Factors in someone's life can cause them to be sad and have little motivation. At the beginning of the book, Carton is a sad drunk who has no purpose in life. He drinks to deal with life and hates himself a lot. When Darnay asks him if he's been drinking, Carton responds, “Think? You know I have been drinking” (Dickens 82). He also mentions that he drinks because “I am a disappointed drudge, sir. I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me” (Dickens 82). Charles Darnay is everything Carton could be. He hates him, too. While talking to himself, he says, “A good reason for …show more content…
After learning that Charles Darnay is going to be killed, someone Lucie cares about a lot, Carton rushes to Paris to save him. He switches places with Darnay, allowing Lucie and her family to get out of France. After Lucie’s carriage, with Darnay inside, gets inspected they are told they can go, “One can depart. Forward, my postilions! A good journey!” (Dickens 345). They are relieved to receive this news. By sacrificing himself, Carton finally has a sense of purpose, which was to save Darnay. In his final thoughts, he sees himself being resurrected as Lucie and Darnay’s child, who is all that Carton wanted to be. He pales in comparison to the child with his name. “I see that child who lay upon her bosom and who bore my name, a man winning his way up in that path of life which once was mine. I see him winning it so well, that my name is made illustrious there by the light of his. I see the blots I threw upon it, faded away” (Dickens 364). He finally has a purpose and has made his life worthwhile, at least to Lucie, which is all that really matters to