SQUID: Book the Second - Chapter 8-12

"As he bent his head in his most courtly manner, there was a secrecy in his smiling face, and he conveyed an air of mystery to those words, which struck the eyes and ears of his nephew forcibly. At the same time, the thin straight lines of the setting of the eyes, and the thin straight lips, and the markings in the nose, curved with a sarcasm that looked handsomely diabolic" Book 2, Chpt 9, Pg.

This quote means as the Marquis smiled and bowed, his face look quite suspicious. There was something mysterious about the words he last said. This bothered the nephew for he couldn't escape the image and how handsome yet how evil the Marquis looked all at the same time.

SQUID: Book the Second - Chapter 4-7

"'It will seem nothing to you. Such whims are not only impressive as we originate them, I think; they are not to be communicated. I have sometimes sat alone here of an evening, listening, until I have made the echoes out to be the echoes of all the footsteps that are coming by and by into our lives.'" Book 2, Chapter 6, Pg. 94

This quote is Lucie talking about the footsteps she continues hearing. Darnay acts as if they are nothing while to Lucie they mean so much more. She is saying we desire and believe different things, and we can not all agree on what is right and wrong. What she believes the footsteps represent are people coming into their lives in the near future. Carton comments that if this is true, then a great crowd must be on it's way.

SQUID: Book the Second - Chapter 1-3

"I won't be gone agin, in this manner. I am as rickety as a hackney-coach, I'm as sleepy as laudanum, my lines is strained to that degree that I shouldn't know, if it wasn't for the pain in 'em, which was me and which was somebody else, yet I'm none the better for it in pocket; and it's my suspicion that you've been at it from morning to night to prevent me from being better for it in the pocket, and I won't put up with it, Aggerawayter, and what do you say now!" Book 2, Chpt. 1, Pg. 50-51

In this quote, Mr. Cruncher is complaining to his wife. Reading the passage we detect that he doesn't have a good relationship with his wife and that he has anger problems. Mr. Cruncher is explaining how he can't put up with her "abuse" anymore. He's weak, he's sore, he's tired, and he isn't making any money with his business. Also, throughout the chapter Mr. Cruncher had been complaining about his wives constant praying. He's very convinced that she is praying against him when in reality she is praying FOR him, but he refuses to believe that. He also calls his wife a "Aggerwayter" which is what he calls her because she aggravates him so much. Concluding his confrontation with her, he is sassy and ends the conversation in a sarcastic manner.

SQUID: Book the First - Chapter 5-6

"The wine was red wine, and had stained the ground of the narrow street in the suburb of Saint Antoine, in Paris, where it was spilled. It had stained many hands, too, and many faces, and many naked feet, and many wooden shoes. The hands of the man who sawed the wood, left red marks on the billets; and the forehead of the woman who nursed her baby, was stained with the stain of the old rag she wound about her head again. Those who had been greedy with the staves of the cask, had acquired a tigerish smear about the mouth; and one tall joker so besmirched, his head more out of a long squalid bag of a night-cap than in it, scrawled upon a wall with his finger dipped in muddy wine-lees—blood." Book 1, Chpt. 5, Pg. 27

This passage opens the exploration of the people of Paris and also portrays the peasants' hunger. Not only are they physically starved and willing to slurp wine from the streets, but they are also emotionally hungry from lack of freedom, justice and a new world order. They've been put through too much agony. This quote foreshadows the heights in which the peasants' distress will take them.

SQUID: Book the First - Chapter 2-4

"With drooping heads and tremulous tails, they mashed their way through the thick mud, floundering and stumbling between whiles, as if they were falling to pieces at the larger joints. As often as the driver rested them and brought them to a stand, with a wary ‘Wo-ho! so-hothen!’ the near leader violently shook his head and everything upon it—like an unusually emphatic horse, denying that the coach could be got up the hill. Whenever the leader made this rattle, the passenger started, as a nervous passenger might, and was disturbed in mind." Book 1, Chpt. 2, Pg. 7

This quote emphasizes the time period; the objects acknowledged were clearly objects of times in the 1700's, not modern day. For example, the people are being drawn by a carriage and struggling through treacherous pathways while now-a-days, we'd be using much more reliable transportation. Also, the phrases used such as "Wo-ho!" and "so-hothen" are not used in present day. Also in the quote, the passengers are unsure and timid which symbolizes that back then, England was a questionable place and no one could be trusted. Lastly, when the quote refers to how the near leader denied that the coach could be got up the hill, this symbolizes that England was doubtful, tired, and couldn't depend on anyone.

SQUID: Book the First - Chapter 1

"It was the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five. Spiritual revelations were conceded to England at that favoured period, as at this. Mrs. Southcott had recently attained her five-and-twentieth blessed birthday, of whom a prophetic private in the Life Guards had heralded the sublime appearance by announcing hat arrangements were made for the swallowing up of London and Westminster. Even the Cock-lane ghost had been laid only a round dozen of years, after rapping out its messages, as the spirits of this very last year past (supernaturally deficient in originality) rapped out theirs. Mere messages in the earthly order of events had lately come to the English Crown and People, from a congress of British subjects in America: which, strange to relate, have proved more important to the human race than any communications yet received through any of the chickens of the Cock-lane brood. " Book 1, Chpt. 1, Pg. 1

This quote opens up quite a few ideas for us; the time frame (1775), new characters, and elaborates on the setting. Mrs. Southcott is first familiarized and has just turned 25. Also, the Cock-lane ghost is brought up making us realize that the English people had quite an imagination and very superstitious minds. Lastly, the British subjects that traveled to America sent back more important, mere messages that are more effective on the human race. The British devalue the communications through the Cock-lane ghost and sarcastically apply that it is strange to relate the two ideas.