A Tale of Two Cities – Thug Notes Summary & Analysis

What it do, yo? This week we seein’
double wit a Tale of Two Cities by

Charles Dickens.

Da year is 1775 and Lucie Mannette
been thinkin her pop Doc Mannette

been dead fo’ a long-ass time. But
one day, word come dat he actually

been on lockdown in Paris fo’ da
past 18 DAMN YEARS. So Lucie and a

bruh name Jarvis Lorry cruise ova’
to Paris where they meet Doc

Alexandre’s back-when assistant
Defarge. Dis cat been lookin out

fo’ da good doc, whose mind has
turned in to mush afta’ all dem

years in da clank.

But afta’ some quality time wit
Lucie, Manette snaps outta it and

start goin’ back to his old self.

5 years later, Doc Mannette and
Lucy up in court fo’ da trial of

Charles Darnay, who been accused of
snitchin on tha British crown. Da

prosecution’s case against Chucky
falls to sh** when one of da

witnesses say Charlie-boy don’t
look no different than Sydney

Carton- who hookin’ up da defense
with his mad street smarts. Carton

and Darnay look so much alike they
could have the same mama!

Now dat he scott free, Darnay start
hollerin at Lucie; but turn out

playa gotta get in line. So he
gonna have to grind for some of

Lucy’s juicy.

Back in P-town, Darnay’s hood rich
uncle runs ova’ a lil kid with his

carriage. But instead of gettin
tore up bout it, he just pissed dat

po folk got blood on his 20 inch
blades. Later, some peasant gets

REAL tired of dat rich whiteboy and
straight ghosts his ass while he

sleepin. Darnay inherit all dat
swoel family cash, but he don’t

want nuthin to do wit dat blood
money.

Instead, he throw up the deuce to
ol Paree and set up shop in London

where he gonna marry Lucie. Befo’
he do, tho, Carton tell Lucie she

da only thing dat give his sorryass
life meaning- and if he can

eva’ hook a sistah up, he gonna do
it. Blood fo’ blood, life fo’ life.

sh** goes HAM up in da streets of
Paris when da Revolution breaks out

and rich people gettin’ shanked
left and right. One of Darnay’s

boys gets thrown in da clink; and
since he keep it gangsta, he head

to Paris to bust a bruta out. But
all dem crunk po folk love nuthin

mo’ than fu**in wit rich kids, so
it ain’t long before Darnay’s

dumbass gets locked up too. Nice
plan, yo. So now Lucie and Manette

gotta head there to bail HIS ass
out.

After a year and three months of
rottin away in da slammer, the

trial goes down and doc Manette
come out swingin da biggest legit

street cred dick you eva’ seen: He
did the hardest time there is up in

da bastille- so dem revolutionaries
get all up on his junk, and decide

to let Darnay go. But then dat same
damn night he arrested AGAIN, this

time cuz Defarge and his crazy
bitch biddy hatin on him hard core.

Up at tha’ NEW trial, dem bustas
whip out an old letter written by

doc Mannete himself, where he
callin out Darnay’s family fo all

da crooked sh** they did, sayin
their deeds were so damn whack it

dat even his descendants should get
whats coming to em. One unanimous

vote later, Darnay get sentenced to
death. damn.

Jus’ when errything seems fu**ed,
Carton swangs in to town, busts in

to da big house, and knocks Darnay
OUT. Then he trades places wit em

since they look da same. Darnay
gets tossed in to a carriage and

heads back to London wit his woman.
As fo’ Carton? Fool gets his head

chopped off. But at least by saving
Darnay, he finally did somethin’

legit with his life. Das some
righteous sh** right thurr.

Now you might be thinkin’ dat this
book’s main rap bout two separate

cities- London and Paris. Sure,
Dickens preachin loud and clear

bout how separate and alone people
and places be-

But the book actually hintin at da
opposite- that errything is mo

connected than it look at first.
Both London AND Paris got their

fair share of folks in love, turf
wars between the rich and po, and

crews buckin’ social inequality.

Truth is, Paris and London are mo’
“double” than different. And if you

keepin it triple OG, you know
Chuckie D slangin doubles all UP in

this text: we got not only Paris
and London, but the City of God and

the City of Men, two Mannettes,
Darnay’s double-dose of trials,

Darnay and Carton’s fresh selves
lookin’ just like eachotha... hell,

even Charles Darnay’s name looks a
whole lot like Charles Dickens.

There ain’t no betta example of dat
doublin, though, than how the novel

open up:

“It was the best of times, it was the
worst of times, it was the age of wisdom,

it was the age of
foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it

was the epoch of
incredulity, it was the season of Light, it

was the season of
Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was

the winter of
despair...

Fo’ Chuck-Deezy, sometimes two jus’
don’t cut it. That fool goes WAY

beyond doubles when it come to tha
dankest theme up in here:

resurrection. Da idea behind da
phrase “Recalled to life” poppin up

when talkin bout Doc Mannette,
Darnay’s ass gettin saved from

losin’ his head, and most
importantly, Carton bein

metaphorically brought back from
the dead.

See, even though Carton get his
sh** wrecked in the end, he finally

do something good fo’ someone other
than himself. It’s like he brought

his dead-as-sh** soul back to life
by doin something wit legit

meaning. That’s why we seein him
always droppin lines from the

biblical story of Lazarus:
“I am the resurrection and the life, saith

the Lord: he that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet

shall he live; and
whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall

never die.”

And if you wanna resurrect yo deadass
wardrobe, get yo-self some Thug

Notes threadz. Well read fo life!
Peace.