Character Analysis: Jarvis Lorry

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In The Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens is a master at manipulating language to make scenes come alive. Not only does he describe scenes with vivid details, he is able to create a definite illustration for the reader to image. Charles Dickens word choice gives his dialogue and descriptions clarity, effectiveness and precision. By using diction, he is able to characterize the character of Jarvis Lorry as a very respectable, orderly and methodical personality. One example of Dickens’s usage of diction is seen on page twenty-two in book I when he depicts Jarvis Lorry. The author says, “…when a gentleman of sixty, formally dressed in a brown suit of clothes, pretty well worn, but very well kept, with large square cuffs and large flaps to the pockets, passed along on his way to his breakfast.” This quote suggests that Mr. Lorry is a professional business-like character that is from a wealthy class. Mr. Lorry is a respectable man from the way he dresses. The way he keeps his cuffs and pockets suggest that he is very precise and neat. Dickens uses diction further in describing Jarvis Lorry’s appearance to put an emphasis on his behavior. Another example Dickens uses diction to describe Jarvis Lorry’s appearance as very business-like in detail is on page twenty-two and twenty-three in book I. In the words of the author Lorry is presented as--- “Very orderly and methodical he looked, with a hand on each knee, and a loud watch ticking a sonorous sermon under his flapped waist-coat, as though it pitted its gravity and longevity against the levity and evanescence of the brisk fire. He had a good leg, and was a little vain of it, for his brown stockings fitted sleek and close, and were of a fine texture; his shoes and buckles, too, though plain, were trim. He wore an odd little sleek crisp flaxen wig, setting very close to his head: which wig, it is to be presumed, was
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