Februrary 5th 2012

What?!?!

"This dialogue had been held in so very low a whisper, that not a word of it had reacheed the young lady's ears. But, by this time she trembled under such strong emotion and her face expressed such deep anxiety, and, above all, such dread and terror, that Mr Lorry felt it incumbent on him to speak a word or two of reassurance. 'Courage, dear miss! Courage! Business! The worst will be over in a moment; it is but passing the room door, and the worst is over. Then all the good you bring to him, all the relief, all the happines you bring to him, begin. Let our good friend here, assist you on that side. That's well, friend Defarge. Come now. Business. Business.'" (pg.39.Dickens.)
     -Excerpt from Charles Dicken's, A Tale of Two Cities.



Lucie Mannett, a young girl who had assumed all her life that her father was deceased, just found out she was mistaken. Jarvis Lorry, a trusted friend of the Mannetts, has come to Dover to inform her that her father is very much alive, and that she is going to see him. She learns that he has been in prison for eighteen years, but that his release has now taken place. Of course, as anyone would be, Lucie is shocked and gets very emotional, as this exerpt shows. When I read, "her face expressed such deep anxiety, and above all, such dread and terror," I pictured a scared girl, imagining her father in terrifying circumstances, while listening to two men discussing him with much lack of courtesy towards her feelings. Lorry, who realizes how sad and confused Lucie is, tries to comfort her, and this is where I get lost. He exclaims, "Courage, dear miss! Courage! Business!" What kind of comforting words are these? Business? How on earth is finding out that your father, who you assumed to be killed, has been rotting away in prison and that you are going to see him after eighteen years, business? I truly wondered after reading this, if back when Tale of Two Cities, was written, the word business had a different definition, one that was less irritating for me to endure from this man. Then i stopped and thought, this must be a man who clearly is trying to make the young girl feel better, what with advising her to have courage, while lacking the ability to realize that not everyone deals with their tough emotions by putting on their game face and acting like its all, "business". Although maybe bankers, such as Jarvis Lorry may have to think of things more critically to survive in a business world, it's interesting and almost funny to me that he doesnt realize how to talk to a teenage girl.