Book II Chapter 1: “Five Years Later”

1. Book IIChapter 1:“Five Years Later”

2. Characters • Jerry Cruncher • Mrs. Cruncher • Young Jerry Cruncher (Jerry’s son)

3. Summary HUMAN HEADS! • Tellson’s Bank is described as the powerhouse financial institution of London despite being small, uncomfortable, and old-fashioned. Tellson’s workers are proud of its uncomfortable conditions. • The severed heads atop Temple Bar are mentioned, along with the death-obsessed society surrounding Tellson’s. • The “odd-job man” is mentioned; different porters or custodians who come and go from Tellson’s and do not fit in with the rest of the employees. Jerry Cruncher is introduced as one such odd-job man. • Mr. Cruncher treats his wife poorly, mocking her and even throwing a boot at her at one point. He wakes up every morning with “boots covered with clay”, a sign that he is involved in suspicious activities at night. • Mr. Cruncher and his son arrive at Tellson’s Bank and wait outside, hoping to be summoned for an odd-job of some kind. • The two are called upon for work, and Jerry’s son comments on his father’s rusty fingers. This is yet another sign that Mr. Cruncher may be participating in some shady operation or another.

4. Literary Devices • Symbolism: Tellson’s Bank is symbolic of England at the time. “…the house was much on a par with the Country; which did very often disinherit its sons for suggesting improvements in laws and customs that had long been highly objectionable, but were only the more respectable” (55). • ~Tellson’s refuses to change, and England is the same way, punishing anyone who tries to enact change. • Hyperbole: “When they took a young man into Tellson’s London house, they hid him somewhere till he was old”. ~ This is an exaggeration concerning how the difficult line of work at Tellson’s Bank can make an individualbecome weary and exhausted. Apostrophe: Words addressed to an absent/dead person, object, idea,or God. Jerry’s wife has an apostrophe on page 58 while she prays for him. Dickens even blatantly mentions the literary use of an apostrophe with “…varying his apostrophe after missing his mark…”.

5. Essential Quote • “But, indeed at that time, putting to Death was a recipe much in vogue with all trades and professions… the forger was put to Death; the utterer put to Death; the purloiner of forty shillings and sixpence was put to Death; the holder of a horse at Tellson’s door, who made off with it, was put to Death…” (56).