In "A tale of Two Cities", by Charles Dickens, one of the main themes (and most interesting to me) was that of 'restoration' or, as Book the First is titled, "Recalled to Life." Another thing this book did a lot was compare things; Cities, people, groups, characteristics. The most interesting 'restoration' in the book to me was that of Sydney Carton. In true fashion of Charles Dickens and "A Tale of Two Cities", I will compare the restoration of Carton and the city of Paris.
Sydney Carton started off as a "Jackal". He was a loner, practically dead inside. He hated everyone and everyone hated him. There was nothing left for him in life, he had no purpose in life and so had given up. All Carton did was drink all day. When he looked in the mirror, he was disappointed with how his life had turned out. Through Charles Darnay (a character who looks exactly like him) he sees the man he could have been and hates himself and Darnay for showing him that he is essentially a failure. Carton believes himself empty of anything worth of love and sees no way for him to change.
But Carton meets Lucie and falls in love with her. I think because of her compassion and willingness to see through to him and believe that he can change, even though no one else, including himself believes in him. His love for Lucie really struck me because he completely opens up to her and tells her his every emotion and thought and personal struggle of his. He allows himself to be open, honest, and vulnerable in front of her. He tells her he loves her and what that love is. But what really makes his love for her so touching is that he gave his love for her husband, basically his competition, to make her happy. His love wasn't dependent upon her love in return. he knew that she loved her husband but he didn't stop loving her. He loved her and loved for her to be happy, even if her happiness didn't depend on his. The fact that someone could love someone that much was really awesome for me to see. It was also really powerful to see how love can transform/restore people, just like Cartons love for Lucie transformed him and allowed him to be happy with his life and feel like he had something worth living for, or even dying for. This love was able to resurrect his wasted life even though physically, he died.But spiritually and emotionally he was recalled to life through his sacrifice to make Lucie and her family happy. His love and death was able to turn his whole life around and make him see beauty. He even saw the beauty in his death. He was able to see past the mayhem and violence around him (in Paris) to the bright future which would eventually come from it, just like Lucie was able to see through his wasted life.
Which brings me to Paris' go a restoration. In the beginning of "Two Cities" Paris started out at its all time lowest. There were people starving and dying, with no houses and not enough clothes, with no beds or blankets, living on the streets. These peasant made up the majority of of Paris, and the rich, the minority, made up the group of oppressors. The peasants are tired of the injustice that surrounds them and a lot of them are planning to revolt. They are full of hatred for the rich and vengeance for anyone who is not with them. They want a change and will do anything to get it. As they prepare to get there justice, their anger and hatred and vengeance overwhelms them and they become worse than the rich oppressors. They kill people violently and with angry hearts. They kill people who used to be rich or who they think are traitors. They kill everyone who is not fighting with them and even some people who are with them. It because a bloody, violent mess that is worse than before they started the revolution. Because the try at restoration was spurred by hatred and vengeance instead of love and happiness they were not able to recall Paris to Life. The problem only got worse. Instead of feeling liberated and worth something, like Carton did, they just felt even angrier.
This shows me that being born anew requires a selflessness and humility in order to resurrect a person or city or country. Carton was sacrificed his life for Lucie's happiness in the place of her husband, showing both selflessness and humility, while the peasants of Paris acted out of anger and used violence to try and sort out there problems. And while they were right to be angry, they were rash and in the midst of their fight acted out of selfish desires, like Madame Defarge and many other revolutionaries. Martin Luther King Jr's warning that violence will never solve the problem is exemplified here in "A Tale of Two Cities". Perhaps a calmer and less violent revolution would have prevailed and the oppressed would have gained their justice instead of falling deeper into the injustice and taking part in it themselves.
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