities with the character Lucie Manette, who "does" nothing but love the people around her and extend compassion toward everyone within her sphere of influence. She makes no "choices" that contemporary audiences would award the stupid badge of "giving her agency" to. She doesn't make a speech that saves Charles Darnay's life. She doesn't lead the victims of the French Revolution into a counter-revolt. She doesn't fight off the soldiers that come to take her husband, or beat up Madame Defarge when she threatens her child, or even come up with the escape plan to flee Paris.

She makes none of those kinds of choices. (You know who does? Madame Defarge. But the compare-contrast between those two can wait till another day.)

But she makes these kinds of choices:

She'll give her honest testimony in a trial for a potential traitor to the crown, and demonstrate her compassion and grief for a near-stranger, wearing that vulnerability on her sleeve in front of a huge court of people clamoring for blood.

She'll be compassionate toward Sydney Carton, even though he's rude, careless, and brings a bad attitude into her happy home.

She'll spend the energy of her life making that home happy.

She'll stand for two hours in any weather on the bloody streets of the French Revolution so her husband might have a chance of glimpsing her and getting some comfort from the prison window.

She'll trust the older men in her life when they ask her to.

She'll allow an old woman to care for her and go everywhere she goes, and treat her like a child, as long as it makes the old woman in question happy.

And what, WHAT is the consequence of these kinds of decisions, choices, that some ignorant people call "passive?"

That old woman is allowed to love Lucie Manette so much that she defeats the villainess in the climax of the story, holding Madame Defarge back from getting revenge with sheer strength that comes directly from that love.

Her father is allowed to draw strength from the fact that Lucie believes she can depend on him--because she chooses to let her father take the lead and do the work of saving her husband, Dr. Manette is fully "recalled to life;" he doesn't have to identify as a traumatized, mentally unstable victim anymore, because Lucie is treating him like he can be the hero.

Her husband does see her in the street, and does draw strength from that--just that--instead of losing his mind the way her father, starved for a glimpse of his loved ones, did during his own imprisonment.

Lucie's home is so full of the love and kindness that she fills it with that not only does her father return to remembering who he is after his long imprisonment--but Mr. Lorry, a bachelor with no family, can feel at home with a full life, there. Miss Pross, whose family abandoned and bankrupt her, has a home with a full life, there. Charles Darnay, whose life of riches and pleasure as a Marquis was empty, has a home with a full life, there. In Lucie's home, because she spends her life making it the kind of home others can find rest in.

Sydney Carton, a man whose whole life has been characterized by a LACK of "care" for himself or anyone else, suddenly cares about Lucie. When he thought it was impossible to. And he doesn't care about her because she's pretty. Her beauty was just a source of bitterness for him--one more pleasure he could've had but can't. Until he "saw her with her father," and saw her strength of virtue, of pity, of compassion, of self-sacrificial love--then he felt that she "kindled me, a heap of ashes, into fire." He started caring about life again, where it was associated with her, because she brought to life every good thing. Just by being a woman of good virtue. And we know what that inspiration led him to.

Without Lucie's strength of virtue, and the decisions that naturally came from that, none of the "active" choices other characters made would have happened. Sydney would not have been redeemed. Darnay would not have been saved. Her father never would've been recalled to life. Miss Pross and Mr. Lorry would've had no light or love in their lives. Even Jerry would've had no occasion to learn from his mistakes and resolve to stop abusing his family.

A character like Dickens' Golden Thread, who does what a woman should do, inspires the choices other characters make. That makes her more powerful, in her own way, than the heroes and any decisions they make. Because she's the cause. She's the inspiration. She's the representation of everything good, right, precious, worth fighting for.

Lucie Manette's not the only character like this. Cinderella. The original Disney Jasmine. The original Disney Ariel. Lady Galadriel. Jane Eyre. Amy March.

"Behind every great man is a great woman," indeed! Absolutely! Bravo!

Hang on! Hang on to those kinds of characters. Those a real "strong female" characters. The muses, the inspirations, the reminders of The Greater Good. The people who make fighting the dragons worth it at all. Who cares about fighting the dragon? That's not so great, without her.

Don't forget those kinds of characters! Reading Dickens just makes me desperate for our generation to keep up the reminder: make characters that the next ten generations can learn from: strength of virtue is much more important than silly little strength of skill.

#Dickens #Charles dickens #writing #storytelling #behind every great man is a great woman #strong female characters #strong woman #Lucie Manette #a tale of two cities #classics #writing advice #feminism #feminism is poison #Christianity #Christian fiction #tropes #Sydney carton

[sydney-carton-of-sour-milk]

these are my friends

see how they glisten

(porcelain figurines of Sydney Carton from 1940s Japan)

#see this one shine how he smiles in the light etc. #Sydney Carton #A Tale of Two Cities #AToTC #dickens #classic literature #memorabilia #vintage #antiques #doing these png edits is very fun i must say #kind of time-consuming but a much more fun way to post about these vintage items #also such a great way of showcasing all the variations!! which is a good chunk of the intrigue for me #and by the way #we are actually now almost completely through my memorabilia archives... #gonna try to find a few more at some point to pad the way through most of the rest of 2023 #so that in 2024 i can start posting that new genre of post that i was talking about👁️👄👁️

[gsandoval882]

WB Animation

#wb #wb animation #looney tunes #looney toons #pato lucas #bugs bunny #cartoon #warner bros #cartoons #daffy duck #bugs x daffy #daffy x porky #cartoon network #classic cartoon #classic cartons #tom and jerry #cartoon movie

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

#the simpsons #Otto Mann #cartoon #classic cartoons #classic carton #fictional character #xmas #merry christmas

[soldier-poet-king]

Anyway. The traitor Baru Comorant. I will never recover from this. I need to sit and think about it for the rest of my life.

#i dont read fully entirely unhappy books #i need the hope #and this is just. unending pain. #it is a tragedy in the classic sense. a masterclass of intrigue and baru's fall (rise?) #what a psychologically harrowing book. what a disturbing book. what an excellent book #i won't even way i enjoyed it. that's not the right word. but it sure is smthn #where do I even start. father salm. amanita. muire lo. purity cartone. farrier. tain hu. lyxaxu. the sea duke. the xate siblings #THE APPARITOR. literally just gut punch after gut punch

[yours-truly-henry-jekyll]

Surprisingly, there's enough Tumblr sexymen in classic literature and here's my top:

1. Sydney Carton - our poor tired and depressed lawyer deserves every ounce of love he already has and much more to go. [Edit:] Severus Snape (the most legendary Tumblr sexyman ever (well apart from Onceler and Sans, I guess)) seems to be at least partially inspired by our dear boy Sydney

2. Henry Jekyll - let's return to the good old times of Onceler x Greedler asks. And who could be better candidate for such asks than the man whose name became synonymous with "split personality"?

3. Rodion Raskolnikov - should I even explain? Bad guy? Check! Intense? Check! Tragic backstory? Check! Duality motives? Check and billion times more check! Homoerotic implications with his best friend? Check! Truly, everything you may need to be a Tumblr sexyman...

4. Aleksandr Chatsky - contrarian, liberal, debater and the textbook definition of ENTP. Has his fair share of popularity with russian-speaking literature buffs but is yet to come to international fame. And his monologues are truly... something.

5. Yevgeniy Bazarov - your typical mad scientist sexyman. A weird unholy amalgamation of Viktor and Varian (both are as much as I know quite loved here). A doctor and somehow an edgy nihilist to boot. Also does already have some fans.

If you have suggestions feel free to comment

#classic literature #the tale of two cities #sydney carton #jekyll and hyde #dr jekyll #crime and punishment #raskolnikov #woe from wit #aleksandr chatsky #fathers and sons #bazarov #tumblr sexyman #tumblr sexypeople #i am crazy

[raceispunk]

do I read classic literature and picture the characters as humans, real, and flawed to stick to the pre-1900s emphasis on feeling and humanity rather than consumerism and YA novel over-perfection or do I envision them all as anime pretty boys because. it's funny.

#Les Mis #tale of two cities #charles darnay #sydney carton #classic lit #victor frankenstein #Shakespeare

[1-800-disasterbi]

Wake up babes new blorbo just dropped

#sydney carton #atotc #a tale of two cities #fanart #my art for once #Dickens #charles dickens #classical literature

[calculatedliterature]

Thursday, November 3rd

A little commentary on A Tale of Two Cities...

The way Charles Darnay treats Lucie Manette and her father >>>>

I just love the varied depictions of the men in love with Lucie and how they talk about her. I mean, we get Stryver's arrogance and materialism, when he says

"I don't care about fortune: she is a charming creature, and I have made up my mind to please myself: on the whole, I think I can afford to please myself. She will have in me a man already pretty well off, and a rapidly rising man, and a man of some distinction: it is a piece of good fortune for her, but she is worthy of good fortune."

And then Charles Darnay, who first says,

"I love your daughter fondly, dearly, disinterestedly, devotedly. If ever there were love in the world, I love her."

and then even in loving her he cares more about her love of and relationship with her father than he does about himself because he says

"I know, how can I fail to know, Doctor Manette, I who have seen you together from day to day, that between you and Miss Manette there is an affection so unusual, so touching, so belonging to the circumstances in which it has been nurtured, that it can have few parallels, even in the tenderness between a father and child. I know, Doctor Manette-- how can I fail to know-- that mingled with the affection and duty of a daughter who has become a woman, there is, in her heart towards you, all the love and reliance of infancy itself. [...] I know that in loving you she sees and loves her mother at her own age, sees and loves you at my age, loves her mother broken-hearted, loves you through your dreadful trial and in your blessed restoration. I have known this, night and day, since I have known you in your home."

#studyblr #student #annotation #booklover #college #annotating books #classic literature #study blog #dark academia #studyspo #charles dickens #a tale of two cities #literary analysis #charles darnay #sydney carton

[subtleanime]

Kawaii Axolotl Strawberry Milk Shake Carton Japanese Boba Classic T-Shirt redbubble.com/i/t-shirt/Kawaii-Axolotl-Strawberry-Milk-Shake-Carton-Japanese-Boba-by-NNNostalgia/144136497.IJ6L0.XYZ

#Kawaii #Axolotl #Strawberry #Milk #Shake #Carton #Japanese #Boba #Classic #T-Shirt

[artist-issues]

Finished A Tale of Two Cities

Go read it and then talk to me about it

#a tale of two cities #classics #I know I'm late #beautiful #Sydney carton #Charles darnay #the French Revolution #Charles dickens #good books #literature #book recommendations

[sydney-carton-of-sour-milk]

The Many Illustrators of A Tale of Two Cities 5: Rafaello Busoni (5/5)

Vignettes for Book the Third, Chapters 10-15

This is it! A warm goodbye to the wonderful work of Rafaello Busoni! 17 pictures in total. (And yes, I didn't realize until too late that there's no unicode fraction for 5/5😔)

1 / 5 || 2 / 5 || 3 / 5 || 4 / 5 || 5 / 5

To my recollection, this was the only illustration in the entire book that took up an entire page without any writing.

That's all, folks!

& the standard endnote for all posts in this series:

This post is intended to act as the start of a forum on the given illustrator, so if anyone has anything to add - requests to see certain drawings in higher definition (since Tumblr compresses images), corrections to factual errors, sources for better-quality versions of the illustrations, further reading, fun facts, any questions, or just general commentary - simply do so on this post, be it in a comment/tags or the replies!💫

#A Tale of Two Cities #AToTC #dickens #charles dickens #literature #classic literature #victorian literature #vintage illustration #illustration #illustrators #Rafaello Busoni #1940s #my scans #I really am queuing this on the 18th god it's so great #really love some of these. especially darnay in his cell and carton walking down those stairs #I think I gasped when I saw it the first time #thank you mr. busoni for your wonderful work! #now on to May #where we will start with a post that is Not a part of this series! wow!

[writingwhateveriwantto]

Sydney Carton would have loved Conan Gray

#sydney carton #lucie manette #charles darnay #a tale of cities #dr manette #mr lorry #charles dickenss #charles dickens #english literature #classic literature #classic #english #england #london #france #pari #paris #conan gray #taylor swift #olivia rodrigo #music #life #dead #poet #judge #lawyer #student #poetry #literacy

[ohlooknothing]

“my child is fine” your child chose sidney carton over charles darney instantly

#a tale of two cities #charles dickens #lucie manette #sidney carton #charles darney #classic literature

[eleftherian]

but look all im saying is  sydney carton is a bottom 

#prove me wrong #i dare you #you cant can you #because im right #ATOTC #dickensian nonsense #charles dickens #a tale of two cities #sydney carton #sydney carton bottoms #my posts #adrian reads #books #booklr #reading #classic lit

[depressedraisin]

the milk carton kids but if they played the sarod

#im officially starting the hindustani classical music tumblr #ayan ali bangash #amaan ali bangash #classical music #the milk carton kids