It is often overlooked, but the effects and influences of others shape people into the individuals they are. People alternate their qualities to please others and feel like they belong. In the novel, The Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, many characters go through dramatic transformations. Manette, Carton, and Darney, in particular, are recalled to life. In the story, these changes are triggered by the need of acceptance, either by others, or by themselves. .
Doctor Manette is a hopeless, lonely elderly man, going out of his right mind, when he is reconciled with his daughter, Lucie. He doesn't appreciate the gift of life for he has nothing to live for, "he [looks] at the two, less and less attentively, and his eyes in gloomy abstraction [site] the ground and [look] about him in the old way (41)". Manette experiences many things throughout his lifetime, amongst them are pain, loss, and heartbreak. His wife's death takes part of his soul as well as a motivation to go on. His daughter's visit brings back an essential piece that his soul is searching for. He on several occasions admits that "only his daughter has the power of charming this black brooding from his mind. She is the golden thread that unites him to a past beyond his misery and a present beyond his misery"(77). Lucy is the person that cares for and loves Manette unconditionally. Her arrival gives him the desire to experience life.
Sydney Carton is an intelligent but extremely insecure young man that goes through major transformations throughout the novel. When he is first introduced, Carton is an indolent alcoholic, "who [smells] of port wine, and [doesn't] appear to be quite sober"(79). The man has the ability to make something great of himself, but he doesn't have the desire to change his habits. Carton consideres himself a waste of a life, for he believes he is unworthy. "He [cares] for no man on earth and no man on earth [cares] for [him]"(81).
