Sydney Carton and Lucie

If Sydney Carton ever shone anywhere, he certainly never shone in the house of Doctor Manette. He had been there often, during a whole year, and had always been the same moody and morose lounger there. When he cared to talk, he talked well; but, the cloud of caring for nothing, which overshadowed him with such a fatal darkness, was very rarely pierced by the light within him (154, 155).
This passage literally discusses how Sydney Carton acts in Doctor Manette’s house. He is almost always depressed and sad. Over the year, he had almost never broken through his habit of being a jackal. He could not fix his life and achieve something. Even though he loves Lucie very much, even for her, he cannot pierce his “fatal darkness” with his inner “light”. He is almost being held a prisoner by his bad habits and practice of caring for nothing. Even when he wants to change himself, he is unable to, and returns to being held prisoner as a “moody and morose lounger”. This shows that Carton will not be able to win Lucie’s hand in marriage because he cannot break free of being sullen and moody. As the consciousness of misery points out, he does not even want to marry her because he recognizes the terrible state of his life, and does not want to drag her down with him.