Light and Darkness

              Charles Dickens uses light and dark to the tone of hopelessness into hopefulness for Lucie and Dr. Mannettes' kinship in chapter 6 of A Tale of Two Cities. First, Dickens writes, " Darkness had fallen on him in its place" (Dickens;32). This quote expresses Dickens hopelessness through darkness. When he says " Darkness had fallen on him" , he is stating that hopelessness has been put in Dr. Mannette and his surroundings. Being locked up in a jail cell for 18 years, Dr. Manette didn't encounter people and lost hope. Next, Mr. Lorry states " You can bear a little more light?" And then Dr. Manners then replies saying " I must bear it if you let it in" (Dickens;30). Mr. Lordy has been Dr. Mannette's business partner when Dr. Mannette was not in jail and goes to the jail cell with Dr. Mannette's daughter he has yet to meet. So, when Mr. Lorry asks him if he could bear anymore light he didn't literally mean light. He meant his daughter, Lucie. Lucia is implemented as the light because she is the only one who could find the hope he needed inside him. Finally, Dickens says " On her fair young face that looked as though she passed like a moving light"(Dickens;32). In this quote, not only does Dickens show how Lucie replaces Dr. Mannette's hopelessness to hopefulness, but he also uses personification to compare Lucie's appearance to moving light. We can rewind back in the past chapters and see Lucie having the same blue eyes and blond hair of her mother. By Dr. Mannette seeing a mere image of his now dead wife, except younger, it brings lots of hope. He may not have fully shifted into the hopeful zone but has definitely took a big step towards it within the time span of Lucie and Her father meeting. As we see, Dickens does a miraculous job implementing light and dark to the the tones between Lucie and Dr. Mannettes' relationship, which has evolved from being hopeless to being hopeful.