"'Five paces by four and a half, five paces by four and a half, five paces by four and a half.' The prisoner walked to and fro in his cell, counting its measurement, and the roar of the city arose like muffled drums with a wild swell of voices added to them. 'He made shoes, he made shoes, he made shoes'" (267).
When I first read this passage I thought maybe Dickens' was bringing in a flashback of Doctor Manette in prison. However, as I reread it seems that he still is talking about Charles Darnay and is comparing the two prisoners. I had trouble thinking about the significance of this besides the repetition of the paces and shoemaking. I thought maybe it had something to do with all prisoners in general, or perhaps it was Dickens' own revenge. We knew that Doctor Manette was skeptical about Darnay, but now it's as if Darnay "took" his daughter away and now this is what he gets. Darnay is now put into Doctor Manette's position, so it seems as though Dickens is creating a revenge situation because as far as we know Doctor Manette has no involement in Darnay's current state. Along those same lines, Dickens could be throwing in some karma action, rather then revenge as Darnay is getting a taste of what Doctor Manette experienced.
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1 comment:
I agree, it's a really interesting way to look at this passage. It's especially powerful, because of, not only the pace, but the references to what imprisonment can do to you.
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