Book II, Chapter Five – The Jackal

Folks drank a lot in those days.  Consider yourself warned. Mr. Stryver drinks a lot. So does Carton. Here’s the difference, though: when Stryver gets drunk, he becomes worthless. Come to think of it, Stryver’s often worthless. Sydney, on the other hand, can down a few and still be on top of his game.

For reasons that no one can figure out, Sydney and Stryver are thick as thieves. OK, they’re not exactly friends: Sydney can’t stand the fact that Stryver’s a big jerk. Nonetheless, he spends most of his nights solving Stryver’s cases for him. There’s a good reason why Stryver calls Carton "Memory": he’s the brains behind all of Stryver’s operations.

Dickens starts to have some fun with the relationship between Carton and Stryver. Stryver’s sort of like a lion…he’s top of the food chain. King of the hill. And if Stryver’s a lion, then Carton is…a jackal. Lions are hunters. Jackals are scavengers, scooping up the leftovers after animals like lions bring home the prey. Hmm…does something seem off here? For one thing, Stryver’s the guy that’s getting spoon-fed legal insight from Carton. The metaphor doesn’t quite fit. Could Dickens be using a little bit of irony?

Stryver gets pretty happy on his punch and, after awhile, he begins to reminisce about the past. They’ve been together since school. Back in the old days, Carton used to write Stryver’s term papers. Now he’s writing Stryver’s legal briefs. Some things never change. 

As Stryver pours himself another drink, he wants Carton to drink to the "pretty witness" who came to court today. Carton mutters some unpleasant things about Lucie. OK, they’re not that bad. But he does call her a "golden doll." Stryver’s taken aback. He was sure he caught Carton staring at Lucie for most of the day. 

Falling back into a drunken stupor, Stryver heads to bed. Left to himself, Carton ponders why his life is so unhappy. He imagines love and happiness for a brief moment, but then his depression sets back in.