Charles Dickens in the very first chapter of his novel, A Tale of Two Cities, presents a sweeping background of events and forces that shape the characters’ lives later on. In its first paragraph, he begins to share a dual theme, as he compares and contrasts the ideas of “best” and “worst” of times, “light” and “darkness” and then “hope” and “despair.” These contrasting ideas reflect images of good and bad that would recur in situations and characters in the entire novel. Dickens makes contrast between two countries, England and France. Both countries experience very different and very similar situations simultaneously. The differences, he compares are concepts of justice and spirituality in each country.