Like Dr. Manette, Darnay has had terrible experiences in France, but even so, "...through the painful anxiety to reviving old associations of France in his mind, he did not discuss with himself." (p 252-53) As long as we've known him France has been dead to him, he hates his family, and is trying to make a new life in england, but now as another's life rests in the balance he must resurrect his old ties to France and the Marquis he forsook.
By doing this he risks some of the same things Dr. Manette does whenever prisons are mentioned. But like Dr. Manette he has to eventually come to terms with that part of his life and come to peace with it, or else his own well being and the well being of others could be risked.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Adding on to what you said about Darnay having to resurrect old ties to France, (or going on a complete tangent from that) Darnay also attempts to be a much more literal agent of resurrection for Gabelle in this chapter. Darnay was pressured into trying to save this innocent man from prison by his conscience and other things, but his plan is half-baked so in the next chapter we see epic failure as he tries to go in and resurrect Gabelle from the dirty hollows of prison. He himself is now locked away in prison and now he too needs to be resurrected from the deadly captivity of La Force. He is even compared to Dr. Manette who throughout the book has been the strongest connection to resurrection. We can probably suspect that because of this, Darnay’s character and the resurrection motif being tied together, will be a recurring theme in at least the next couple of chapters or at least until Darnay gets out of prison or dies.
Epic failure?
*not this post, the wording in Nick's comment
Post a Comment