Tale of Two Cities Book 2 Chapter 14

1. Tale of Two Cities Book 2 Chapter 14 By John Giacobbi

2. The Honest Tradesman Jerry Cruncher is a body-snatcher and he refers to his late night activities as an honest trade. He then sells the bodies to scientists to make money.

3. Setting Fleet Street outside of Tellson’s Bank

4. Summary One morning outside Tellson’s Bank, Jerry Cruncher sees a funeral pass by. Jerry finds out that the crowd is preparing to bury Roger Cly, who was a convicted spy. He is also one of the men who testified against Darnay in his court case. Jerry Cruncher joins the crowd, which later turns into a mob. After parading around, the mob buries Cly. At home that night, Cruncher lectures his wife for her prayers. He then announces that he is going “fishing”, which means he is going to dig up Cly’s body in order to sell it to scientists. Jerry Cruncher’s son follows him to the cemetery, but runs away terrified, thinking that the coffin is chasing him. The next day, he asks his father what a Resurrection Man is, which is a person who digs up bodies to sell to science. His son says he wants to be a Resurrection Man when he grows up.

5. Literary Devices Metaphor- “I’m going – as your mother knows- a fishing.” Fishing is a metaphor that is used to describe Mr. Cruncher’s digging with his spade and shovel. Irony- Jerry Cruncher claims that his job is an honest trade, when in reality digging up dead bodies for money is far from an honest trade. Metaphor- “Dead as mutton.” A man in the crowd is comparing a dead person to a dead sheep.

6. Essential Quote “Oh, Father, I should so like to be a resurrection-mam when I’m quite growed up!” This is when Jerry Cruncher’s son wants to follow in his father’s footsteps and dig up dead bodies for money.

7. Theme Development Throughout the story, the book has a theme of resurrection. This chapter supports this theme because there is an actual physical resurrection when Jerry Cruncher digs up Roger Cly’s body.

8. Mystery Revealed The mystery revealed is that Jerry Cruncher is a porter during the day, but at night he digs up dead bodies for money.