Essay Number 6

Finding the Light:

An Essay on the Symbol of "light" in A Tale of Two Cities, and of Light in My Own Life

Gaelen Frink

9th Grade English

November 29, 2011

           Light occurs many times in life from the twinkling stars that we gaze upon in the heavens, to the swinging of the lamps in A Tale of Two Cities. Another example of light in A Tale of Two Cities is of Miss Manette’s hair that sparkles in the light. Also, the starlight to me represents how this light has traveled millions of miles just to reach us so we can witness its brightness. The light that illuminates us symbolizes meanings that become clearer with brightness.
            A Tale of Two Cities has many symbolic meanings of light, from Saint Antoine in Paris, to the golden light of Miss Manette’s hair, the golden locks that seem to reflect the light. The lights in Saint Antoine are hung above the road “slung by a rope and pulley”. The hanging lights, swinging back and forth flickering light down upon Saint Antoine, gave the appearance of a ship at sea. The light that pours out from these swinging lanterns falls upon the town; this light gives the appearance of a ship cresting waves on the rough sea, rocking back and forth; this metaphoric ship and the town of Saint Antoine are in “peril”. This peril comes from how Saint Antoine is a rough, dank and dirty neighborhood. Another representation of light is of the light that Monsieur Defarge wants to “let in”. This light seems to be Mr. Manette’s demon, terrorizing his eyes, slowly killing him. The light seems to be his demon because if Monsieur Defarge opened the door a crack farther Mr. Manette would have to “bear it”--the pain of the light. Lastly Miss Manette’s golden hair, shining with brightness and brilliance, reflects the light around her. Her hair has such a golden brilliance that when she is in a dark room her “golden hair” seems to bring brightness to a room. Also, the few “long golden hairs” that survived through 18 years in prison brought light to keep Mr. Manette alive. Light, real or created by the golden hair of Miss Manette has a symbolic meaning to a deep level.

We use light and see light every day, but we never take a second and think about all of the lights we use and see, and how if we were to lose the ability to use or create light we would be at a loss. One night around midnight after our bonfire, I was sitting in a beach chair outside gazing up at the dark sky, thinking about life and time. I was thinking about life because the starlight that we see twinkling in the sky has traveled millions of miles and taken millions of years just so we can witness the star’s light, the signal of life we could never reach in our lifetime. Another idea I was stuck pondering on was how all of these stars can create images, be used for navigation, just awestruck of the huge night sky. Another time when I started to see just how much we were dependent upon artificial light was during the flood of 2010. We really started to feel that dependency when we had to bail the basement with buckets because we had no power. Armed with headlamps and buckets we proceeded down into the basement in the dark with the only light coming from the torches on our head so we could do our job. Lastly the most memorable and fun experience with light was when our fridge lights went out and I could no longer gaze into the fridge and glimpse all of my food choices. The darkness seemed to isolate me from the fridge and it seemed like I never wanted to visit the fridge because I could not gaze into the fridge and see what there was to eat. However, when we replaced the lights the fridge seemed to be overflowing with life and brightness again calling me to gaze upon the fridge’s shelves. The light in my life can be as bright as a sun or the light can be as faint as a beam coming from a head lamp, this light has a meaning to me.

Light can be a symbol of many things. Light can be a symbol of hope, freedom and time. However, in my life light can be a symbol of time and distance, or light can even represent bad ideas with bad morals. An idea where light can have a bad meaning is if you were to get too much sun you could get sunburned, or you could have eye damage from looking at the sun. With more light, ideas and morals become clearer with brighter the light.

1.      In my essays, I am still trying to work on making sure my writing tools enhance the writing.

2.      A strong point I see in this essay is my use of appositives.

3.      A weak point that I see in my writing is probably awkward sentences and unclear sentences.

4.      On Essay 5, I would give myself an B-.