The Wine

“Others, men and women, dipped in the puddles with little mugs of mutilated earthenware, or even in handkerchiefs from women’s heads, which were squeezed dry into infants’ mouths; others made small mud-embankments, to stem the wine as it ran; others, directed by lookers-on up at high windows, darted here and there to cut off little streams of wine that started away in new directions; others devoted themselves to the sadden and lee-dyed pieces of the cask, licking, and even champing the moister wine-rotted fragments with eager relish” –(31).

As a class, we discussed the significance of this passage at a metaphor for the war that would later happen in France—the wine was meant to symbolize blood. While I agree that this metaphor is a possibility, I feel that there is more going on within the passage than just the imagery of spilt blood running down the streets. The scene that Dickens depicts is one that is, at the least, chaotic. Mothers are using their headwear to absorb wine to feed their children, and others are using everything that they can to stop the flow of wine, so that they may gather it all for themselves. Simply put, it is a scene of pure desperation.

            If I am to go along with the assumption that this scene is meant to metaphorically replace blood, from war, tainting the streets red, then I feel that I would fail to acknowledge the layers that are set up within the scene. Dickens’ portrait is not one that takes place solely on the ground, but up above, too. There is the mention of “lookers-on up at high windows” (31) telling those down below where to go to gather wine. Is this not more indicative of the social hierarchy in both England and France, than of the oncoming war? For those down below are depicted in such desperation to feel the need to, quite literally, pounce on the spilt wine, that they lose all sanity for a moment. Though, I am aware that the late 18th century was not a time of great hygiene, I am sure that most people did not eat or drink from the ground often. Nevertheless, this is what the scene portrays—people doing whatever they could, despite the pieces of earth and other debris that would have been inevitably intermixed, to absorb the wine.

            Though not obviously, I feel that there is a connection from this scene to the scene within the Cruncher’s household as young Jerry is the spitting image of his father, though smaller, and follows his every demand. I feel that there is a strange parallel set up here between the two, which uses the different elevations as metaphors critiquing the social standings of the time. Even though one scene is more chaotic than the other, the image of height is used and associated with power. As height is only able to be used as a comparison between two things, thereby the more height one has, the more power they hold over the smaller being to which they are being compared.

Thus, I feel this scene is a direct reflection, and even critique, of the social standings of the time. Those down below, who are in the middle of all the chaos, are being directed by the onlookers who sit up above. There is not only a level of separation within the actions of the two groups, but in height. This quite literally sets up a hierarchical scene where those above direct those below. Moreover, those above are yelling from their windows, balconies, or at least some elevated surface that protects them from the chaos below. Whereas those down below are using their bodies as ways to contain the wine. While one has protection, and directs with their voice, the other uses their body and follows the orders of those above.

4 thoughts on “The Wine”

  1. I’m so glad that someone did this passage! I think that what you said about how this scene is more about desperation than wine being blood is spot on–especially about how the mothers were absorbing the wine to feed their children. I also really like how you talked about how this passage could be about social standing and gave the metaphor of how people are “looking down” on the scene, which is definitely representative of the lives that lower class French people had during this time.

    1. Also, I think that this connects to another element of the book–perhaps the people watching the lower class of France could represent how Madame Defarge views herself above Lucie, specifically in the scene we talked about last class? (the one where we compared gender/power roles between the two women on pg. 257) Either that, or in a greater context, the social order between England and France.

  2. This is a really interesting take on the passage, and I honestly probably never would have seen it that way had you not pointed it out. I feel like this ties in very well with the overarching theme of revolution in the book, and the power the aristocrats have over the common people. Dickens is certainly no stranger to critiquing aristocracy, as we can see in the characterization and subsequent death of the Marquis, and his near-glorification of the French Revolution. Looking at it, then, through this lens, this interpretation begins to make a lot of sense, because it’s in line with something Dickens loves to do: a clear metaphorical meaning, and another one hidden beneath that one that’s more political. It also ties in well with Aliyah’s point about the Marquis actually being the Gorgon rather than the Gorgon’s victim; it all has to do with Dickens’ subtle mocking of aristocracy.

  3. This was awesome, Bella. I’m impressed by your ability to pull out implications, apart from what is made explicit.

    This was such a memorable scene and I definitely agree with you – there is something more going on here than just foreshadowing the blood from battle that is coming. Let’s connect this part in the novel to the battle in Book 3, Chapter 2 “The Grindstone,” where blood is seen running down the streets as peasants run around uncontrollably.

    If wine is meant to signify blood, then the imagery in Chapter 5 certainly points at Christianity, where Christians drink from the cup “which has been poured out for [us] and for many.” In other words, drinking the blood of Jesus Christ. However, later in the novel, particularly in Book 3, the blood rushing through the streets feels different than the wine from Book 1 Chapter 5. Now, it seems to represent anything other than Christianity – it represents battle itself. Perhaps, by engaging in combat and killing others, blood leads to a type of “renewal” of the land? Kill the aristocracy and rid the world of “evil?”

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