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Why is the following quote important in A Tale of Two Cities and how does it contribute to the story as a whole?

"Not before dark night did the men and women come back to the children, wailing and breadless. Then, the miserable bakers’ shops were beset by long files of them, patiently waiting to buy bad bread; and while they waited with stomachs faint and empty, they beguiled the time by embracing one another on the triumphs of the day, and achieving them again in gossip. Gradually, these strings of ragged people shortened and frayed away; and then poor lights began to shine in high windows, and slender fires were made in the streets, at which neighbours cooked in common, afterwards supping at their doors. Scanty and insufficient suppers those, and innocent of meat, as of most other sauce to wretched bread. Yet, human fellowship infused come nourishment into the flinty viands, and struck some sparks of cheerfulness out of them. Fathers and mothers who had had their full share in the worst of the day, played gently with their meager children; and lovers, with such a world around them and before them, loved and hoped."

User Essex
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It sets the scene of pre-revolutionary France and demonstrates dickens’ sympathy toward the people of France at this time. The quote is important because it still shows the humanity of the peasants before it is ripped away from them by the hatred and violence brought on by the revolution.
User Jazzschmidt
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