The grindstone that the chapter is based upon is very interesting. One quote, at the end of the chapter, makes it especially interesting.
"The great grindstone, Earth, had turned when Mr Lorry looked out again, and the sun was red on the court-yard. But, the lesser grindstone stood alone there in the calm morning air, with a red upon it that the sun had never, and would never take away" (Page 274).
The most interesting piece of this quote is "The great grindstone, earth". The fact that Dickens believes earth is a giant grindstone is very interesting. Dickens believes that the earth is a cruelly violent place, and is often used just to sharpen ones weapons. Throughout the book, we have seen this type of violent, negative outlook on the world, and here we see it again, in a uniquely poetic way.
Also, Dickens says the sun "would never take away" the blood from the smaller grindstone. We see that Dickens does not believe blood and violence can be washed away by hope and sunlight. This blood is a permanent stain of what has happened there.
Prisoners and Imprisonment are the backbone of the this passage, but beneath that surface, Dickens is making much deeper social commentary.
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Whoa I really like what you said about the earth being the great grindstone and i especially like what you wrote aboout how the sun would never take away the blood - my motif is the blood/wine group, and when I was reading this chapter, I also got a sense of the permanent-ness of the blood and violence on the St. Antoine community.
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