While reading this week’s assignment, the thought kept running through my head that your past experiences shape you into the person you are, and no matter how hard you may try, erasing the past is impossible.
The first line in the novel that made me have this though was when the prisoners were being compared to the cask of wine breaking outside of Defarge’s wine shop and the author stated, “they are not easily purified when once stained red.” At this point, the narrator is simply talking about the prisoners, but I immediately thought of Darnay. Darnay comes from a bloodline that he is not proud of, but can his pride be saved by changing his name? Although Darnay was able to change his façade by using an alias, Darnay is never able to truly change who he is on the inside.
After Lucie and Doctor Manette find out that Darnay has teturned to his homeland, they go after him in an attempt to save his life. They go to newest branch of Tellson’s bank and find Mr. Lorry. Lorry sends Lucie and little Lucie to the back and explains to Doctor Manette the truth about what is happening: the prisoners are going to be killed soon. When Doctor Manette leaves the bank to try to salvage Darnay’s life, it is noted that the “calm morning air [had] a red upon it that the sun had never given, and would never take away.” The imagery created when the sun casts red over the land foreshadows that soon the ground outside the bank will be covered in blood. The question remains, will this blood be Darnay’s, or not?
In the past, there have been constant references to darkness in the novel, symbolizing tragedy and death, but this week, the color usage switched to red. Red symbolizes not only blood, but also courage. Through this week, the only use for the color red has been to symbolize blood, because the war has officially broken out. Will the use of the color red soon switch over to mean courage? Will there be an unseen hero who comes to save either Darnay or Lucie?
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