Mr. Cruncher came to a stop on the pavement before he answered, 'How should I know'?
'I thought you knowed everything, father,' said the artless boy.
'Hem! Well,' returned Mr. Cruncher, going on again, and lifting off his hat to give his spikes free play, 'he's a tradesman.'
'What's his goods, father?' asked the brisk Young Jerry.
'His goods,' said Mr. Cruncher, after turning it over in his mind, 'is a branch of scientific goods.'
'Person's bodies, ain't it father?' asked the lively boy.
'I believe it is somethink of that sort,' said Mr. Cruncher.
'Oh, Father, I should so like to be a Resurrection-Man when I'm quite growed up!' (170).
This passage is the culmination of a series of events in this chapter. Mr. Cruncher goes to dig out bodies in a graveyard, and Young Jerry, thinking his dad is going on a fishing trip, follows without his father knowing. Young Jerry reveres his father, and dickens refers to Mr. Cruncher as the honoured parent for the entire fishing trip passage. He sees his father digging up land with a spade, and when he sees the coffin come out of the dirt, he sprints home, frightened.
I believe that Young Jerry found some new respect for his father, and is in awe that he is a Resurrection-Man. He wants to be like his father and I believe he appreciates the fact that this father is a rule-breaker, and is proud of him for being a rebel. However, I think that Jerry is beginning to question the morals of what his father does in the night. I think the purpose of him asking his father what a Resurrection man was was not to figure out what it is, but to see how his father feels about it. Young Jerry cleverly disguises his intent in the questions, but I think he is still unsure about how he feels and whether it is right or wrong. This is the first time in the book that a child has questioned a parent as a role model. I bet Jerry throughly enjoyed freaking his father out by asking the question, and I think both Jerrys will be watching each other closely for a while to see what they do.
2 comments:
Yes this is the first obvious time when a child has questioned a parent as a role model, but I think that Darnay questioning his uncle's methods and lifestyle could be an example. This makes me wonder if Young Jerry and Darnay have anything else in common and if this connection will be central to the rest of the story.
Although I would agree with the fact that Jerry is feeling a tad guilty about his trade, I would take it a step further and say this represents many people of this time period. He is doing acts that under normal conditions would be considered wrong. Jerry only does it though, because he has to feed his family. Under terrible time, people commit terrible acts to survive. People would steal for food, and go as far as violence in order to live another day.
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