Tale of Two Cities: Roots of Revolution The roots of the revolution, according to Dickens, are rapacious license and oppression by the nobility. "Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar manners, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seed of rapacious license and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind" - P347, Book III, Ch15. Dickens, who lived in England where there were many unjust punishments and immoral actions by high ranking officials, was basically saying that the things that fueled the revolution in F