- Sometimes it's hard to shake the feeling that Dickens is a bit of a misanthropist: "From the dimly-lighted passages of the court, the last sediment of the human stew that had been boiling there all day, was straining off..." (81).
- Is this the first use of Lucie's first name? I remembered it but hadn't been using it because I thought maybe I was making it up. Miss Manette shall henceforth be Lucie.
- I guess we are more or less in the position of Mr. Darnay here; we are loosely aligned with Lucie and her family, and we don't know what the heck Carton's deal is. He calls out Mr. Lorry for avoiding Mr. Darnay's company while Mr. Darnay is accused (because Mr. Lorry is a man of business and it would have looked bad for them to be seen together--remember that Mr. Carton goes and speaks to Mr. Darnay before the verdict is returned, though, and here he insists that he has no business.) He smashes a glass when Mr. Darnay toasts (and then orders another glass: why would you serve him, innkeeper?) Finally he point-blank asks Mr. Darnay, "Do you think I particularly like you?" (86). I confess to being a little frustrated at his antics, but I'm sure Dickens has something up his sleeve.
Takeaways:
Carton is a strange guy; I think either Carton or Darnay (or both?) have some connection to Lucie's father's imprisonment (what with that dark look that comes over Mr. Manette) and at the moment, we don't know much more.
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