A Tale of Two Cities Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. Which combination enables Sydney Carton to remove Darnay from prison in his place?
Doctor Manette’s influence, a guard’s confession, and Darnay’s disguise
A forged release order, money from Tellson’s, and a hidden tunnel
Their resemblance, an exchange of clothing, and Carton’s use of a drug
Barsad’s testimony, Madame Defarge’s register, and a tribunal appeal
2. What is the principal purpose of Madame Defarge’s coded knitting?
To transmit banking instructions between London and Paris
To record the movements of French émigrés in England
To preserve Doctor Manette’s prison writings
To register people marked as enemies of the revolution
3. Which Tellson’s Bank employee travels to Dover and helps reunite Lucie with her father?
Jarvis Lorry
Jerry Cruncher
C. J. Stryver
John Barsad
4. Which event leads Gaspard to seek revenge against the Marquis St. Evrémonde?
The Marquis orders Gaspard’s wife imprisoned without trial
The Marquis’s carriage runs over and kills Gaspard’s child
The Marquis burns Gaspard’s wine shop during a riot
The Marquis informs against Gaspard at a revolutionary tribunal
5. The phrase “recalled to life” most directly describes which early development?
Charles Darnay escaping a death sentence in France
Doctor Manette returning to life and family after imprisonment
Sydney Carton finding professional success in London
Gaspard reappearing after the Marquis’s death
6. What happens during the final confrontation between Miss Pross and Madame Defarge?
Madame Defarge arrests Miss Pross as an English spy
Miss Pross reveals the location of Lucie’s family to save herself
John Barsad arrives and takes Madame Defarge into custody
Madame Defarge is killed by her own discharged pistol, and Miss Pross loses her hearing
7. In what year does the novel’s opening action take place?
1815
1789
1792
1775
8. What does Carton’s final imagined vision add to the meaning of his sacrifice?
It shows that he expects the revolution to restore the Evrémonde title
It envisions a better future in which Lucie’s family survives and Carton’s name is honored
It predicts that Doctor Manette will return to Paris to lead political reforms
It reveals that he believes Lucie will eventually forget both him and Darnay
9. At Charles Darnay’s London treason trial, what creates decisive doubt about the witnesses’ ability to identify him?
Lucie Manette’s refusal to testify against Darnay
Jarvis Lorry’s proof that Darnay was at Tellson’s Bank
Sydney Carton’s striking physical resemblance to Darnay
John Barsad’s admission that he invented the charge
10. John Barsad is eventually revealed to be which character’s long-lost brother?
Lucie Manette’s
Madame Defarge’s
Jerry Cruncher’s
Miss Pross’s
11. How is Sydney Carton’s working relationship with C. J. Stryver portrayed?
Carton supplies much of the insight and preparation behind Stryver’s success
Stryver secretly prepares cases that Carton presents in court
They are opposing barristers who never work together
Carton manages Stryver’s financial affairs at Tellson’s Bank
12. Doctor Manette’s document from the Bastille becomes dangerous to Darnay because it does what?
Identifies Darnay as an English agent working for Tellson’s
Denounces the Evrémonde brothers and their descendants for their cruelty
Claims that Darnay helped arrange Manette’s imprisonment
Transfers the Evrémonde estate to the Defarge family
13. Why is “The Golden Thread” an appropriate title for the novel’s second book?
It evokes Lucie’s role in binding together and sustaining the people around her
It refers to wealth secretly moved between Tellson’s branches
It names the code used in Madame Defarge’s knitting
It describes the route followed by refugees leaving Paris
14. Why does Charles Darnay leave his family in England and travel to revolutionary France?
He plans to reclaim the Evrémonde estate and title
He has been summoned by Doctor Manette to testify
He receives an appeal for help from the imprisoned Gabelle
He intends to expose John Barsad as an English spy
15. Jerry Cruncher’s secret nighttime occupation is best described as what?
A smuggler carrying messages across the Channel
A spy reporting French activity to the English government
A “resurrection man” who steals bodies from graves
A printer producing revolutionary pamphlets
16. Which activity does Doctor Manette compulsively resume when traumatic events overwhelm him?
Making shoes
Counting banknotes
Knitting names into cloth
Writing denunciations