"There was much commiseration for her as she was removed, and much sympathy with her father. It had evidently been a great distress to him, to have the days of his imprisonment recalled. He had shown strong internal agitation when he was questioned, and that pondering or brooding look which made him old, had been upon him, like a heavy cloud, ever since" (pg 80).
Here, Mr. Manette is forced to relive, or resurrect, his life in prison. The fact that he cannot yet speak comfortably about his days in prison means he has not yet fully been "recalled to life". Before he can be fully resurrected to his old life, he must come to terms with what happened to him and the time he spent in prison. Lucie is committed to restoring him to life and it will be her duty to carry through with this in the future.
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3 comments:
NICE! Always good to keep an eye open for when Dickens uses the word "recal" -- wacky Victorian spelling and all!
Okay, now someone from period 8 needs to go in under "settings" and grant adminstrative privileges to your group members in period 9.
I really think I understand and agree with what you are saying here. It's been shown through these chapters that Lucie definitely has the job of taking care of her father. You would think that after a few years, he would be perfectly fine and finished being "resurrected". But thats not the case- he even still comes in contact with his shoemaking tools time to time, which are objects from his past that he should have forgotten.
"Before he can be fully resurrected to his old life, he must come to terms with what happened to him and the time he spent in prison"
This quote from your post reminds me of the process of grieving. (a multi-faceted response to loss) To go through the grieving process, you need to first come out of denial. Dr. Manette is obviously distressed about prison and would rather not discuss or think about it, kind of like the first stage of grieving. Acceptance is the last stage of grieving. Eventually, Dr. Manette will need to accept what happened to him in prison to be completely "recalled". I'm going to be looking for him softening up and becoming more comfortable with talking to Lucie about anything. Just something I thought I could relate to in the real world.
"Lucie is committed to restoring him to life and it will be her duty to carry through with this in the future."
This is true, but I think it's a give and take type relationship too. Lucie might be taking care of her father, and to us it might look like a sort of 'duty', but she's gaining a lot from the relationship too. She's found a purpose to keep living. She chooses to devote herself/life to the job of restoring her father to life. So, she is also "resurrected" through her father, while Dr. Manette is being "resurrected" by her.
Wow, Jennifer, very well-developed comment. I like how you highlighted specific phrases of the post in order to respond to / elaborate upon them. Good work!
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