Essay #2

English 9

Mr. H. Salsich

Simone

September 22

Puzzling People:

An Essay About Charles Dicken's Theory About Everyone Having Secrets

TS Do you remember being little and telling secrets to your best friend and making them pinky promise not to tell? SD You shared almost everything with your best friend, but then again there were those secrets that you had always kept to yourself. CM Charles Dickens, the author of Tale of Two Cities, is declaring that we all have some special secrets that we never and will never share. CS Perhaps Dickens is right and no one can ever truly know you, but if you show the hidden side of you, what happens then?

TS I don't think anybody understands that ordinary everyday people are not what they seem. SD In chapter three of A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens presents us with the idea of mystery. CM Dickens states that, "[...] every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it!", saying that we don't really know our closest family and friends and that they don't know us either. CM Mr. Dickens is basically declaring that we all have confidential information and puzzling mystifying things about us that no one but ourselves know. SD Furthermore, Dickens says that "My friend is dead, my neighbour is dead, my love, the darling of my soul, is dead." CM Many think that the mysterious writer means that these people are literally dead, but really they are just dead in his viewpoint. CM Since he does not genuinely know them, to him, they are dead and it is like they are not even there at all. CS Dickens, who is a very intricate and famous author, in my eyes, is a very opinionated person. (appositive S-V split)

TS If Charles Dickens is correct, then I think people are like puzzles (simile). SD When you get a puzzle, the first thing you do is look at the picture, which is like looking at a person for the first time. CM You either find the puzzle riveting and compelling, or you find the puzzle unexciting and dull. CM The first impression of a person is very much like a puzzle, you either want to dive into solving it, or you want to look for another puzzle to decipher. SD Puzzles are difficult to unscramble and unravel just like the layers of a person. CM The first pieces of the puzzle that fit together are like the first time you meet, but then when you start to connect more and more pieces, you are really getting to know each other. CM As additional pieces are put together you are digging further into the person's soul. SD Linking the last two pieces together is taking the final step into your relationship. CM You now completely and entirely know this person and their mysteries and secrets are no puzzle to you. CM You will never feel like you are missing a piece to the puzzle for you have seen the finished picture that looks exactly like the one on the box - your first impression. CS Puzzles are like people, enticing and mystifying, but when you start to put them together, you get the full picture.

TS Can anybody honestly and sincerely know you? SD Do you let everything show when you meet someone, or do you put up a wall and only let certain people in? CM Being guarded is something everyone does absentmindedly and in chapter three, Dickens was just magnifying that. CS Maybe he was right: no one can truly know the real you unless you put yourself on display.