Mirza 1

Lateefah Mirza
Rogers
English 12
3 December 2015
Assignment 15 Memorable Character
I read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The memorable character that I chose
from this novel is Sydney Carton. Sydney Carton is a young man living in France during the late
18th century. He works for Mr. Stryver, a very prominent lawyer. Carton is the brains behind the
operation, and helps Mr. Stryver maintain his image as a powerful lawyer. You learn early in the
book that Sydney Carton is a really depressing character. Throughout his childhood, he did
other childrens homework. That isnt very different from what he does now, which is pretty much
him doing Stryvers homework. Carton is not a stupid character, hes actually very smart. He
always throws himself under the bus at the expense of others.
Sydney Carton is a memorable character to me because throughout his whole life all he
did was help out others without anything return and was an extremely miserable person still. As
a child, he does all the other childrens homework for them. Then as an adult, he offers his brain
to Mr. Stryver to take as his own and make Mr. Stryver look good to the public. Sydney Carton
doesnt get anything in return for his acts of selflessness. His death was extremely memorable
because it was his final act of giving for others at his own expense. He was extremely in love
with Lucie, who was in love with Charles Darnay. He doesnt try to break up Lucie and Charles
and even believes Lucie is too good for him, and tells her that he accepts the fact that his love
will always be unrequited. When Charles is wrongfully imprisoned and sent to the guillotine,
Sydney Carton takes his place. This is because he looks exactly like Charles Darnay and is
willing to sacrifice his life for Lucies love life and happiness. Also, he is sacrificing his life for
Charles Darnay even though Charles never even helped him at all throughout his life and pretty
much took his woman.

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I found it interesting that Sydney Carton was portrayed as a Christ character. There were
many parallels drawn between Sydney Carton and Jesus Christ. Before he dies, he says I am
the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet
shall he live: and whoseover liveth and believeth in me, shall never die (Dickens, 89). Sydney
Carton recites the resurrection of Lazarus to parallel him to Jesus, because he is killing himself
to save another man just like Jesus died to sacrifice the lives of others.
Had I wrote the book, I would not have had Sydney Carton die just for Lucies happiness
and to save Charles Darnay. Charles Darnay did nothing to help Sydney Carton throughout his
entire life. Also, Sydney deserves Lucie just as much as Charles Darnay does. They look
exactly the same. So if I had written the book, I would have had Darnay killed by the guillotine
even if he was innocent.
After Darnay dies, Lucie would be understandably sad. She would be crying and Carton
would come in to rescue her. Since he looks exactly like Darnay, there would be no inhibitions
because if she thought Darnay was hot, shed think Carton was hot too. Also, Carton could
comfort her and they would live happily ever after.