Book II - Chapter XIII. The Fellow of No Delicacy Practice Quiz — A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Book II - Chapter XIII. The Fellow of No Delicacy
How is Sydney Carton described as a visitor to the Manette household?
He is described as "the same moody and morose lounger" who had visited often during a whole year but "certainly never shone" in the house of Doctor Manette.
What does Carton do late at night near the Manette house?
He "vaguely and unhappily wandered there, when wine had brought no transitory gladness to him," and was often revealed lingering there at daybreak.
What has Mr. Stryver done before this chapter takes place?
He has notified Carton that "he had thought better of that marrying matter" and has "carried his delicacy into Devonshire" -- abandoning his plan to propose to Lucie.
What is the first sign that something is different about Carton during this visit?
Lucie notices "a change" in his face during their first few commonplaces, and then observes that "there were tears in his eyes."
What does Carton say when Lucie asks why he does not change his life?
"It is too late for that. I shall never be better than I am. I shall sink lower, and be worse."
How does Carton describe himself in relation to youth and possibility?
"I am like one who died young. All my life might have been."
What does Carton say would happen if Lucie could have returned his love?
He says he "would have been conscious this day and hour" that he would "bring you to misery, bring you to sorrow and repentance, blight you, disgrace you, pull you down with him."
What does Carton ask for instead of Lucie's love?
Nothing. He says: "I ask for none; I am even thankful that it cannot be." He only wants her to know that his heart was opened to her and that something in him could be deplored and pitied.
What does Carton call Lucie in relation to his soul?
"You have been the last dream of my soul." He says knowing her stirred "old shadows that I thought had died out of me" and brought "whispers from old voices impelling me upward."
What "unformed ideas" does Carton say Lucie inspired in him?
Ideas of "striving afresh, beginning anew, shaking off sloth and sensuality, and fighting out the abandoned fight" -- but he dismisses them as "a dream, all a dream, that ends in nothing."
What metaphor does Carton use for the fire Lucie kindled in him?
He says she kindled him, "heap of ashes that I am, into fire -- a fire, however, inseparable in its nature from myself, quickening nothing, lighting nothing, doing no service, idly burning away."
What secret does Carton ask Lucie to keep?
The secret of his confession and feelings. He asks that the confidence "lies there alone, and will be shared by no one" -- not even "by the dearest one ever to be known to you" (her future husband).
What promise does Carton make about never raising this subject again?
"I will never refer to it again. If I were dead, that could not be surer than it is henceforth."
What is Carton's final pledge to Lucie before he leaves?
"For you, and for any dear to you, I would do anything. If my career were of that better kind that there was any opportunity or capacity of sacrifice in it, I would embrace any sacrifice for you and for those dear to you."
What future vision does Carton describe to Lucie at the end of his speech?
He envisions new ties binding her to home -- a husband, a child. He says: "when the little picture of a happy father's face looks up in yours, when you see your own bright beauty springing up anew at your feet, think now and then that there is a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you!"
How does this chapter's title, "The Fellow of No Delicacy," function ironically?
The title echoes Stryver's dismissive view of Carton as socially crude, yet the chapter reveals Carton acting with extraordinary emotional delicacy -- confessing love while asking for nothing, promising never to mention it again, and leaving gracefully.
What does Carton say about his own worth after making Lucie cry?
"I am not worth such feeling, Miss Manette. An hour or two hence, and the low companions and low habits that I scorn but yield to, will render me less worth such tears as those, than any wretch who creeps along the streets."
What parallel exists between Carton and Doctor Manette in this chapter?
Both are figuratively "buried alive" -- Manette was imprisoned in the Bastille, while Carton has imprisoned himself through self-destructive habits. Carton says, "I am like one who died young," echoing the novel's resurrection theme.
What is Carton's "last supplication" to Lucie?
That she believe his pledge is sincere: "For you, and for any dear to you, I would do anything." He asks her to hold him in her mind "as ardent and sincere in this one thing."
How does Lucie react to Carton's departure?
She "wept mournfully for him as he stood looking back at her," saddened by how much he had thrown away and "how much he every day kept down and perverted."