While reading A Tale of Two Cities, one of the first mysteries we are introduced to is the message that says “recalled to life” and what it is supposed to mean. When we are first introduced to Dr. Manette, we notice that he seriously needs to be recalled to life. After being in a prison for 18 years, it seems that all he ever thinks about now is how terrible his life in prison was. We can see this by the first paragraph that first describes Dr. Manette’s character

“The faintness of the voice was pitiable and dreadful. It was not the faintness of physical weakness, though confinement and hard fare no doubt had their part in it. Its deplorable peculiarity was, that it was the faintness of solitude and disuse. It was like the last feeble echo of a sound made long and long ago. So entirely had it lost the life and resonance of the human voice, that it affected the senses like a once beautiful colour faded away into a poor weak stain. So sunken and suppressed it was, that it was like a voice underground. So expressive it was, of a hopeless and lost creature, that a famished traveler, wearied out by lonely wandering in a wilderness, would have remembered home and friends in such a tone before lying down to die.” (38)

When Dickens describes him, he says that Dr. Manette seemed like someone who was truly lost, and depressed. When we read this paragraph, we are able to envision a man who seems like he has been dead for 18 years of his life. However, we can see how Dr. Manette has been affected by the psychological trauma that comes with being imprisoned for so long.  At the end of chapter 6 book one Lucie Manette meets her father, and from the way he reacts to finally meeting her, we can assume that the person that will recall him to life.

The next time we really see how Dr. Manette is doing since the first book is in book two, chapter four. In the second paragraph of chapter four, we can see that Dr. Manette is doing a lot better; however, Dickens still says that Dr. Manette still has a negative aura around himself. He says that Dr. Manette seemed to “draw a gloom over him, as incomprehensible to those unacquainted with his story as if they had seen the shadow of the actual Bastille thrown upon him by a summer sun, when the substance was three hundred miles away”. The only thing that holds this darkness at bay is the charming Lucie Manette, a character that is the “golden thread” that keeps Dr. Manette away from his past. Comparing these first and second descriptions of Dr. Manette, we can see that he has been recalled to life these past five years because his daughter has been there for him. Dr. Manette relies on Lucie to be there for him, and he needs her to get rid of the 18 terrible years he has spent in jail. I think it would be interesting to see what would happen to Dr. Manette if something happenes to Lucie.

Another character that we meet in the earlier chapters is Jerry Cruncher. When we first meet Jerry Cruncher in book one, he is a messenger that delivers the message to Mr. Lorry. We don’t really get a lot of information from this first encounter, but we can assume that he takes his job seriously as he delivers this message despite the rain and muddy conditions. When we meet him again in the second book, he seems like an angry little man who hates his life. When he wakes up in the morning, he sees his wife praying, and without hesitation, he “threw a boot at the woman as a third”, (54) solely because he assumes that she was praying against her. This scene gives us insight on how women were treated during this time period. It shows that society during this time period was very patriarchal. We can also think of Mr. Cruncher doing something illegal, because we can see him as extremely suspecting of his wife. Why does he assume that his wife is praying against him? Was it just because of the society or did he actually do something bad the night before? Another weird thing about Mr. Cruncher is that the boot “was a very muddy boot, and may introduce the odd circumstance connected with Mr. Cruncher's domestic economy, that, whereas he often came home after banking hours with clean boots, he often got up next morning to find the same boots covered with clay.” This shows how Mr. Cruncher may not be who we see him to be. I found myself wondering why his boot was so muddy, despite him cleaning them every night.