In Book Three we are
introduced to a “new” character. Formerly known as “The Mender of the Roads”,
we meet “The Wood-Sawyer”. The
transition between the two characters seems to be quite drastic in my opinion.
To the innocent follower of the Defarges, to the bloodthirsty creep, there has
been a change.
“Ah! But it’s not my
business. My work is my business. See my saw! I call it my Little Guillotine.
La, la, la; La, la, la! And off his head comes!” The billet fell as he spoke,
and he threw it into a basket. “I call myself the Samson of the firewood
guillotine. See here again! Loo, loo, loo; Loo, loo, loo! And off her head comes! Now, a child. Tickle,
tickle; Pickle, pickle! And off its head
comes. All the family!” (287).
This quote shows how
different the wood sawyer is from the mender of roads. Now he is creepy and is
there every day to watch Lucy, but he says “it’s not his business”. In another
chapter he mentions how many the Guillotine has killed; apparently he keeps
track of that now. The mender of the roads seemed to be more of an innocent
follower to Defarge, especially the way he was with the King and Queen earlier
in the book; he was a nobody who finally did something helpful in his boring
life. I don’t see how this character is playing two different personalities
since they are so opposite from one another.
A big question I ask is:
why have we never known this characters actual name? All of Dickens other
characters have been named, or in the case of Solomon Pross, had a fake name.
Why does Dickens not want us to know his actual name? I’m very curious as to
why he hasn’t revealed the truth behind this person. I have reasons to believe
that this person is an undercover spy. I think that he works for Defarge. In
the beginning of the book his job as the mender roads was to spy on Marquis and
now it is to follow Lucy and the Manette's. Since this person is the same but
both have been mender of roads and wood sawyer, he must be a fantastic actor
because the change in personalities is quite different. In both instances this
character always seems to be the eye witness, he discovered the man underneath
the Marquis, helped to plot the death of Marquis, and now is creepily watching
Lucy each day as she stands outside of the prison. After analysis I think it is
safe to say that he is a spy. Since Roger Cly faked his death and we haven’t heard
from him since, and he is a spy, maybe it’s him? As the book winds down, I
think that the true identity of this character will be revealed. Otherwise I will
be disappointed.
