Sidekicks vs. Heros

     We all know Batman, we’ve seen the movies and watched the cartoons, but no one pays as much attention to Robin, his sidekick. We don’t necessarily say he is less important, but we’ve grown up knowing Batman is the tough guy, the “man”, the head- honcho, and Robin doesn’t get much credit. But who’s to say Batman couldn’t beat his villains without the help of Robin. Sydney Carton is like Robin, he is the sidekick to Mr. Stryver. He works along side him, but doesn’t get any of the credit. I have this sympathy for Carton, that I think he has for himself, but more importantly that Dickens wants us to have. In the passage at the bottom of page 90 Dickens writes,
      "Sydney Carton would never be a lion, he was an amazingly good jackal, and that he rendered suit and service to Stryver in that humble capacity.”
      Although this passage is in Dickens’ eyes, I can tell Carton thinks of himself the same lousy way and I can infer that from other passages. This is from when Carton was working on papers with Stryver, and we can tell Styver is more of the courtroom-lawyer, while Carton is the behind the scenes lawyer. But which is the real hero? I can debate that Carton shows he is a luminary in the case, but just having the decency to work on Charles Darnay’s case regardless of his feelings for him; and that is a heroic act in itself.
       This passage is meaningful because we all know that “sidekick”, maybe we are ones ourselves. This passage made me look at the world through a different point of view: Jackal vs. Lion; and I wondered, would I be a lion? Or is there is chance I could be a jackal? Maybe a little of both? I believe Dickens wants each of us to connect to a character in the book, because of the details he adds about each character, details that are not only characteristics for book character but for real people. Some of us may connect with Stryver, the lawyer who is tough and can always win; or Carton, hopeless, useless, drowned in self pity. I’m not quiet sure which character I connect to yet, but maybe I will by the end. Having a connection to a character in a book really helps in pulling the reader into the plot, because we all want to read about something we can relate to. When there are no connections we may ask, “so what” or loss attention to the book; and when you’re not fully into a book do you learn from it? I don’t think you can.
Wether you’re Batman or Robin you’re just as important to taking down the Joker, and both Carton and Stryver were important in the victory case of Charles Darnay.








                                                                                                                              Batman and Robin