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The Carriage Incident - A Tale of Two Cities

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One of the most famous chapters in Charles Dickens novel, “A Tale of Two Cities” is “Monseigneur in Town," specifically the “carriage incident." When reading about the incident, and how Monseigneur the Marquis hit and killed a young child with his carriage, and how after doing so he threw money at the problem and blamed the victims for being “for ever in the way” (Dickens pg. 116), you can tell just how the circumstances are similar to this day. Or, how Monseigneur called them “dogs” (Dickens pg. 116), and how we treat them as such. It is clear, as to just how despicable the rich think the poor are, easily comparable to how we the wealthy mistreat the homeless, the hungry and those struggling to get by. How the rich and wealthy ignore, blame and completely take advantage of those people in unfortunate situations. How we look down upon people in need and think of them as lesser human beings simply because they are poor. If you go for a walk downtown in nearly every major city, it's quite possible that you'll come across more than one person who is homeless and begging for spare change. And more than often people pass by and ignore them, as if they were invisible and do not matter. Making up excuses as to why they cannot help; “They got themselves into this mess,” “It’s not like I’m rich or anything,” or, “They will probably just spend it on alcohol or drugs.” Instead of helping the poor, we blame them, saying it is their fault. We tell them that they just need to get a job, and assume that they are addicts who blew all their money on drugs and will only do it again. It is sad how similar this is, to A Tale of Two Cities. Monseigneur the Marquis had remarked, “It is extraordinary to me, that you people cannot take care of yourselves” (Dickens pg. 116), even after running over the poor mans’ child, he still blames him for not properly taking care of himself or his children. Instead of giving those wh

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