“ ‘If it had been possible, Miss Manette, that you could have returned the love of the man you see before you—self-flung away, wasted, drunken, poor creature of misuse as you know him to be… I know very well that you have no tenderness for me; I ask for none; I am even thankful that it cannot be.’
‘Without it, can I not save you, Mr. Carton? Can I not recall you—forgive me again!—to a better course?’” (156).
Here Mr. Carton is shown telling Lucie of the life that could have been his, and how he now a mere drunk; a ‘poor creature of misuse’. He tells her that he understands that she cannot love him, and wonders why he should even ask such a thing. Lucie responds by asking what she can do to help Carton restore his life.
This quote show Sydney Carton juxtaposed as a double of Dr. Manette. They both appear imprisoned. Dr. Manette was imprisoned literally, but also mentally, unable to escape the mind frame he was forced into while being held prisoner. Here we see Carton also imprisoned by his drunken and unmotivated habits, almost as if the Carton of delicacy that we see for the first time in this chapter is imprisoned in the Carton of no delicacy that is often portrayed. They both are able to change and break free of their imprisonment (as Dr. Manette has done to some extent), but are clearly having trouble doing so by themselves. Lucie is first sent to restore Dr. Manette to ‘life, love, duty, rest, comfort’ and here she is seen asking Sydney how she can save him as well. Dickens does a good job of pointing out this parallel by bringing back the phrase recall in the sentence ‘Can I not recall you to a better course?’ , which is much like how Lucie recalled Dr. Manette to life.
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