Les Miserables Archives

The Paris of America

Dak Reads Les Misérables / MARIUS: Book 8

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers 

Marius: Book 8; Courfeyrac Needs Boats and the Jondrette Caper

Now that introductions to the baddies are complete, let's see how our friend Marius is doing.

Terribly is how he's doing. He's fallen into this deep depression over losing this girl that he's observed but never spoken to for three or five or -- I lost count of how many years it's been. His favorite things just don't interest him anymore. Work doesn't interest him. Walking around looking at plants doesn't interest him. Thinking about stuff doesn't interest him. He spends all his remaining energies trying to find Mlle. Lanoir to no avail.

He keeps a cork in all his sad emotions though. He doesn't even confide in his bestie, Courfeyrac, which is probably the least surprising news of all time. Marius doesn't seem like the type to really open up to anybody in the first place, and in the second place--Courfeyrac? He's a good friend, but from what we've seen so far, he probably isn't the one I'd go around sharing all my deep emotional manpain with.

In any case, Courfeyrac is still an observant BFF. He knows something is drastically wrong with his pal. In an attempt to cheer up the kid, he enlists Bossuet and Grantaire and they all go to a ball. Specifically Le Bal de Sceaux. Sceaux is a suburb of Paris. This is a perfectly reasonable thing to be doing since they live in Paris, but it can't not be an allusion to the story of the same name that is part of Balzac's la Comédie Humaine series about the goings on of the people during the Restoration. Right?

This particular story, published around the time all this stuff in Les Misérables is taking place--1830, is about a girl name Émile who goes to a ball at Sceaux in search of a Pair de France husband. She finds instead a mystery guy named Maximilian who is mostly concerned about caring for his sick sister. He and Émile do eventually fall in love only for her to find out that he's actually a lowly merchant. Scandal! She dumps him immediately and marries an old guy instead. Later, it turns out Maximilian is a Pair de France after all. He was only keeping shop to take care of his family. Oops.

I'm not sure what, if anything, that has to do with anything, but I didn't want to pass up a good allusion that I actually managed to notice. Maybe it would help if I read the whole story of Émile and Max instead of just the summary, but...It's taking me long enough to read this chapter; there is no time for a Balzac intermission!

As for Marius, he only agrees to go with them to this bash because he thinks he might find his "Ursula" there. It doesn't cheer him up when she is nowhere to be found. Grantaire makes a comment about all lost girls being found there. I'm not sure if it's a commentary on the women that attend this type of function, or if he's just being really sarcastic about Marius's optimism. Maybe both.

Oh, well, if a night out on the town with this particular trio of Amis isn't going to cheer you up, I don't know what to tell you, son. At least they tried.

Now, a couple of incidents:

First, Marius thinks he sees M. Leblanc on the street one day. This man he spotted has the hat and the white hair of the old man, and Marius thinks that maybe he should follow the guy. He know's where that got him last time though. He thinks he could have been happy just sitting on his bench in varying proximity to the girl of his dreams for the rest of time. If only he had never followed then maybe he could still be happy there. I don't know...what about option #3: speaking words to these people like a human person and not coming off like a shady creepster that is up to no good?

Oh, well, Marius is a man of few words, unless they are about Napoleon, so it is how it is. At least he learned something from the incident, and decides that he's imagining things, and it's probably not a good idea to go around stalking people in the shadows anymore. The way things are in this book, it probably was Valjean, but spotting him on the street one day is not nearly coincidental enough of a chance meeting. Try again, Marius.

Incident #2: A couple of girls on the run knock into him as he's walking in the street one day. It can be gleaned that they are running away from the authorities by what they are shouting at each other. Once they are gone, Marius finds a packet of letters that he figures they must have dropped. He goes shouting after them, but can't find them, and concludes that they're out of earshot. You know, because shouting after a couple of kids on the run from authorities is sure to bring them right out of hiding.

Later, we are told again how much Marius doesn't pay a lick of attention to his neighbors. This is relevant, because he's totally about to meet them.

One day he's sitting in his barren room after getting ready for bedtime and opens up the packet of mystery letters to see if he can figure out who they belong to, or where they need to be delivered. What he discovers as he reads them is that they are all written on the same tobacco scented paper and they are all written to different people, begging them for money. They are all signed with different names, but they are all clearly written by the same person.

He's just way too depressed and sleepy to give any craps about these letters right now, though, so he puts them away and throws the packet into a corner.

The next morning, after Marius has had his toast, he's ready to get on his way to work when he hears a knock on his door.

This is weird to him, because he leaves his key in the lock all the time basically just inviting all comers into his apartment. The landlady had told him that this was a sure recipe to being robbed blind, but Marius don't care. He doesn't think he has anything to steal. Naturally, he is wrong about this. Marius has plenty of stuff to steal. He has two whole suits and toast! The landlady is vindicated when this open door policy got his boots stolen one day.

Still, he leaves the key in the door after that happened. Marius. Learn from your mistakes, bro. He hears the knock again and, without looking up from what he's doing, asks the landlady what she wants.

It isn't the landlady.

So, in comes a young girl in this outfit that is basically crumbling right off her because it's so worn out and threadbare. She's dirty and barefoot, all bones, and is missing a few teeth. She might have been pretty once upon a time, but life has kicked her down into the state she is now. She is there to deliver a letter to Monsieur Marius, whom she knows by name. He's sitting there pondering this new and exciting development, because she must have actual business with him if she knows his name. Meanwhile the girl just makes herself right at home there in his room. She basically just barges in without an invitation and pokes and prods at all his stuff from his toiletries down to his ink pens.

He says nothing about her rummaging through his belongings like it ain't no thing, because he's too busy feeling pity for her and reading the letter. It is a missive from Jondrette himself, the girl is his daughter, and wouldn't you know it? It's written in the exact same way and on the same paper in the exact same handwriting as all the mystery letters! Marius has a moment of clarity where he realizes that Jondrette is actually a big old crook/con-man, so he just checks out of real life for a moment into Marius-land, ruminating on the state of society that would force people into such dire straits.

As for the letter contents, it seems Daddy Jondrette has found out that Marius paid their rent. Now he's asking for more.

Speaking of Marius, I'm kind of surprised that he hasn't crumbled to dust and blown away at this point with this girl in his room, touching his things, spilling out of her dress, talking and talking and talking at him. He is pretty distracted with the letter and thinking about stuff though, until she sees his books and is really excited to show him that she can read. She reads a bit from one that happens to be about Waterloo, because of course it is. I imagine that all the books Marius owns that aren't about lawyering, are probably about Napoleon, and maybe Mabeuf's flower book. She tells him about her dad, who was at Waterloo.

She also wants to prove to him that she can write too, so she just grabs a pen and a piece of paper and writes down on it:

The Cops Are Here.

So, yeah...if there was any doubt about Jondrette's occupation, this probably dispels it.

Now that she's shown him her writing skillz, she's now going to confess that she's watched him come and go. She's even spotted him visiting Mabeuf on occasion. This is why she knows his name. She probably is familiar with his toast habits too, and also, she'll just go ahead and let Marius know that she thinks he's "a very pretty boy".

Marius is retreating into brusque hermit mode now, which feels more like him. He changes the subject quickly and hands over the packet of letters. The girl doesn't seem to notice he's gotten frosty, she's distracted now.

She's is really excited about finding the missing letters, because she and her sister had been looking all over for them. They had searched and searched and searched, and in the end had lied to their father and told him that all their prospective benefactors had refused to give them money instead of admitting that they'd lost the letters. She takes the packet from Marius with the intent to head straight off and deliver the one for the church-going philanthropist. It's just about the time he's getting out of church, so perfect timing!!

Marius hasn't forgotten his very own letter from Jondrette though. He's going to give them money anyway, even though he knows Jondrette is a scam artist. People got to do what they got to do to eat, and there's no question that his neighbors don't have much. He fishes around in his pockets for the cash, reserving only enough for his own meals and giving her the rest; a grand total of five francs. She's grateful for this and grabs a moldy dried out crust of bread that she spots to eat on her way out.

And that is that! Or is it?

No, it's not, because Marius is thinking some more about the state of things and his poor neighbors. He feels really badly about it, because he's spent all his time there not noticing their hardships. He really wishes he could have done more to help them out and is totally awash with guilt about it. He then decides he really needs to learn more about these people. There is a word for people like the Jondrettes. Everybody say it with me now: Les Misérables. There's supposed to be some kind of fanfare and confetti falling from the sky when a work references its own title, right?

It just so happens that despite the Gorbeau house being empty of all tenants aside from Marius and the Jondrettes, they are living in adjacent rooms. Also, there is a hole in the wall just big enough for Marius to peep through, because of course there is and of course he would. I think Marius's entire book should be subtitled again. Les Misérables: Vol. III: Marius: What are you doing?

Marius maybe hasn't actually learned anything from the last time he was a giant creeper, so he goes on ahead and climbs up on his dresser to peephole height, so he can peep the Jondrette's living quarters.

What he sees certainly shocks him, because these people are living in filth pretty much. Like, he thought he was poor? By comparison, Marius is living the high life. These people have nothing. On the other hand Marius has a job, he's got skills, and an education, he has good friends who help help out no questions asked, he can buy new boots after his get stolen and still leave his door unlocked, and he can afford to let his crusts of bread sit around long enough for them to turn into moldy rocks for goodness sake!

Jondrette is a thin weasly looking guy, skinny in his woman's blouse, with a long scraggly grey beard. The wife is there, she's a hulking woman with red hair cooking by the fire, and there is a younger girl who's practically naked. He's standing there observing the dire conditions of his neighbor's lodgings when the older girl bursts into the place and she's got news. One of the letter addressees, an old philanthropist, is coming to visit them. He's right on her tail.

And so begins the preparations for their benefactor's arrival. Marius is about to witness the execution of a con. Not that they aren't super poor to begin with, but Jondrette is making it his mission to make them appear even more destitute.

Jondrette gives his family instructions. He tells the younger girl to break the window. She doesn't want to, but eventually gives in and just punches out a pane of glass with her bare hand. She cuts herself as she does it. I'll let you ponder how intimidating and abusive Daddy Jondrette is to be able to compel a child to do that. He's even pleased at his daughter's misfortune, because now she can cry real tears in her mother's arms and look even more pitiful with that injury. Mom is none too pleased about this, but she goes along with her husband anyway. On top of this, it is winter and freezing outside.

He tries to get the older girl to break out the bottom of the only chair, but she doesn't do it. He breaks the chair by sticking his foot through it. They are now ready to receive company.

Marius sticks to his peephole like glue and what he sees next shocks him to the core, because who walks in the door but M. Leblanc and Mlle. Lanoir! (I did not intend for that sentence to be so Seusstastic!) There they are, in the flesh, right in the very same building that he lives in! And that is how you do a proper chance meeting!

They come bearing gifts of clothing and blankets. Jondrette is not pleased with material goods though. He's after the cash, so now he has to put on a show. Jondrette gives Leblanc the entire spiel he had prepared for his playwright character. This is his cover for this particular letter. I assume he's crafted each identity to appeal most to each letter recipient. In any case, Jondrette bemoans the lack of funding in the arts these days. What's a poor author to do with a family to feed? Leblanc is sympathetic of course, because if there's one thing this guy loves to do it's help the less fortunate whether they need a job at a bead factory or need rescuing from a ship's rigging, or rescuing from Javert, or just giving his money away in general.

Jondrette pleads for an amount of rent money which is much more than is due. Marius knows because it couldn't have accumulated that much since the time he paid it. Leblanc hands over five francs. Jondrette isn't exactly pleased over only five francs though.

Leblanc promises to return later in the evening with some more though, and he also leaves his coat for Jondrette.

Marius quickly comes to the decision that he must follow them. Always a good idea. He overestimates the amount of time it's going to take them to get back down to the fiacre though (He's afraid Valjean will spot him, recognize him, and move again) By the time he's made it outside, they're already turning the corner. Marius decides that he can't run after it to follow, because that would just be crazy. Luckily an empty cab is right there for him to jump into. This is kind of surprising, because isn't Gorbeau house supposed to be in some shady hidden side-street off the beaten path somewhere? I'm pretty sure that's a specific reason why Marius, Jondrette and Valjean picked it for their lodgings. I wouldn't imagine a lot of cab traffic would be going through there. I guess Marius is just that fortunate. Alright! Mad fiacre chase through the streets of Paris to find the love of his life that he's never spoken to? Let's go!

Wait, not so fast, Marius. The driver wants him to pay up front. He's a pretty savvy cabbie, I have to say. Because of Marius's old beat up clothings, the man doesn't think he can pay for this ride. I don't really blame him. If he's driving around places like Gorbeau house looking for fares, he's probably been burned before. Marius says he'll pay when they get back, but the driver is not having it, and just like that Marius's 19th century version of a Rom-Com cliche has been foiled.

He heads back into the house but not before noticing and also not noticing that Jondrette is outside talking to famous night-stalker Panchaud aka Printanier, aka Bigrenaille, and in a great feat of word-padding, the likes of which are usually only seen in November, almost every time this guy is referred to in this chapter it's by at least two of these names. Even Marius knows who he is, because Courfeyrac told him. (Courfeyrac knows because he is everywhere, of course).

I guess this Panchaud character is important because we start going into detail about what a legend ... He will become. He's not quite so notorious as to inspire awe among his future convict fellows yet, so I'm not even sure why we're talking about him in such great detail.

Back inside the eldest Jondrette girl is following after him, and now Marius is bursting with resentment for her, because she has the five francs that were jangling around in his pockets that very morning and could have paid for his cab fare just now. He knows he can't even ask her where Lanoir lives, because the letter was addressed to the church.

The girl isn't going to leave him alone and just watch him this time. She actually holds the door to his room open when he tries to shut it. He's really impatient and huffy and downright snippy with her this time when she asks what's wrong with him. She doesn't understand why he was so nice and generous to her this morning and now he's being such a dick all of a sudden. She's much more timid than she was this morning and stays in the doorway as she offers to help him resolve whatever issues he's having, because she doesn't want him to feel bad anymore. This sparks an idea in him. He's suddenly more happy and optimistic, and she's a little more brighter because he is. He asks if she can find out where their benefactors live. And just like that she's back to gloomy. She rightly guesses that it isn't LeBlanc that he cares about, but the girl.

She can find them but is giving off serious vibes that this is a task she really doesn't actually want to do. For reasons. She agrees to do it though, because Marius asked. Her bitter tone of voice whenever she mentions the girl makes him uneasy, but he just fails to make the connection that she might be upset because he's so into this Lanoir character especially after she flat out just told him to his face that very morning that she watches him and thinks he's totally hot.

Back in his own abode, Marius was about to sit down and do whatever it is that Marius does during the day while he's... I guess he's just going to be skipping work today. He can hear Jondrette ranting and raving in the other room again. How can he resist? He climbs back up to his peephole to peep some more. There he finds Jondrette having a fit about the M. Leblanc being the man who took Mlle. Lanoir away from them so many years ago, depriving them of sorely needed income. Okay, I'm dropping Courfeyrac's nicknames for good now. They're going to be Valjean and Cosette again.

Anyway, the Jondrette woman is totally skeptical about her husband's assertion at first, because no way the lark could have grown up into the lovely young lady Cosette is today.

Jondrette is convinced though, and he has a plan! Marius sits there and listens to all the sinister plotting going on next door. Jondrette is going to enlist his shady underworld buddies to get all the millions of Francs he thinks he is owed, from M. Leblanc. He seems to be under the impression that this guy has all the money in the world, and if he doesn't fork it over then Jondrette is going to kill him. He plans to use Valjean's five francs to go buy some sort of murder tool at the hardware store.

Well, well, well--Murder! That is shocking to Marius. He waffles about what to do about what he's overheard and eventually decides to go to the police.

On his way there he hears whisperings from behind a wall and decides that he wants to hear more. It's a couple of rough looking dudes talking about "The Affair" and how it can't go wrong with Patron Minette! They're all due five or six hundred francs if everything goes according to plan, and if it goes wrong the max they could get is ten years. Marius decides "The Affair" must be Jondrette's plot, because apparently there can only be one big crime committed at a time here.

When Marius finally gets to the Police Station, he is directed to a certain wolf-esque inspector who we all know and love. This entire meeting between Marius and the inspector goes without his name being spoken until the very end, but it's Javert. I'm not even going to try and keep you in suspense, because it's already totally obvious from the start.

Javert listens to Marius's story. He's particularly interested about whether or not the four corners of Patron Minette are going to be there, but Marius hasn't seen them. Just Panchaud and the mention of the gangby the whispering bandits that Javert calls Brujon and Demi-Liard. Javert decides Marius is an upstanding and honest young man on the basis of their conversation here and absolutely nothing else even though Marius is peeved that Javert hasn't called him Monsieur during the exchange and indignant that Javert thinks he might not be brave enough to handle the forthcoming shenanigans. So, Javert hands him two pistols and instructions to conceal them in his fob pockets and go back to his peephole at the appropriate time to fire off a warning shot at the exactly perfect moment for the cops catch Jondrette in the act of an actual crime and bust up his little extortion/murder party. Marius should know when, because he is a lawyer and lawyers should know such things. Sure they should, but Marius. . .

Okay, so we're just giving out guns to randoms just in off the street? I mean, I know owning a gun was probably par for the course back in the days, but it doesn't seem like the wisest decision of all time. What credibility does Marius Pontmercy: Lawyer, translator, and garden ponderer extraordinaire actually have aside from Javert's intuition? For all Javert knows, Marius could be putting on a masterful show and is the secret heretofore unseen, unknown, singular mastermind behind the Patron Minette gang Javert's so keen on capturing. It could be a trap! Of course this is all speculatory nothings to us, because we know Bambi over here isn't the secret mastermind behind anything aside from stalking Cosette. Javert, on the other hand, should probably know better. He's also severely underestimating Marius's infinite capacity for being distracted and conflicted. This is a mistake that is surely going to come back and bite him in the ass.

On his way back home, Marius spots Jondrette, and decides to follow him. Of course he does. All of life's problems can be solved by stalking people and listening in on their conversations, right?

You'll never guess who spots Marius trailing along after Jondrette.

Here is a pause for you to guess... ...

If you guessed Courfeyrac (because Courfeyrac is everywhere) and Bossuet, then you would be right. Seriously, what is with the peanut gallery over here? Courfeyrac is always cropping up at random to LOL at Marius. Not that Marius doesn't do LOL worthy things, but still. It's like Marius is trying to hunt ducks and Courfeyrac is the loyal hunting dog popping up out of the reeds to snicker at his efforts.

Bousset is in the midst of poetically comparing the snow to beautiful butterflies when they spot their friend. Courfeyrac decides they shouldn't go say hi, because Marius is tailing someone and is in love, and Bossuet is confused because there are no beautiful ladies anywhere to be seen. Courfeyrac points out that he is following a guy and they have a laugh.

Bossuet wants to see what he's really up to still. They don't have to say hi, but they can follow him! Because as we have learned so far, creeping on people can only lead to good things! You know, like heartache, depression, and overhearing criminal murder plans. Courfeyrac thinks this is foolish and calls Bossuet "Eagle of Meaux" whilst telling him so. This still cracks me up. I think because it's such a regal and serious sounding nickname, and Bossuet is Bossuet.

Anyway, this is probably a good thing, since I have the feeling the whole "affair" is going to descend into chaos as it is. Do we really need to add Courfeyrac and Bossuet to the equation? (The answer is actually yes! Always! Courfeyrac and Bossuet for all the lawyer adventures. Are you listening, Rob Thomas?)

Marius is too focused on following Jondrette to notice his pals. He watches the guy go into a hardware store, and then it's time for Marius to go home and resume his post on top of his dresser before the landlady locks the door for the night since he'd given his master key to Javert. On his way up to his lodgings, he thinks he sees some people in one of the empty rooms.

Back in his room Marius can hear the conversation when Jondrette comes in without having to get up to his peephole, because now he's listening. By what they're saying, Marius can tell that Madame Jondrette is all dressed up and the girls are about to go out to keep watch, but not before the eldest is ordered to go check Marius's room to make sure nobody's in there. She's sure there isn't, but they make her go check anyway. There's only one place to hide and that is under the bed.

The girl doesn't seem really interested in conducting a thorough search of the place to see if he's hiding somewhere. She's more interested in making use of his mirror while she has the chance. She lies and tells her dad that she did look under the bed when she didn't, so he's safe for now.

Now it's time for Marius to get up on his dresser, the girls are gone, and the stage is set. The chisel Jondrette bought is on the fire and Marius gets a gander at Madame Jondrette's getup. She's got a feather hat and everything. Apparently it's a spectacle that Courfeyrac would have found hilarious, because we should definitely know what Courfeyrac's opinion would have been had he been Marius. (It's a good thing he's not. Bossuet tried to be Marius once, and it didn't work out for him at all.) Jondrette decides he needs a couple chairs for the guests. I guess that's reasonable, since he destroyed their only one earlier in the day. If you're going to be murdering a guy, might as well give him a place to sit. Before Marius can even move from his perch, the Jondrette woman is over at his place "borrowing" his chair. She just waltzes right in and doesn't even notice Marius standing on top of his dresser. I know this action is getting really serious right now, but -- I think you'll have to agree that is a pretty comical image.

Soon, M. Leblanc aka. Ultimus Fauchelevent, aka Jean Valjean is back with the money for Jondrette. Before he can get out of there though, Jondrette sits him down and tries to get him to buy a painting that Marius had noticed during his earlier peeping.

Valjean is having none of this, even as Jondrette tries to talk the thing up and haggle with him. Haggling only works if the other party is interested in purchasing the item though, and Valjean can see that it is merely an old broken down wooden sign for an inn. This goes on for a while, and as it does, three people in blackface or masks have stealthily entered the room. Jondrette tries to pass them off as his neighbors. Because it's normal for your neighbors to just pop right in without knocking and stand around with their faces masked looking sinister and intimidating.

Just as Valjean and Marius are noticing these newcomers, the door burst open and it's none other than the top bad guys of Patron Minette themselves, Babet, Claquesous, and Guelemer; they say everything is prepared. Everything except for Montparnasse who had taken a detour to chat with Eponine. What is that all about? He's missing a good murder party here.

Jondrette is losing patience quickly now. He starts goading Valjean about how they know each other for a while whilst Valjean feigns ignorance. Denying it, isn't going to work though, because Jondrette is determined. And he really doesn't like it when Valjean calls them bandits, because how dare he when he can sit in his nice house with nice shoes and never know what it's really like to be poor and suffer.

He finally gives up the song and dance and drops the big reveal on us. Jondrette is really Thénardier!

Shocking. I know.

Well, it is to Marius at least. He was preparing to fire his gun when this happens and it's like a ton of bricks falling on him. He doesn't know what to do. What seemed so black and white: Catch the Murderous Bad Guys, now isn't quite so clear. On one hand this is the man who saved his father. It must be, and Marius had dedicated himself to fulfilling his father's wish to do service for this man. As if he was reading Marius's mind, Thénardier confirms it by going on and on and on about that guy he saved at Waterloo, and he's such a hero, and he's really laying it on thick. It's almost as if even he has forgotten that he was actually robbing the guy, wasn't actually in the fight to begin with, and only saved Georges by pure happenstance.

Marius starts thinking that turning this dude in to Javert is going to dishonour his father's memory and his wishes.  On the other, Cosette's probably going to pretty upset with him if she ever finds out he let her father perish when he had the chance to save him. You know, if they ever meet and speak words to each other that is. What to do?

Whilst Marius is pondering over this, Thénardier is busy wildly threatening Valjean who is attempting to jump out the window but gets tied up to the bed instead. In the scuffle Boulatruelle gets knocked unconscious. 

  Thénardier is now going to dictate a letter for Valjean to write to Cosette, and Valjean reveals yet another alias: Urbain Fabre. So...is this a fake-out, or is this a new name he goes by? One that he presumably chose, so he didn't have to buy all new monogrammed hankies? In any case, Valjean is steadfastly denying he even knows this girl Thenardier is talking about. (Marius realizes in this space that Ursula is definitely not the girl's name and he's been carrying the old man's hankie over his heart this entire time.)

With the information had, Thénardier sends the wife off in a waiting carriage and proceeds to let Valjean in on his dastardly plan to make sure he pays up. If he has a mustache to go with his beard, he should probably be twirling it right about now.

The plan is to send his wife to fetch Cosette and keep her hidden away until Valjean pays up.  The note is so she will come willingly, and he can't call the police because that will be the end of Cosette.

Eventually Thénardiess comes back only to reveal the address was fake and they'd never heard of this Urbain Fabre. Thénardier wants to know what Valjean hoped to gain by that and threatens him with the now sufficiently heated chisel he got from the hardware store earlier.

Time! Valjean says, because he is a super cool action hero with spiffy comebacks. He is now unbound! How did he manage to do that? Well, he keeps a coin with a hidden built in little saw for just such occasions, because of course he does. He is mostly free, but he can't make a break for it just yet, because he's still surrounded by bandits and one foot is still tied to the bed..

Meanwhile, despite death threats, bondage, and the possible kidnapping in progress of his lady love, Marius remains rooted to his spot at the peephole completely frozen and watching as Valjean's situation gets more and more dire. To be fair, his reasoning for not firing the warning shot had shifted from the feeling of honor-bound duty to his father to concern for Cosette's safety. Now that he knows she's safe, he has a choice to make before someone gets killed.

He doesn't want the old man to die, but he doesn't want to betray his father, etc... This is when he spots the note that Eponine wrote that morning, cinematically lit up by a shaft of moonlight coming in through the window: The Cops Are Here. He wraps it up in a rock and when he thinks everybody is distracted, he pushes it through the peephole.

That is... Well, it's a bit convenient that phrase is the one Eponine is most familiar writing, but that's also actually a pretty clever way out of this moral dilemma. Of course it could all go terribly wrong anyway, but as it is, the bandits have come to the conclusion that they must all abscond through the window ASAP. All of them. Through the Window. They are busy wasting time deciding in which order the seven of them are going descend down the rope ladder that Thénardier had quickly attached to the sill. Thénardier thinks they're being idiots as they try to decide whether or not to draw straws or put their names in a hat to decide who goes first. Inspector Javert, who had had enough of Marius's dilly-dallying, makes his wolfy presence known by throwing the door open and offering his own hat.

Because he too is a super cool action hero with spiffy comebacks!

Javert only has to make his appearance and all the baddies in the room don't even want to fuck with him. They just give right up. These guys are really failing at being murderous criminals right now. I know they're outgunned and outnumbered by Javert's crew, but aren't they supposed to go out in a blaze of glory or at least attempt a halfhearted scuffle to save face or something? None of them even attempt a quick jump out the window or anything.

Javert on the other hand has apparently done a bang up job of instilling fear in the populous. He's captured most of the leadership of Patron Minette, because all of them save Montparnasse had decided to all gather so conveniently in the same tiny room from which there is virtually no escaping for no reason.  Thénardier himself was wondering why so many of them showed up. Yes. Definitely some really spectacular villain failure happening here. Which is good for Javert, because he was getting zero help from his man on the inside. I bet this is probably the last time he entrusts crucial tactical decisions to a twenty something old dreamer with daddy issues, who is probably still frozen on top of his own dresser.

As for Valjean, he's taken the window option himself in the confusion, because of course he did. This particular section is labeled: "The Victim's Should Always be Arrested First"    Which definitely would have been a prudent move on Javert's part. Can you imagine? Valjean would just be the icing on the Patron Minette cake. 

Later, Gavroche--you remember Gavroche, right? He's on his way to drop in on his family for the odd visit only to find out from the landlady that they've all been arrested.

And that is it for Vol. III: Marius (What Are You Doing????). Next time: It looks like we'll learn more about historical context and Brujons!

Dak Reads Les Misérables / MARIUS: Book 7

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers 

Marius: Book 7; A Rhombus of Villainy (and a list of other bad dudes)

Time for a break from Marius and his crazy pants for an: Actual Bad Guys Alert! This is actually all this short chapter is about. First, a long explanation comparing mines to the strata of society. Here's a list of people from the top going down to the bottom of this mine analogy: Jan Hus > Luther > Descartes > Voltaire > Condorcet > Robespierre > Marat > Babeuf

Way down at the bottom is a black hole of evil and crime, and that is where we find the next giant list of characters that are going to be introduced to us. A quartet of bandits were ruling the night around Paris in the early 1830's, and we are going to learn about them now!

First up is Gueulemer. He's the big dumb lazy brawn of the group. He's described as having "a colossus's body and bird's skull." So now I'm imaging he looks like a goomba from that live-action Super Mario Brothers movie. Good luck removing that image from your head. You're welcome! He could have used his brute power for good by capturing bad guys, but chose to become a bad guy instead.

Babet is the opposite of Gueulemer. He's a thin shrewd man who doesn't give away any of his secrets. He sells plaster busts of "The head of the Government," as well as being one of those street tooth-pulling guys.

Babet had been a family man and a traveled with them once upon a time. He read the papers, which is a rare thing in the circles he runs in and bemoaned the fact that his wife never gave birth to a child with a goat face. This didn't come out of nowhere. It wasn't like he was yearning for a goat-faced child. He'd just read about such an event once, and that could have made them a lot of money. He left his family so he could take on Paris.

Claquesous is the most mysterious of the group. Nobody knows where he lives, nobody knows his name (Claquesous is a nickname.) Nobody knows what he looks like, he either wears a mask or lurks in the darkness. He only talks to people with his back turned.

Montparnasse is the youngest and I get the impression most deadly of the bunch. Not even twenty, he's a fresh faced kid, bringing the pretty to the underworld party. By eighteen he had a stack of bodies in his wake already. Daaaamn, boyfriend. He is a gamin turned assassin, and his reason for being a murdering marauder is simply this: He wants to be the best dressed dude in Paris. (What? Is he disposing of the competish? Or is he stealing their finery? Or just stealing their money so he can buy new clothes? All of the above? What is your game, Montparnasse!?)

Even though his coat is a bit threadbare, Montparnasse is the fashion plate of the group. He wears his hat at a jaunty angle so he can show off a lock of hair as is the fashion. He keeps a flower in his buttonhole. He was "gentle, effeminate, graceful, robust, weak and ferocious."

Does anybody else want to see some sort of dandy-off between Bamatabois, Bahorel, and Montparnasse? Fierce Mustache vs. Rash Waistcoat vs. Deadly Dandy. One of the events can be waistcoat layering! Bonus points for each extraneous fob watch chain!


bamatabois bahorel montparnasse Image Map

This band of characters was known as Patron-Minette. They were basically a pimple on the butt of society, if I had to put it into different words. If anybody needed any shady business done, then these were the guys to see.

Now this quartet weren't single..err..eight handedly? perpetrating all the crime in all of Paris associated with Patron-Minette. Here is a big long list of the gang's lower echelons:

Panchaud, aka Printainier, aka Bigrenaille,

Brujon. (There is a whole dynasty of Brujons that I am being informed we will be learning about later),

Boulatruelle. (See! I knew we would hear about him again! If you don't remember and you hate links, Boulatruelle is the friendly former convict who saw Jean Valjean go into the woods with his treasure chest of money outside of Montfermeil. You know, when there was talk of Valjean belonging to some mysterious roaming pack of thieves. What are we describing now? A roaming pack of thieves? See, how it all comes together!)

Laveuve,
Finistère,
Homer Hogu (a black man),
Mardisoir, 
Dépâche,
Fauntleroy, aka Bouquetière,
Glorieux (former convict),
Barrecarrosse, aka M. Dupont,
Lesplande-du-Sud,
Poussagrive,
Carmagnolet
Kruideniers aka Bizarro (aka best alias yet!)
Mangedentelle,
Les-pieds-en-l'air,
Demi-liard aka Deux-milliards,
and etc...

Hey! Why stop there, Hugo? We should learn the name of each and every bandit ever associated with Patron-Minette and their little dogs too!

There's a few more paragraphs about how these goblins among men rule the night and the only thing that can slay them is the daylight, and that is it for this chapter!

I hope you've enjoyed these last few relatively short installments, because the next one is nearly 100 pages long, so I'm predicting a lot of crazy stuff is going to go down and we'll have about a thousand new characters to learn about. Either that, or it's one hundred pages about something only tangentially related to the story, like the history of Parisian cobblestones or something. I will leave you in suspense! 

Until the next time!

Dak Reads Les Misérables / MARIUS: Book 6

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers 

Marius: Book 6; Crazy in Love

Guess what? Now that we've spent five entire chapters learning everything we could ever possibly want to know about Marius and his Pontmercy ways right down to his toast eating habits, it is time to describe what he actually looks like! This might have come in handy before the mental picture already distilled in our brains, but oh well.

Our boy, Marius, has grown into a fine handsome looking fellow with jet black hair, a refined but not too chiseled jawline and passionate nostrils. Great. Now I'm imagining he looks like a young Judd Nelson. Thanks, book!

Marius is still having problems in the area of human interactions. He dares not even glance at a woman, because he think's they're all just having a good laugh at him when they look his way because of his old worn out poor people clothes. This isn't really the case though, he's just a certified hottie. Let me just take a moment to profess my love for book Marius and his introverted, socially awkward ways.

Well, being an observant BFF, Courfeyrac notices the way he acts about women (directly in opposition to the way Courfeyrac is by the by. Let's just say he gets around.) He tries to hook Marius up, pokes fun at the kid for his lady troubles, and sometimes calls him Abbé. You know, because clergymen are supposed to be celibate and have no impure thoughts, I'm assuming is the joke here. Of course, Marius takes Courfeyrac's words to heart instead of laughing it off as he probably should. Whenever this happens it makes him shrink even further into himself, avoiding women even more than usual and also Courfeyrac. Especially Courfeyrac.

There are only two girls in the entirety of Paris that Marius isn't terrified of. One of them is the old bearded landlady/housekeeper who sweeps his floor. This gives Courfeyrac opportunity to poke more fun by saying she wears a beard so Marius doesn't have to. The other is a girl of around thirteen or fourteen or so that he stumbled upon in a remote corner of the Luxembourg Gardens when he first started his garden strolling. She was there every day sitting on a bench with a man presumed to be her father.

Marius might have thought the father was a former military man by the way he carried himself. This man was around sixty, white hair, always wore a new hat and had a kind expression, but not one that would invite people to talk to them. As for the girl, she was small and homely and wore the uniform of a person who lives at a convent. Gee, I wonder who these mysterious people could be. Let us stroke our chins and ponder.

Marius always observed them on his walks even though they paid him no attention. The girl always was the one talking; the dad not so much. Marius began an unconscious routine of passing by this bench on his walks at least six times a walk, five or six times a week. Of course, he never spoke to them.  Perhaps because these two seemed to be trying to avoid attention. Marius isn't the only one strolling around Luxembourg though. The father and daughter, by sitting there all the time, had attracted the attentions of a couple roving packs of students, Courfeyrac included.

Courfeyrac didn't think much of the girl, but to give her the nickname of Mlle. Lanoir and the dad M. Leblanc. (Miss Black and Mr. White on account of her dress and his hair.) This nickname stuck. Marius developed a liking for M. Leblanc, but he doesn't think much about the girl. 

After two years of the same routine, every day walks at the Luxembourg passing by the father and daughter team, Marius stops going there. There's no reason for this.  He just takes a break and doesn't return for six entire months. When he does, this homely girl has grown up into a beautiful young lady. Brown hair with golden highlights, blushing skin, blue eyes. Marius can't believe it's the same girl. He wouldn't if she wasn't sitting there with M. Leblanc as usual.

They regard each other with complete indifference, and Marius resumes his laps around the gardens because that is his habit.

One fateful day they actually managed to make eye contact on one of these walks of his, and that's it. It's all over from there. He goes home that night and realizes just how worn down and unpresentable his clothes are. Really? Just now? I thought his raggedy old duds were already an ongoing contributor to his crippling insecurity. The next morning Marius puts on his good suit. He runs into Courfeyrac on his way to the Luxembourg and has the good sense to avoid him. He's spotted anyway, and gets made fun of again behind his back. Courfeyrac thinks Marius's new look is "Idiotic" and he must be going to some really important exam dressed like that. Why are these two friends again? They are totally an odd couple. Hah! I'd imagine that Marius would be closest in temperament to Jean Prouvaire. They could totally just hang out quietly and avoid looking at women together.

Anyway, this new wardrobe is the start of...I don't even know what Marius is trying to accomplish here. Well, I do, but he's going about it the most awkward and creepy way possible. He approaches the bench in slow motion on that first day, but can't bring himself to walk past it. He walks halfway there then retreats, then tries it again over and over, fretting about how he looks in his fancy suit even though he's too far away to be noticed, until he's finally able to will himself into passing by the bench.

Instead of going around and around six times like he usually does, this great feat of strutting past this girl in his Sunday best has apparently taken it out of him. On the way back he just sits down in the middle of the path and starts scratching at the ground with a stick he has somehow acquired. At first I was confused as to whether or not he just plopped his ass down right in the gravel. Since he's already worked himself into a fine bundle of nerves over this girl, it wouldn't have surprised me if he just collapsed. But that would be totally unbecoming of a gentleman! He's actually seated himself on a different bench. I still have no idea where Marius got a stick though. If it came from one of the garden trees, he should be careful. He could probably get arrested for that.

This is his new routine. Every day he gets dressed up in his best suit, heads out to the garden, Courfeyrac provides witty commentary, and Marius sits on his own bench rather than doing laps around Mlle. Lanoir and M. Leblanc. Sometimes he has a book that he pretends to read whilst worrying about whether or not she's noticing him. This is probably how things would have continued until they died of old age if not for the day the father and daughter rose from their bench and walked in Marius's direction.

As they pass by, the girl makes deliberate eye contact with him. Marius is already besotted, so this is just putting him over the moon and making him even more of a basket case. He has still never uttered a word to these people, but that doesn't seem to matter. She definitely noticed him. He rants and raves around the Luxembourg for a minute and then follows them but loses them out on the street. He frets about whether or not she noticed his dusty old boots. Marius is fully in love with her now.

Later, Marius stumbles into Courfeyrac, because Courfeyrac is everywhere. This time Marius doesn't even attempt to avoid his friend and the inevitable jokes at his expense. Instead he invites Courfeyrac out on a man-date to dinner and the theatre. That is how great of a mood he's in. Well, this girl from the garden has Marius in quite a state. He doesn't even look at a hat girl's garter as she passes by them on their way out of the theatre, and he's even offended at Courfeyrac making comments about adding her to his "collection". I actually wouldn't be all that surprised if there are already a bunch of little Courfeyracs running around Paris come to think of it.

They meet a few friends at the usual place for lunch the next day, and Marius is particularly jolly. I'm assuming this gaiety is wildly out of character for a usual somber Marius. Courfeyrac thinks Marius is being totally hilarious. Jean Prouvaire, on the other hand, being the sensitive soul that he is, is the one that realizes the gravity of the situation. Jehan knows Marius's twitterpation is serious business.

Serious business it is too, because Marius is about to go full stalker mode on this girl. I'm not even joking. He feels like he might be attracting too much attention sitting on his bench or walking around them in a circle, so he's taken to hiding behind statues and bushes and things. Now that he's got it bad for the girl, he doesn't want to attract the father's attentions. I'm not sure why he thinks this is a better tactic, since he's been orbiting them for almost every day for nearly three years already, and they didn't seem to mind.

Stealth is not something Marius is very good at though, because it absolutely doesn't go unnoticed by M. Leblanc that this once innocuous student is being a total creeper now. Leblanc hatches his own plot to move around and take up residence on a new bench just to see if Marius really is following them around or if this is all just a massive coincidence.

Marius isn't savvy enough to catch on and falls for the trap. Now M. Leblanc knows for sure that some stranger is following them around. Marius remains completely oblivious.

One day he has the good fortune to find a handkerchief left behind on the bench with the initials U.F. on it. Should we even pretend we don't already know that this stands for "Ultimus Fauchelevent" aka Jean Valjean? The hankie belongs to the old man.

Marius assumes it belongs to the girl and immediately jumps to the conclusion that her name must be Ursula, because that is the only girl's name he can think of that begins with "U" I guess. He carries it with him everywhere, kisses it, sleeps with it, smells the perfume on it. Please stop, Marius. I'm begging you! Also, never ever tell Courfeyrac about this. You'll never live it down.

He makes sure the girl sees him kiss the handkerchief and place it over his heart every day they "meet", which totally confounds her of course, because it's not hers and she doesn't know what this crazy man is doing. Marius just thinks she's being modest about the token of affection she'd left for him.

 One day a strong gust of wind blows the girl's skirt up enough to glimpse a little bit of skin. This drives Marius absolutely wild with jealousy even though there isn't even anybody around to see it. He's jealous of his shadow. He's jealous of an old veteran who winks conspiratorially at Marius as he passes by several minutes after it happens. This vet hadn't been there to observe the gust of wind. He's just Captain Winks-a-lot, I guess. Marius gives the girl angry eyes afterward because she let this happen. She gives him WTF is wrong with this dude eyes, because WTF is wrong with this dude? This is their first argument. 

And the last and final thread in Marius's unraveling  is when he decides it would be a good idea to follow this "Ursula" home. He's not content just knowing where she lives now either. He's bold enough to question the doorman. He learns that M. Leblanc is an old retired man who lives with his daughter. He doesn't get much further than that because the doorman is suspicious.

M. Leblanc and his daughter only visit the Luxembourg once after that. They don't show up again, and Marius is beside himself. He goes to their house and their light isn't on. After a few more days of waiting for them he finally asks the doorman what happened. The couple has moved! Marius is devastated. This is what happens when you try to woo people by being a creepy stalker, Marius. Seriously, dude. You really might want to reconsider your strategy for meeting girls!

Dak Reads Les Misérables / MARIUS: Book 5

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers 

Marius: Book 5; Forever Alone (but not really)

Hey! You remember way back in the beginning of Marius's book when we were talking about the gamins and Gavroche and the Jondrettes: his terrible family who live in Gorbeau house next door to this mysterious man of mystery and no money named M. Marius?

I know, it's been a while. That was one heck of a flashback. Well, we have arrived back at that point. Marius has disembarked from his schmancy hotel room next door to his buddy Courfeyrac and somehow landed himself at Gorbeau house in a closet sized room with only the bare necessities. He has three shirts, and two suits, and eats one egg and a slice of bread for breakfast. This part really goes into great detail about how he parses out the little money he does have.

The point is Marius is poor now, and the only thing he has left is his pride and his bootstraps, which he has taken a couple years (I surmise because he's twenty now and the last time we were given his age he was only eighteen) to successfully pull himself up by to the point where he is not living in a cardboard box or dying of starvation in the street or aimlessly riding around in a cab with no idea about what to do. Hell, he's even loaned Courfeyrac some money at this point. He's learned English and German and has his translating job for his coin, and by the way, Marius is a lawyer now. He has apparently completed his schooling on the subject. I still have to wonder how he managed to pay for school since he's so adamant about not taking money from his grandpa. Did Grandpa G. just foot the bill anyway? Did you only have to pay once back then and take the classes then you were a lawyer? I guess I could research how law school at this time actually functioned, but... maybe later.

Anyway, Marius in his mule-like stubbornness is dead set still against taking money from Grandpa G....which still occasionally appears at his doorstep. How does this keep happening? I can't imagine Marius left them a forwarding address at any point, so how does his aunt keep finding him when he doesn't even know where he's going half the time? She's like the alumni association at my former school. I swear, I could have an unlisted, untraceable phone that I only use once to make outgoing calls before tossing it out for a new one and they would still find me. I only wish they were trying to give me money instead of asking for it.

Marius even refuses to run up any debt at all. Unheard of in the land of studentry! Good job, Marius. If it comes down to a choice between skipping a meal or taking out credit to eat, he's going to go hungry that day. He doesn't have much, but he's making it work. I was totally wrong about this kid. He's functioning just fine on his own. Let's just hope he doesn't get distracted into not paying rent again since Gorbeau house is apparently the only run down tenement in all of Paris.

Still he is Marius, and we know he takes things very seriously once he manages to get focused. (He still seems unapproachable because he doesn't talk much and this serious demeanor of his.) He's still in mourning for his dad. Is two entire years far past the appropriate mourning period for this time, or is it just me? Because that seems extreme. He won't even go out in his dark green suit unless it's nighttime, because it's not black enough. He only has two suits, so I guess he doesn't venture out in the daytime much. Maybe somewhere up in heaven Georges is looking down saying: I love you Marius, but that's enough, son.

Well, if there's one thing we can learn about Marius, it's that there is literally nothing he can't get obsessed over, including being poor. He's a lawyer, but he doesn't take any cases. He squeaks by translating things and not eating, and stops just short of doing enough work to make a decent living. He'd rather be free to while away his days thinking about stuff instead of being chained to a desk for the rest of his life being a slave to the wage.

That's not the only thing he's being obsessive about these days. He's also desperate to find the Thénardiers, and he's traveling all over France in a bid to accomplish this. Yes, he wants to find the man who saved his father from the battlefield that day and do whatever he can to help the guy just as it said in his father's will. It is really killing me that Marius is so earnest and determined about this, knowing who and what Thénardier is. He even feels bad about the hard times these people have fallen upon since they lost their inn. He wonders how it is possible he can't find this Thénardier anywhere in France when Thénardier was able to find his dad in the midst of bullets flying and people dying everywhere at Waterloo. It surprises me too considering how often the characters in this book keep stumbling into each other in the unlikeliest of places. If only he knew. If only he knew a couple things actually.

As for Les Amis and Enjolras, they get another mention as still being friendly with Marius, so he hasn't completely cut ties with them to become a hermit. However, a couple sentences later we are being told that his friends are Courfeyrac and Mabeuf, so I guess these two are higher up on the friend chain than the rest of them, and Mabeuf ranks higher than Courfeyrac as far as who Marius would rather hang out with if he has to hang out with other people.

It is really not surprising that Marius prefers being around people decades older than he is though, is it? (especially ones that knew his father)

We have reached year three of Marius's estrangement from his grandfather now. Neither one of them is willing to make an overture. Marius seems to be perfectly content in his solitary life as a pauper/lawyer and just assumes that Grandpa G. hates him and never wants to see him again. Grandpa G. has done absolutely nothing to make him think otherwise. If the text wasn't telling me that all his cane waving angry talk was his crotchety old man way of loving his dear grandson then I'd think the guy hated him too. He misses Marius a lot, but is still unwilling to admit that to anybody.

Well, at least somebody does. The Elder has no thoughts about her nephew at all, but we all know who her fave "nephew" is, and it isn't poor old (at heart) Marius. We will learn the extent of just how much of a non-entity Marius is to her later on in this chapter, but now...

Let us embark on another interlude and learn all about our favorite Church Warden, Mabeuf!

Mabeuf, we come to find, is a great fan of plants and a devoted book lover. He's not really here for all this political biz. He doesn't understand why men spend time hating each other over things like charters and monarchies and democracies, etc and so forth. There are too many plants to admire and books to read to be fussed with that stuff. If we are to describe him as any "ist" (because everybody is an ist of some sort), he is a Bookist. Bookist!? Where do I sign up for this party? He doesn't want to be a useless old man, so he reads as much as he collects books, and admiring plants doesn't stop him gardening, something he and Georges bonded over. Of course they did! It's officially reached the point where all this good guy gardening hardly comes as a surprise anymore. He even combined his two passions and wrote a book about plants. He owns the plates himself, so up until the July Revolution in 1830, he had made quite a tidy living selling these books in addition to being a church warden. Turns out people aren't too fond of spending their hard earned cash on things like flower books when there's a revolt on.

A few more tidbits about Mabeuf, he's a little gouty, a little arthritic, doesn't like swords or guns, has a curé brother, white hair, and rather looks like an old sheep. His dream is to naturalize the indigo plant to France, and he doesn't have friends aside from an old bookseller and the kid. He lets Marius hang around because young people are like a sunny day to help to warm up an old guy's soul. (I never imagined being around Marius would ever be compared to a sunny day, but there you have it!)

As for Mabeuf's personal life, well... He likes his books the way Grandpa G. loves the ladies. He has a housekeeper whom he calls Mother Plutarch. She's an old cat lady who spends her free time collecting white caps and admiring her linens. Her cat's name is Sultan. They have matching whiskers.

His brother, the curé, had died in 1830, and Mabeuf had fallen on hard times due to that whole revolution business. He had to move into a smaller place where the only people allowed to visit were Marius and the bookseller friend. How does the cat have a name, but not this book guy? Can I name him Gui de Books from now on? (My spell check thinks I'm trying to spell guidebooks! Wow, pun not intended!)

As for Marius, we learn he likes Courfeyrac well enough, but he goes out of his way to visit Mabeuf. Only once or twice a month though. I guess Marius might turn into a pumpkin if he has too much human contact. (Hey, if that happens, he can wear one of those melon jackets!)  Most of the time he just walks around alone and admires gardens. Once, he spent half an entire hour in a vegetable patch...looking at cabbages and chickens and a manure pile or some such. I was wondering when Marius was going to start his transition into an old man with a garden. This is how it begins!

He has mellowed out with his political opinions during this time, so I guess he isn't going to be climbing up on his soapbox and extolling the virtues of Napoleon in front of unreceptive audiences anymore? We also learn that Marius did have a reason for choosing the Gorbeau house, a place he stumbled upon during one of his walks. He likes the solitude and the price. Somehow, despite having a limited amount of friends and preferring to hang out with himself forever alone, staring at plants, he does get invited to parties with old military friends of his father's that he's met around town. He only goes out when the ground his frozen, though, because he can't go out to these fancy parties with dirty shoes (scandal!) and he can't afford the cab to keep his feet out of the mud. That's really got to limit his social engagements, doesn't it? He only goes out at night when the ground is frozen?

One more incident regarding Marius before we move on. One day he came home to his room at the Gorbeau house and the landlady/housekeeper person tells him that she's going to kick the Jondrettes out of the house because they're two months behind on rent. Marius hardly pays attention to these people to even know who they are, but he he pays for their rent + five extra francs with almost his entire cache of rainy day money anyway with the provision that they never know it was him that did the good deed. You are being far too kind, Marius. Really.

Meanwhile, at the Gillenormand pad, the Elder is hatching her own nefarious plot. What could she be planning? Well, guess who's regiment is now stationed in Paris? You should be guessing Théodule because he's the only military man we know that's still alive. Stationed in Paris? I have a sinking feeling about this turn of events. As for the Elder and her grand scheme, she thinks if she can get Grandpa G. and his nephew together then maybe Théodule could take the place of Marius in the household or something. She wants to exchange the Lawyer for the Lieutenant. Man, is it just me, or does Mlle. here have quite a thing for her distant relative? Of course, he is the only dude that's ever kissed her apparently, and he has the shiniest of mustaches, so I guess I can see the attraction. You don't just replace Marius, though! C'mon, lady! Clearly he is a special boy that cannot be replicated.

As for Grandpa G. he doesn't even know who Théodule is. Does he just not care to know, or is he having a senior moment? He's got to be a hundred years old by now, so who knows. The Elder reminds him and then coaches Théodule for the imminent meeting by telling him to just agree with everything that comes out of the old man's mouth.

Grandpa G. spends the entire meeting ranting and raving about those damn kids on his lawn. His Royalist leaning newspaper has told him that the students are preparing to have a debate about the National Guard artillery, but he doesn't think it's something to be debated. The King's military can do no wrong, so there's no need to discuss it. How dare they! He presumes Marius is going to be there, since he's a student; and in addition to being generally irritated with kids these days, he's particularly perturbed by that ungrateful grandson of his going off to be a republican.

Théodule dutifully agrees with Grandpa G.'s every crazy old man opinion, and gets called a fool for his efforts. Can anybody win with Grandpa G.?  The magic 8 ball says: Very Doubtful.

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Dak Reads Les Misérables / MARIUS: Book 4

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers 

Marius: Book 4; They're Historic to Me!

First a correction! Théodule, I realize now, Is Grandpa G.'s great nephew. That makes total sense. I guess I mixed up my M.s and my Mlle.s To be fair though, he still referred to the Elder as Aunt, so you can see the confusion, right?

Moving right along... I know what you were thinking: This book does not have enough amazing characters in it. We need at the very least nine more to love. It's time to meet Enjolras and his crew: Smarty, Friendly, Unlucky, Fighty, Drunky, Little Orphan Feuilly, and of course, Bashful and Doc. In case you didn't get where I was going with that. Bring it on, and bring on the puns in all their glorious glory.

So, Paris at this time was in some sort of pre-revolution period. The rumblings of unrest were stirring, and although there was no massive organized group of dissidents, there were starting to crop up underground groups here and there.

A man named Enjolras headed up one small secret group known as Les Amis de l'ABC: Friends of the ABC translated.  However, in French, ABC pronounced like Ah-Bay-Say, which is pronounced like the French word abaissé , The Abased in English; aka the People. This is who they advocated for. Down with the Monarchy, up with the People, etc... They met in at the bistro Corinth near the workers or in the backroom at the café Musain, near the students where they hung up a map of the old Republic and discussed their plans and ideas and drank and had fun and talked about about life and anything and everything, sometimes all at the same time as we will see a little later in this chapter. Most of them were students, a couple were not. They were more than mere friends. They had formed a little family.

Let us get to know their names and their distinct and delightful personalities.  (They have them!) Y'know, before a truly terrible fate is going to befall all of them. Yes, the text straight up warns us right here and now this will definitely be happening. I hope you've enjoyed most of your faves being alive for half the book so far. Seriously though, by the end of this you are going to feel like you've been stabbed in the heart. Repeatedly. So, fair warning.

First and foremost; Enjolras: "Marble Lover of Liberty", the only son from a rich family. He is often compared to a statue and by all accounts is the fairest of them all. No, seriously, Enjolras is one beautiful guy.

He's in his early twenties, but still has the youthful appearance of a teenager. Blue eyes, fair skin, rosy cheeks, long lashes, red lips, blond hair flowing in the wind. (I'm not making up the blowing in the wind part. Apparently this is a thing that Enjolras's hair actually does. Maybe Feuilly follows him around with a fan sometimes?)

Watch out, ladies! No, really. watch out. Because, woe...actual WOE unto the poor woman that gets her sights set on this guy. It's never going to happen. He's just not that into you, ladies. Anybody that would happen to try it on will just get a death glare in return for their troubles.

Though he has this fresh faced and youthful appearance, there is something in his eyes like he's seen it all before in some other life maybe; Revolution. He is a warrior at heart, "officiating and militant", "Soldier of Democracy." He's not mindful of much else aside from justice and the Republic, not women, not spring, not stopping and smelling the roses. He's definitely charming, inspiring in his speeches, leader of men, also...here it says capable of being intimidating. I've seen others where it says terrible instead of intimidating, but either way he's not someone to be trifled with.

Don't mess with Enjolras. Don't underestimate him. He'll fuck you up if you get in his way.

Here's a few people he gets compared to in this section: Antoinous, Gracchus, Harmodious.

Thankfully there is someone there to temper him before he jumps headfirst into a fire without thinking it through. Enjolras's second in command, Combeferre. He is the calm, the voice reason, to go with Enjolras's passion. A student of philosophy, and everything, really. Combeferre knows all the things. Don't challenge him to a game of Trivial Pursuit, because you will lose. He's one smart cookie.

He's really concerned about the state of education these days, because he thinks society should work towards gaining more knowledge and throwing more ideas out into the world. He's a big fan of innovation, and he is afraid that the methods of the day, the routine, and the dogmatism is just stagnating. That the world is just going to slip into complacency. Preach it, Combeferre.

Combeferre is Enjolras's "guide" here. Though he's not against a fight. He can throw down with the best of them if it comes to that. He would prefer to solve the problems of the world with enlightenment though. While his brethren were ready for revolutionary adventure time, he was okay with progress's natural and slow but inevitable march forward.

Then there's Jean Prouvaire. He's rich and an only child like Enjolras and he even gets a first name! He calls himself Jehan. He is soft-spoken, seemingly shy, but underneath his mannerisms, Jehan is brave and strong and definitely isn't afraid of speaking up when the time calls for it. He writes poems, plays the flute, is prone to crying, blushes often, has awkward hair, a terrible fashion sense, and cultivates a pot of flowers, so we know for a fact he's a good person right down to his core. Hah! I really hope this isn't the last mention of Jehan and his flowers, because wandering around fandom makes it feel like he has such an epic love of flora that he's got them sprouting out from his heels wherever he walks, Fern Gully style.

Actually that's not too far off. He does enjoy a good frolic in fields of wheat and bluebells while observing the clouds. Is he Bambi? What is happening? Wait, no, strike that...he would totally be Flower if we're talking in Bambi metaphors now. (We all know Marius would be the Bambi in this scenario anyway!)

Jehan is who we're talking about now though! He's a well read individual, and knows at least three languages so he can read Dante, Juvenal, Aeschylus, and Isaiah, and when he's not pondering clouds, he's pondering social issues of the day.

rashwaistcoat.jpg

Next up, Bahorel. His parents are country folk, but he's been a professional student for long enough that he knows his way around Paris and is the string that connects these newly forming revolutionary groups around town. His an idler, has a hat, and wears rash waistcoats... How can a waistcoat be rash? Help me translation gods, I don't understand what this means! Bold colours to go with his personality? I don't know. (It's going into the closet with the "melon jackets") He's also full of good humor, talkative, friendly, brave, spends money like it's going out of style, loves escalating an argument into a good brawl and is always up for taking down a government. He was even involved in the insurrections during the Workers movement in the early 1820s.

He'd studied law once, but it isn't really for him apparently since his motto is "Never a Lawyer". Good motto! He's been a student for a while now though, I have no idea what he's studying now if not law? Is he just sitting there in school, taking up space, thinking up songs and doodling his in the margins of his notebooks while pondering his next great adventure? Well, whatever is going on with his studies, he does in fact do a whole lot of nothing on top of that, and has apparently a huge allowance to do it with. (3,000 francs approximately) I guess his parents are pretty successful at whatever it is they're doing out in the country.

Lesgle, aka L'Aigle, aka L'Aigle de Meaux (Eagle of Meaux), aka Lésgle aka Bossuet aka OMG why do you have all these names, Lesgle?

Okay, there is a story. Let us hear it told: Once upon a time a man presented a petition to the King, because he wanted a post office. This dude was called L'Aigle. The king was not pleased with this name at first. (I'm assuming because of This Guy?), but then he saw the name on the petition was signed "Lesgle" This made the king happy because it wasn't a Bonapartist spelling.

To make a long story even longer, this L'Aigle character goes on to explain that his non-specific ancestor with a very specific occupation (dog trainer) was actually named Lesgueules. He'd contracted it to Lesgle, and further into L'Aigle. Somehow this story that has nothing to do with anything really, least of all why this guy should get a post office, has pleased the king even further. He gives the guy his post office either "intentionally, or inadvertently".

How do you accidentally give a man a post office? How does that happen? We may never know.

In any case, this post office was in Meaux, and this guy had a son. This son is the L'Aigle de Meaux we will come to know and love. His friends call him Bossuet, for "brevity's" sake. I assume because, if he went by L'Aigle, they'd have to tell the entire post office story every time they said it?

So, I'm making an executive decision to call him Bossuet from now on, since we're all friends here. He is the unluckiest Eagle to have ever perched in France apparently. He can't do anything right. He's bald at twenty five, he lost all the money and land his father left him in bad investments. Therefor, he has a great sense of humour about life, probably because if he didn't laugh, he would have to cry. He is also a law student in the way Bahorel is a law student (Law students against lawyers?) and he's kind of homeless. He splits his time living with his friends, most often at Joly's place.

If there's one thing you should take from this passage it is this: Bossuet's nickname is the Eagle. He is bald. You realize this makes him a bald eagle, yes? In a chapter full of puns, I feel like this is a thing that needed to be said.

Joly is two years younger than Bossuet (so 23). He is the resident hypochondriac doctor in training! Well, being in doctor school (congratulations on not being a lawyer, Joly!) has put him on the lookout for anything and everything that could be a sign that something is going wrong with him. He spends a great amount of time peering at his tongue in the mirror and positioning his bed to get the most out of the Earth's magnetic fields. Despite being so neurotic about his health, he is the most jovial in a group that seems to packed to the brim with good humour. Seriously, they seem like a swell bunch of guys to hang out with.

His friends call him Jolllly sometimes, because he can soar on four L's says Jehan. Ailes = wings in English. Get it? You guys are just being silly now! These name puns will be the death of me! I will die laughing.

He rubs his nose with his cane as a habit, which is apparently a sign of a sharp mind (or an itchy nose?)

Courfeyrac is the son of an M. de Courfeyrac. Back in the day the "de" was highly valued by the bourgeois, so much so that your average man would just drop it from their name. Courfeyrac's father dropped the "de" and this is why Courfeyrac has no participle in his name, because I know that is something you were wondering about.  He kept it the way his father had, because he didn't want to go backsliding into the past. He is the centre of the group, the heart if you will, but there is not too much description about him, because he is described as: Felix Tholomyès. You remember Tholomyès, right? I know, I know, I was trying to forget that guy too.

Wait, before you get out your pitchforks and come for Courfeyrac, let us explain the defining way in which he is not like Tholomyès.

Courfeyrac is honourable where Tholomyès was not. I presume this to mean that Courfeyrac is a magnetic personality. He's friendly and charming and talkative and everybody loves him, but should he happen to knock up one of his mistresses, he would at the very least take care of them in some way rather than playing the worst practical "joke" to have ever existed in the whole of human history them? I don't really like this as a shortcut for a description, because I don't really want to think of Courfeyrac and Tholomyès in the same sentence. Boo.

Feuilly is a working man. He makes fans for a living. This is his legitimate occupation, and it's hard work! He only makes 3 francs a day doing this. It's a living, I guess. He is a generous guy and a self-taught man. He learned how to read and write on his own and is a big fan (no pun intended! There's enough of them already.) of learning stuff.

Feuilly is an orphan in the world. He doesn't know where he came from, and having no mother he's embraced the country as one and the people as his family. He doesn't believe anybody should be without country and has studied histories expressly so he can indignant about societies' struggles and all the injustices through the ages and ongoing forever to this very day. Everybody else here was mainly preoccupied with France's struggles...seeing as they're right smack in the middle of it, but Feully's embrace is wide and his specialties are Greece, Poland, Romania, Italy, and Hungary. He gets especially fired up about the Partitions of Poland.

And then there's Grantaire. Last, but not least because one of these things is not like the others. Grantaire is the resident cynic. He's often drunk and takes great care not to give a shit about anything (caring hurts, yo!), especially all the causes his friends so passionately believe in. He knows all the best places for everything around Paris (coffee? check. Girls? Check. Drinks? Double-Check PLUS!) and signs his name "R"...because in French a way to pronounce Capital R is "Grand Err". It sounds like Grantaire, you see. Get it? I'm dead now.

In addition to being a hard drinking cynic, Grantaire is handy with single stick combat, and just really very ugly. Impossibly even. Irma Bossy, the prettiest boot stitcher around, says so. His self-esteem doesn't suffer for this though. He continues to stare tenderly at all the ladies: "Appearing to say about all of them: if only I wanted to ; and trying to make his comrades believe that he was in general demand". I'm just quoting that because this sentence makes me think there is no actual demand. He is also described as a drunken-roving-libertine, and a general annoyance to his friends by constantly singing "I loves the girls, and I loves good wine" to the tune of this song: Vive Henri IV . Yes. That would be rather annoying, I should think.

Now, you may be asking yourself why this cynic is even hanging out with this group of idealists if he doesn't give a whit about their causes or their beliefs. Aside from a couple literary devices to make things interesting: Juxtaposition and Irony (Hipster before it was cool? Just kidding, it was never cool.) One word:

Enjolras.

Yes, that is right. Enjolras is why he is there. Okay, he does like being surrounded by friends and good company despite his general lack of faith in the human race as a species, but mostly Enjolras. He is the one thing Grantaire actually believes in. Grantaire is this young man's obverse: Enjolras is beautiful and Grantaire is ugly, Grantaire is the green to his red, the opposite side of his coin, the yin to his yang. Enjolras doesn't really get a pov here, but as far as Grantaire is concerned, he needs this guy like a person needs a beating heart and even he is unsure of why that is. It just is. Some men are just born to be the opposite of others, or as the book says way more eloquently: "We are attracted to what we lack" and "Nobody loves the light like a blind man"

Even though Grantaire can't bring himself to believe, he loves to watch Enjolras with his super passionate faith and conviction in France, the people, the Republic, and revolution on which he speaks.

Grantaire also gets a list of peeps to be compared to:

Pollux, Patroclus, Nisus , Eudamidas, Ephestion, Pechmeja, and particularly Orestes and Pylades..


 There's a bunch of links for a quick look, so you can make like Combeferre and educate yourself. I'm not going to pretend to be the all-knowing interpreter of texts. You can come to your own conclusions. If you want to know what I think, I'm hard pressed to interpret this as anything other than Grantaire being head over heels ❤ for and totally devoted to this Enjolras fellow.

As for Enjolras, he needs Grantaire about as much as an appendix, or tonsils or something, and really only has disdain for the non-believer, and pity for the drunk. And whenever he kicks Grantaire down, Grantaire always pops back up proclaiming, "What fine marble!"

That doesn't sound like the most healthy of relationships, R. Woe indeed.

And there you have it: Les Amis de l'ABC!

Now, back to the story at hand. Let us hop in Théodule's time machine and travel back to the day Marius's massive Bonapartism was discovered by Grandpa G. As we know, he has been riding around in a cab with no aim or direction, when he just so happens to pause by a cafe where our friend Bossuet was hanging out in front "Like a Caryatid on vacation" I am quoting that because this is absolutely my new favorite way of describing someone who is slouching against a building.

A caryatid, for those that don't know is an architectural term for a pillar on a building that is shaped like a person. I did not know this from art school. Thanks a lot, art school. It's from looking up the song "Caryatid Easy" by the band Son Volt. I wasn't able to find it at first because I always thought it was "Carrie Had it Easy". I eventually figured out I was wrong, then I had to go look up what in the wide wide world of sports a caryatid is anyway.

This mostly irrelevant tangent was brought to you by Victor Hugo. I've been reading this so long that he's rubbing off on me now.

Anyway, so Bossuet sees this cab and notices Marius's bag in full view. There is a card visible on it. Like, how close is this cab to this building? How large is Marius's name on this card? Maybe Bossuet has amazing super vision, which is kind of surprising. I mean considering his luck it's a wonder he hasn't managed to go blind somehow by now. He only notices this cab in the first place because it's going at a slow pace with no particular destination.

It's a good thing his eagle eyes spotted this though, because he's been looking for this Pontmercy character! He calls out to the cab and tells Marius as much. Marius is naturally extremely confused by this, because he doesn't even know anybody under the age of fifty, so why would this bald dude he's never met in his life be looking for him? Well, Bossuet is going to tell us. I just have to say I love the way he tells this story. I'd like to imagine a lot of theatrical hand gestures and animated expressions go along with it.

Okay, so Bossuet was just attending lawyer class like a good student for once. It happens sometimes.  The teacher was taking roll. This guy's name is Blondeau. Apparently they are operating on some sort of three strikes policy, so if your name is said three times with no answer than you are out and Blondeau takes malicious pleasure in striking names off the roll. Everybody on this list so far had dutifully answered the call, even though he's going out of alphabetical order. Bossuet is pretty pleased that this guy's evil plot is being foiled, while Blondeau is pretty disappointed that he isn't teaching a class full of truants, that is until he comes to the "P"s. I'm not sure exactly how far back this story goes, but Pontmercy was probably off wandering around somewhere in Vernon, or reading up on Napoleon or something, and most definitely not in class learning to be a lawyer like he's supposed to be doing.

Blondeau is really excited when he doesn't get an answer. He gets his pen ready in anticipation to mark Pontmercy off. Bossuet wonders who this absent guy is and what he could be doing that's more important than ruining Blondeau's fun. He could be doing anything out there, even hooking up with Bossuet's mistress or something. Bossuet isn't going to let this stand though. I mean the attendance thing, not the mistress thing. He's always up for lending a helping hand to a fellow slacker. Down with Blondeau! He answers the call in Marius's stead! Day saved, right?

Wrong.

Blondeau immediately jumps from P to the L's after this and calls out Bossuet's name (if you recall, his real name begins with an L. L'Aigle...it's a name that Marius is really enthusiastic about when they meet here, incidentally). This was destined to happen of course, because Bossuet is the luckiest person to have ever walked the planet. Somebody get this man a four leaf clover or a rabbit foot or something!

He tries to answer the call again, but Blondeau wasn't born last night. How can Bossuet and Pontmercy be the same person? He marks Bossuet out.

It's nice to see that kids have been trying to scam their professors on attendance for hundreds of years. Does he pay that nerd Combeferre to sit in and take his tests for him too?

Upon hearing this story, Marius is super apologetic. Like, if he could give Bossuet his firstborn he probably would-apologetic.

Now, I know Marius doesn't people, but I don't think Bossuet's angry. I'm pretty sure he's aware that this situation is his own damn unlucky fault and he's accustom to the point of being unfazed about these inauspicious things that happen to him. In fact, he's less than mad, he's grateful that Marius has saved him from having to be a lawyer he says. He eventually asks where Marius is living so he can call and thank him for saving him from a life of litigation, and Marius answers that he's living in the cab.

Oh, really? Is the driver aware that he's adopted a vagrant?

Bossuet thinks this is as amusing as I do, because he says exactly what I was thinking: that's going to be some damn expensive rent, living in a cab. Marius must be baron moneybags over here.

While they're having this conversation about Marius's impending gigantic cab fare, Courfeyrac exits the café and joins them to see what's up. When he finds out Marius is homeless, being the "knight-errant" he is, he immediately offers to take him home right then and there without a question asked. He has never seen this kid before in his life, but as far as he's concerned it's total nonsense that this cab dwelling stranger doesn't have a place to stay, not while Courfeyrac is around!

Bossuet puts up a token amount of protest since he doesn't actually have his own place to offer. He's the one who saw Marius first after all!

C'mon guys. Let's night fight over who gets to take the kitten home. You might come to regret it later.

Courfeyrac gets him a room next door at the hotel he's living in and Marius, after so many years on this green earth, finally gets a friend. It only takes a couple of days for him and Courfeyrac to become buddies for life, but I gather that it's nigh unto impossible not to become Courfeyrac's BFF once you're pulled into his orbit.

As for Marius, he feels great about this new turn of events. He's a new man, finally comfortable in his own skin around Courfeyrac, because the guy asks nothing of him. You know, until that one day he asks what Marius's politics are. Nothing lasts forever, right? Marius tells him what's up; and Courfeyrac is pleased, because he has a new recruit. He takes Marius to his first Les Amis de L'ABC meeting.

And now Marius is thrust into this den of free-thinking radical revolutionary minded individuals that are even lefter in their politics than he is. Just throw him right into the deep end of the pool, why don't you, Courfeyrac? It's all kind of overwhelming for him to be surrounded by people openly discussing all manner of thoughts and ideas on many a subject after the full-geriatric-ultra-immersion that had lasted his entire life up until he met Mabeuf.

I'm not sure how much time passes between his first meeting and this next incident in Marius's progression here, but I gather he's been hanging around these people taking everything in for at least a little while before this happens.

Let us set the scene.

Everybody's chattering about this and that around the back room at the Café Musain with the exception of Enjolras and Marius, who are just sitting there in silence. 

In one corner Grantaire is loudly giving this massive pages long speech. I am absolutely not joking about the length of this. It's three entire uninterrupted pages of Grantaire talking about the state of the terrible world and the terrible people in it (who will never ever learn) He needs a drink, life is a cruel joke, and why should any place or anyone in the world be admired over another because the world is a massive ball of suck at the end of the day no matter where you are. Once upon a time he used to be a student of Gros. He was supposed to be painting, but he stole apples instead.

Dang, Grantair, stealing apples? That's a dangerous game! You could have Valjeaned yourself into a lifetime prison sentence for that!

His spleen is suffering from melancholia, and God sure did make a terrible mistake when he invented people, because we are just the worst. Butterflies are okay though. I'm not sure anybody is actually listening to him. You should read it though! If I had my druthers, I'd probably just direct quote every word that comes out of Grantaire's mouth. I will try to contain myself.

While he's on his tear, his friends are calling him Grand R, and this book is translating it into Capital R...the literal English translation, which looks silly, because that just takes all the fun out of the pun and makes them sound kind of insane, because it sounds nothing like his name in English!

Bossuet eventually just puts a hand on him in an attempt to quiet him.

Grantaire tells him: "Eagle of Meaux, down with your claws!"...which is a line of dialogue that is totally cracking me up right now for reasons I can't entirely explain.

His claws being ineffective, Bossuet just finally straight out tells him to shut-up already since he's trying to carry on a different conversation and Grantaire is being loud as hell..

In another corner, Joly and Bahorel are playing dominoes talking about love. They are having a small disagreement over whether or not a laughing mistress is a good thing. (Joly says yes of course, Bahorel says no, happy mistresses make one feel less guilty.) This naturally leads to friendly conversation about Joly's tiny footed, literary minded mistress, Musichetta, who he has apparently had some sort of falling out with. Bahorel thinks he should move on, but it isn't that easy since Joly is crazy about her.

Well, in that case, Bahorel has some sage advice for this situation. Show a little more leg. Keep her interested. He knows where Joly can get just the right trousers for it. I love that Bahorel is the first guy you'd go to for a helping hand in a fight and also for fashion advice on how to please your lady. (Also, Joly and Bahorel shopping for trousers? Somebody write the fic!)

In another corner Jehan is discussing mythology. I don't know who he's talking to, but the point is he's really fired up about it. Just pointing out that he can be timid, but once he's on a topic of interest there's no stopping his enthusiasm.

Over in the last corner is a discussion about politics. Courfeyrac and Combeferre are having a lively chat about the charter of Louis XVIII. Combeferre is kind of defending it, but Courfeyrac is really giving it the what for. No Kings. No Charters. To illustrate his point, he throws the copy of this charter that just happens to be there right into the fire. So there.

In midst of all this hoo-ha, one date spoken emerges to inject some seriousness into the proceedings. It is some kind of mysterious mystery how Bossuet manages to bring up Waterloo as some sort of addendum to something Combeferre is saying. This isn't me being confused, because goodness knows, I'm oft confused, but we actually aren't told what conversation leads to this.

The mention of Waterloo has piqued Marius's interest, though. This is something that Marius thinks he knows a thing or three about. Courfeyrac goes on to describe how the number 18 is interesting, Napoleon's "fatal number". Enjolras has also been roused out of silence. He calls it a crime.

Marius isn't going to stand for anybody calling anything to do with Napoleon a crime. He's held his tongue long enough, so he goes to the map to point out Corsica and claim that it is an island that made France great. Marius has managed to shock everybody into silence by doing this. I think they know something is about to go down

And it is, because Enjolras isn't going to let that go either. He says that France is great because France is France. She doesn't need any islands where any former emperors were born to achieve greatness.

Marius just isn't going to take a hint and back down on this topic though. He goes on to give this really long impassioned speech, only spurred on by everyone's silence an sudden inability to look him in the eye, about how awesome and great Napoleon is and why do you guys pronounce his name like a bunch of Royalists, huh? Why shouldn't you worship Napoleon? What could be better than the most awesomest Emperor to have ever Empered?

"To be Free," says Combeferre.

Oooooo, Snap!, Marius. You just got told! Also, I have to say, Pontmercy, trying to pick a fight with Enjolras of all the people in the room on that topic of all the topics in the world? Okay, granted, Marius doesn't seem to ever know what he's getting himself into until he's up to his ear in it, or that Enjolras's passion for the Republic burns with the intensity of a zillion suns going supernova and consuming everything their path, but still... Congratulations on having the balls.

It's Marius's turn to avoid eye contact with everybody in the room now, because Combeferre's words have really gotten to him and stopped him cold. When he looks up the only one that's still there is Enjolras, who is just staring him down. Combeferre, thinking the situation has been resolved, had gone outside and everyone else had followed.

Marius isn't ready to give up the final word though. He's about to continue to get into it further with Enjolras, when the silence is broken by Combeferre singing a song from outside.

If Ceasar had given me
Glory and war,And if I must abandon
the love of my mother,
I would say to great Caesar:
Take your scepter and chariot
I love my mother more, alas!
I love my mother more.
Combeferre, diffusing situations when he's not even in the room.

Marius tries to complete a thought about his mother but just trails off instead.

Enjolras, who by this time has stood up to place a hand on Marius's shoulder, says that his mother is the Republic.

Later, after this whole Napoleon debacle, Marius's brain space is in utter chaos and it's really making him sad, being on the outs with not only Grandpa G, but his new friends too. He's stuck in this netherworld between two beliefs. He's kind of starting to see the world in another whole new light again, but so soon after he ditched the ultras and started following in his father's footsteps? He feels like if he were to go in with Enjolras and his crew and start opening his mind fully to all their ideas now that it will be doing his father a disservice. He just can't do what he thinks might take him further away from Georges's memory, so he stops going to Les Amis meetings after that. Out of sight, out of mind, I suppose.

Now, Marius is broker than broke as he lives in this hotel next to Courfeyrac. What would have become of the lamb had Bossuet not gone rogue on the attendance that day; I have to wonder. Seriously, he just doesn't actually know how to function out in the world beyond Grandpa G.s walls; does he? It doesn't help that he can't seem to focus on more than one thing at a time, and right now he's so messed up with all the thoughts that are now swirling around in his brain instigating yet another self-identity crisis, that he's not even paying his rent. You don't just not pay rent, Marius. Geez. I think he needs a new title: Marius Pontmercy, Baron of Being Distracted. The landlord of course takes issue with this freeloading and Marius tells him to go get Courfeyrac instead of paying the bill. See what happens when you take in strays, Courfeyrac?

Instead of, you know, leaving Pontmercy a note to fend for himself and it was nice knowing him, then absconding in a cab to become a fat country lawyer never to be seen again, Courfeyrac is more than patient and helpful when he finds out Marius's big secret (that he has been disowned and has no family anymore.) He asks Marius if he wants a loan. Marius does not. So, instead, he helps Marius figure out how to get some cash by selling some of his things for the delinquent rent money and tries to help him find one of those job thingies, so this doesn't happen again. There's an opening for a translator, but unfortunately Marius doesn't know any German or English. He damn well is determined to learn if it means he gets to continue to eat and have a room.

And we know Marius is determined as hell to make it on his own, because on top of refusing Courfeyrac's loan offer, Grandpa's sixty pistoles arrives at his doorstep one day after school, and dirt poor Marius with only ten francs to his name and more like his dad than he ever knew, just sends it all back. He's absolutely not going to take Grandpa G.'s money. It's not worth his pride. Stick it to the man, Marius!

Back at the Gillenormand abode, The Elder is the one to receive the money back. She doesn't tell Grandpa G. about it though. She rationalizes not telling him that Marius has refused it, because didn't Grandpa G. tell her he never wanted to hear another word about the kid?

And nary a word shall he hear!

By the way, Marius leaves the hotel after this, so he doesn't fall into debt. And so we end this section just as it started, with Marius homeless with nowhere to go.

Dak Reads Les Misérables / MARIUS: Book 3

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers 

Marius: Book 3; Marius Does a Spectacular One-Eighty

So, now it is time to learn all about this brigand of a son-in-law that is such a disgrace to M. Gillenormand. Seems, he's been all over the place as a career military man, gathering accolades and rank left and right. He suffered a gash across his face at Waterloo, barely survived falling in the sunken road... If you haven't sussed it out by now, this son-in-law is the Pontmercy that Thénardier accidentally saved by pulling him out from under a pile of dudes so that he might loot the body. He even gets a first name! Georges "The 'S' is silent, why do you even have letters at the end of things if you're not going to use them, French language?" Pontmercy.

He was forced out of active duty and lives off a meager pay now after a change in regime, and moved to a place down by the river in Vernon in the smallest house available. He lived there with his lovely wife Mlle. Gillenormand the younger, that he loved, despite her father's very grudging approval of their marriage.

Seems like a cozy little life until she died in childbirth. No! At least he has his son... Wait, what is this you're telling me, book? Gillenormand swooped in and took the baby away from his father?

Yes, he did. The grandfather absconded with the child under threat of disinheritance. Georges knew that he had to let go to do what was best for his kid, so that he could have a better life growing up. This really bums me out majorly, single parents getting taken advantage of all over, I have to say. Not only that, but being a Napoleon fan and such, now that the Bourbons are back in charge, the powers that be have got an eye on him. His rank is no longer recognized, and neither is his title of Baron nor his position in the Legion of Honour. That isn't to say Pontmercy abides by any of this. He still wears his Legion of Honour Rosette out, despite receiving repeated letters that he would be prosecuted for it since it is illegal, and gosh-darn, he is going to sign his name Colonel Baron Pontmercy every chance he gets regardless. He even runs into the prosecutor on the road one day and goes up to him on his own accord to rather sarcastically ask if he's still allowed to wear his scars. Stick it to the man, Georges!

Now, getting back to Georges's home life. He is the old scarred up man in the loneliest little house. He spends his days tending his postage stamp of a garden, because that is all he has left. His flowers. He spends time thinking about his salad days on the battlefield and about how he spends his time now, innocently pruning his hedges and hanging out with his friend Abbé Mabeuf ← Name to remember alert.

Why is it that the good guys in this book are all really awesome at cultivating and taking care of gardens? Valjean and Champmatheiu were pruners at Faveroles, Fauchelevent has his nun garden, and now Pontmercy. Not that we know too terribly much about Georges, but he doesn't seem like a bad guy so far. This imagery recurs too often. My symbolism detector is going off, and here I thought it was totally broken to everything except anvils falling on my head. (The Internet says: yes it is. This explains everything, but we are not here for deep literary analysis! *runs away from symbolism*)

So, what is Gillenormand up to when he's not extorting good men into giving up their parental rights? Well, he's just hanging out at Madame de T's Salon. A Salon is basically just a place where a bunch of wealthy/society people gather to gab about things, not a place to get your hair cut (it is that too, but that's not what we're talking about that). Apparently when he's not waving his anger-cane at his grandson, Old G. cuts quite the clever and charming figure.

Here at these Salons they discuss current events and art and politics in the form of punnery, poetry, and clever songs, because I guess this is what idle rich people do when they're being idle and rich. WORD PLAY!

He attends these gatherings often with his daughter and the little boy. If it wasn't completely obvious to you by now, this kid's name is Marius. The only thing he knows of his father is that he has one, since M. Gillenormand refuses to talk about the guy unless it's to poke fun at his Baronry with his Salon friends. Possibly in rhyming couplets with piano accompaniment.

As baby Maris gets older, he starts to absorb the whisperings of these people about his dad. As we know, they don't think much of him and regard him as a brigand and a disgrace, therefore Marius's little heart has been poisoned against his dad before Georges even got a chance. This is totally not okay. Especially since the only thing Georges ever did as far as Gillenormand is concerned was standing on the "wrong" side of politics.

Now, little Marius is allowed to write a letter to his dad only twice a year as dictated by his aunt, who...by the way, is the one with all the money Marius stands to inherit, not Old G. C'mon, Mlle!  Why are you complicit in your dad's curmudgeonly doings? Maybe she agrees with him? Maybe Old G. is someone she just can't say no to.

As for the letters they are basically a rather cold affair more out of obligation than anything, but Georges always replies with tender letters of his own.

Which Old G. does not read or open or give to Marius. He disposes of them.

As for Georges, if there is any doubt that his motivations for giving up his son were pure, let us dispel that now. Be it the right or wrong decision in the long run, Georges truly believed he was sacrificing his own happiness so that the boy would be well taken care of and have a better life than he could provide for him in his little garden down by the river with the French government peeping on his every move to the point of actively trying to dictate what he wears. He dared not violate the agreement set forth by Old G that he not see his son, lest the boy be disinherited.

Except for those times when he sneaked down to Paris on the days he knew Mlle. Gillenormand the Elder brought Marius to mass. That was where he watched Marius grow up and shed tears that he could never meet him as he hid behind a pillar so no Gillenormands would catch sight of him, and that was where he caught the eye of Abbé Mabeuf.

Mabeuf was there visiting his curé brother, when he noticed this big old soldier with a handsome sabre scar down his face over in the corner weeping like a little girl. Naturally, this juxtaposition piqued his interest, and he conspired with his brother to meet this guy. I'm not sure why meeting Georges required a plan. They meet later on down the road and Georges invites him over to his shack in Vernon, where he spills his guts out about the whole sordid affair. And that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, because, like the PB&J of 19th century France, nothing goes together like an old soldier and an old priest.

As for Marius, he grows up hanging around in salons none the wiser. Madame de T's is his home, which is pretty unfortunate, because hanging out with these old people who look upon young people as strange and foreign entities, and spend all their time being Ultra Royalists has made him a very serious and morose little child.

These guys are unapologetically aligned with the monarchy, as opposed to the new kind of Royalists who kind of feel bad about it. We get to learn all about all the oldies that spend their days at Madame de T's and the kind of stories they tell, like the one an old priest tells about the time when he was a soldier down in Toulon and his job was to go up the scaffolding at the end of the day and gather up all the guillotined heads from the day's executions.  I don't even no what to say about that.

Right, so, a bunch of older people hanging around talking about politics and dismissing anybody who disagrees with them while making fun of them with clever slogans. Sounds like Thanksgiving dinner to me. Unfortunately Marius has no cousins to go hang out with in the basement, so he absorbs all this like a sponge as children are wont to do.

Meanwhile, M. Gillenormand has assured that the kid gets an education. We'll just skip over his adolescence and go straight to young adulthood and him being in law school now. He has gone from a serious child to a serious young adult. His cool demeanor leads to a complete inability to make friends since this makes him a pretty unapproachable character.

Now, Marius wasn't fond of his grandfather. This explains who adored who in the previous chapter. It wasn't the kid who adored the grandpa. That is clear now. He feels even less charitable toward his father. There's a void where the man should be, and Marius has spent eighteen years thinking that his dad abandoned him and never loved him. Nobody sees fit to correct this impression of course, so when he's called in to Old G. one day and told he is to travel to Vernon to see his long lost father who is now dying, he isn't exactly excited about the idea. What's the opposite of excited? He is that.

He's feeling so ambivalent about the whole thing that he doesn't book immediate passage to Vernon. He could have taken the overnight coach, but he was in no hurry. This means that by the time Marius manages to make his way over to his dad's place, Georges has already died. He died right before Marius got there. The Curé was too late, the Doctor was too late, and Marius was too late.

In fact, Georges was so distraught that his son had not come right away that he was roused from his deathbed in the middle of the night and collapsed there in the hallway where he perished. I don't know, this seems to somewhat parallel Fantine's death in a way...both of them on their deathbeds awaiting their dearly beloved children that would never come.

If you're thinking Marius is going to be moved at all by finding his dead dad on the floor, you would be wrong. He feels nothing. This isn't to say Marius doesn't feel bad for not feeling anything. He totally does, but even though we know Georges isn't a horrible child abandoning beast-monster, this man is a stranger to Marius and stands for everything that he hates. This is how Marius grew up, and this is what Grandpa G. has drilled into his brain.

He leaves with nothing more than a note his father left for him passing on his title of baron even though it is not officially recognized and instructions to find and be of service to the man who saved him: Thénardier, who owns an inn in Montfermeil. Marius doesn't stay for the funeral. He leaves right away, gives away Georges's possessions, and after he's gone the town loots Georges's precious garden of all the rare and beautiful flowers and the plot becomes wild and overgrown.

As for Marius, he wears the requisite mourning band on his hat and would probably not have given much more thought to Georges if he hadn't gone to his old church one day and sat in a certain church warden's seat. He was just kind of wandering around in a dreamy state as Marius does when he kneels down at this chair behind a pillar. There he is approached by Abbé Mabeuf who points out that it is his seat and yes, indeed, his name is on it. Literally.

Marius gives up his spot, and again, would have gone on about his merry way if Mabeuf hadn't felt the need to explain himself. You see, this spot is sort of sacred to him, for that is where he spied Georges and got to know him. He explains the whole story about this man who was a colonel at Waterloo under Napoleon, who came every week to tearfully hide behind a pillar and watch his son that he was torn apart from due to familial disagreements. Mabeuf thinks this is a shame.

"Certainly I approve of political opinions, but there are people who do not know where to stop!" Mabeuf drops a Manhattan Project size truth bomb that is still applicable over a hundred years later and will probably continue to be relevant for hundreds of years to come, because the human race never ever learns.


This whole time Marius is listening to this story and you can sort of tell that alarm bells are going off all over his brain. When Mabeuf tries to remember the old soldier's last name and fumbles it, Marius supplies it for him:

Pontmercy.

Marius is the little boy, now adult, and he has just learned that everything he thought he knew about his dad is wrong.

As a result of learning that his father was not in fact a child abandoning beast-monster, Marius throws himself into learning everything he can about him. He goes to the library and reads up on the Revolution and the Republic and the Empire and Napoleon. This doesn't feel like a gradual thing at all. It's like he's completely flipped around in a matter of days. He has totally ripped his Long Live the King sticker from his trapper keeper and replaced it with Bonaparte 5-Ever! He wholeheartedly embraces everything his dad believed in instead. He's just really kind of obsessive about it to the point of totally ignoring all the bad parts. Georges he worships, and Napoleon is now his idol, and as for Grandpa, well, they never got along to begin with and Marius just drifts further and further away until he gets stranded on the island of hatred. This was the man that kept him separated from the father he now adores for his entire life after all.

Having shed the Royalist skin his grandpa had thrust upon him from birth almost to the point of being one of those Republican's that Old G. so despises -- Marius, in what is apparently the next logical step in his Pontmercy brain, rushes out to the printer to get calling cards printed up with his new title of Baron on them. He's so damn excited about it. However, Marius having grown up in a salon hanging out with old Ultras and having no social skills to speak of, has nobody to call on. The kid has no friends, so he just stuffs his fancy cards in his pocket and goes on about his day.

This is simultaneously really sad, and unintentionally hilarious. What are we going to do with you, Pontmercy?

As time goes by, Marius spends less and less time at home, between reading up on his new found interests and trying to find the Thénardiers. They are not longer in Montfermeil, since the inn has failed. Marius tells everybody that he's just really busy studying the law at lawyer school, but nobody believes any of his excuses. That leads me to believe that Marius has never "studied" this hard in his life, and he's a terrible liar. Old G and Auntie G are convinced that he has a lady friend that he's spending all his time with. They have no way to tell until a certain cousin we have heard of before comes for a visit on his way through town.

Now, I call Théodule a cousin because we learn here that, even though Hugo says so, there is no actual way he is Mlle. Gillenormand the Elder's Great Nephew. It is literally impossible for him to be that relation, unless he is Marius's own son traveling through time from the future (SOMEONE WRITE THE FANFIC!). See, in order to be a great nephew, he would have to be the grandson of Mlle. Gillenormand's sibling, of which we know there to be only her half-sister: Marius's Mom. Since Théodule is related on M. Gillenormand's side and carries the Gillenormand name, that makes him some sort of cousin.

Unless I missed a brother, or he's one of Magnon's boys' kids, but I doubt Old G. would let his illegitimate non-children run around with the family name attached to them. That age gap would probably make Théodule impossible anyway, since he's clearly older than Marius. I am not sure why I am so concerned about Théodule's lineage, but I am.

Back to the story at hand! Théodule has come to visit his "Auntie", and she is delighted to see him. He is her favourite after all, precisely because he doesn't come around all that often. He can remain idealized in her mind since she doesn't get to ever know all his bad habits or disagreeable opinions should he have them. Sorry about your luck, Marius. The dude that isn't even her actual nephew is still her favorite nephew over you.

She wants him to stay for a while, but he's only passing through Paris on his way to Vernon on his way to somewhere else as per his orders. This gives Mlle. Gillenormand an idea! Marius is also on his way out, and he doesn't really know Théodule and his perfectly curled mustache well enough to recognize him. This is the ideal opportunity to spy on the kid and see who his secret girlfriend is!

Oh, dear.

Théodule agrees to this. It's just a bit of fun after all even though I think all of these elderly relatives are way too invested in what is going on in Marius's pants. In any case, Théodule catches the coach with Marius, who is riding on the outside while he rides on the inside, so there's even less of a chance of being caught at spying.

Théodule is not that great of a spy though since he falls asleep and almost loses Marius, but he wakes up just in time to see him get off the coach. He follows and watches as the kid buys the biggest bouquet from a flower girl, all the while, the wheels of his mind are spinning about this girl Marius is going to see.

Marius heads to the church.

Intrigue! What kind of illicit love affair is this that they are meeting at the church?

Marius goes behind the church.

And this is where all the fun speculation about Marius's non-existent love life ends, because Marius is visiting his father's grave. The pretty flowers are for his dad.

Théodule is totally nonplussed by this, and he feels the prickings of his conscience. This now seems like something way too personal for him to be intruding on, and being a military man himself, he has respect for the colonel. To his credit, Théodule does not report this back to the Gillenormands. It may have been because he didn't know what to say, but still. I'm glad he didn't tattle. Not that it does anything to stop the oncoming Hurricane Gillenormand.

Now, one early morning while Marius is passing through the house after one of his trips, he decides what he really needs is a swim. So he abandons his jacket and the black ribbon necklace thing he wears underneath his jacket and out of sight on his bed and leaves it there.

Old G. wakes up early that morning, because healthy old people are always up at the crack of dawn. Initially, he just wants to go say hi and welcome home to his grandson and maybe ask a few questions about his mystery lady. Marius has already departed for the baths though, and all Gillenormand finds are the things he left behind out in the open. In the perfect place for snooping. Old G finds the ribbon and attached to it is a small box; a sort of locket type thing. He's getting excited now, because what could be in it? A love note?

He opens the case. Inside he finds the bit of paper that Georges bequeathed his title to Marius on. Oh, my. That leads to a search of the jacket pockets, which reveal the packet of calling cards emblazoned with: Baron Marius Pontmercy.

Old G. throws Marius's things on the ground and has Nicolette take them away. When the grandson returns Grandpa is there waiting for him. I'd like to imagine he's sitting on a big ornate chair lurking in the dark, possibly stroking a white cat and muttering to himself about Georges and Napoleon as he waits. But that's just my imagination.

He confronts Marius with the cards as soon as he gets back demanding an explanation for what the meaning of this is!

Marius announces that this is who he is. His father's son. And so, the storm has begun.

Old G. is righteously indignant about this declaration and yells that he is Marius's is father.

Marius is having none of this and calls the old man out by telling him exactly who his father is; a heroic man that served the Republic and France whose only fault was loving a son and a country that didn't love him back.

The mention of the Republic in such a way causes Gillenormand to just fly off the handle into crazy old man town. He pretty much screams down an entire page that Georges Pontmercy doesn't exist, he doesn't know this man, he is nothing to him, he doesn't want to know him or hear about him. It's like if he shouts loudly enough it will wipe Georges's memory right off the face of the planet and Marius will go back to being an obedient little mini-Gillenormand and forget all about it.

Marius has other ideas. Namely to be torn for a moment between the man he grew up with and the father he never met, then to shout "Down with the Bourbons!" in his grandfather's face when he can't figure out what to do.

As you can probably guess, this tactic goes over like a lead balloon, and Marius is summarily ejected from the house. Old G. gives instructions to send him 60 Pistoles every six months and never speak of the child again.

Gillenormand takes out his residual anger on his daughter for the next few months, and Marius leaves in indignation further stoked by the fact that Nicolette had lost his father's note. He assumes M. Gillenormand (For no longer shall this man be known to him as grandfather) has thrown the paper in the fire.

Now, you might remember from earlier that Marius is friendless and has nobody to call on, so he hops a cabriolet to the Latin Quarter with absolutely no plans or any place to stay. And that is where we leave him: homeless and abandoned with nowhere to turn.

Dak Reads Les Misérables / MARIUS: Book 2

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers 

Marius: Book 2; Where's Marius? Who is this old dude?

 Let us travel back to the past and learn about this ancient old guy named M. Gillenormand. I'm sure he has something to do with something somewhere.

So, this M. Gillenormand is not just your average crotchety old man. He's one of those old men that's still bouncing around like a spring chicken, all hale and hearty at 90 + and fearful of living for another 90 years, because...well, it's France in the 1800s. He's made it this far through some pretty tumultuous times and at this point he might very well be immortal or have the lifespan of a tortoise with the luck of a thousand four leaf clovers. Who knows?  He doesn't intend to make it to 180, but he's penciled an even century in his day planner at least. 

He doesn't even dress like a crotchety old guy in the fashions of his heyday.   He likes to keep up with the latest trends and goes for a daily shave. Good on him for keeping those old man hairs in check. (You know what I'm talking about).  And the only reason he's not swimming in mistresses right now is because he feels undesirable due to being rich enough. Don't get me wrong, he's not scrounging around in the streets like the rest of the rabble. He's got a house and everything. Still, he secretly hopes for some kind of windfall so that he could get in on that sweet lady action again.

He had a brother, a priest, once that he lost at a young age (In his seventies. To Gillenormand, the is a young age.) He was in love once with a ballet dancer when he was sixteen, and he's been married twice, makes a terrible husband but a great lover. His theory is that in order to keep the wives from getting upset about the straying is to give the wife control of the ₣₣₣₣₣s.  He is quick to anger, especially when wrong. He raises his cane at people who disagree with him and calls his servants names. He has a fifty year old unmarried daughter who he thought acted more like an eighty year old person, and would gladly have horsewhipped. Geez, G. What a peach you are!

As for political leanings, this Gillenormand survived "the Terror" Here is the Wiki feel free to engage in further more in depth/accurate research, because History is very interesting and important, but I am not going to tell it all to you here. It is presumed that you know the highlights. In case you didn't click on the link and don't know, this was a particularly violent period that took place during that time known as the French Revolution. Let's just say here that there was a lot of guillotine action happening. Gillenormand likes to tell people that he escaped a good head chopping on his wit and charm alone. You will note that the French Revolution took place in the late 1700s. Valjean was still serving his original and comparatively short five year sentence. It would be around another fifteen years before we would find him wandering around Digne looking for a bite to eat.

Needless to say, as a member of the Bourgeois class and being a fan of the Bourbons, G is not here for Republicans.These Republicans. He will pretty much go into a blackout rage if you talk fondly of the Republic to him.

As for servants, he has two at a time. One man and one woman. The men he rechristens and calls them the name of the province from which they hail. For example, he calls one fellow Basque. As for the ladies, they are all called Nicolette. All of them. They are not called that because he only hires women with the same name. He just calls them that, because that is his whim; and crotchety old bourgeois men with servants can get away with doing that.

Back to the mistresses, our dear old man sometimes has illegitimate babies dropped on his doorstep. Gillenormand does not think its unreasonable that his little ancient swimmers can still be fathering babies. Be that as it may, these particular two basket babies that show up on his stoop from a former servant named Nicolette né Magnon, he doesn't believe are his. He ain't mad at the babies though.

He does provide Magnon with eighty Francs a month on the provision that she doesn't keep dropping her newborns on his doorstep. Still, he wants the two he did get to be well taken care of and he even goes to visit them on occasion. This seems quite charitable for a dude that's likes his Francs and appears to be constantly angry at all the things.

We have learned about the spinster daughter from his first wife. He also has a daughter with his second wife. She is a woman who married for love a man that served in the armies under the Republic and the Empire after that. He had a Legion of Honour medal and was made a colonel at Waterloo. (Where have we heard about a guy with a Legion of Honour medal who fought at Waterloo before? Hmmmm?) G. thought this guy was the disgrace of the family.

This younger daughter was bright and cheerful...the polar opposite of her half-sister. She had dreams of marrying a hero, and the older Sis had her own fantasies...to marry some old dumb guy who had money and power and connections. These dreams only came to partial fruition.

The younger married the boy of her dreams! Yay!

But she died. Boo.

The older, as we have seen, is now an old maid that lives with her old dad. She did consent to be kissed by her great-nephew once, a lancer named Théodule, though. The mystery of what circumstances led to this shall remain.

Mlle. Gillenormand has never been mean though. She's just sad now after living a life that never really went anywhere.

Now, Mlle. Gillenormand and her father aren't the only relations that live there in the house. There is one little boy. The old man has him silently quaking in his boots, for G. never has anything but harsh words for him, sometimes with a little theatrical cane waving.

"He Idolized him" <--directly quoted because I'm not sure if this means the kid idolized his grandpa or the other way around. Damn you, Pronouns! Maybe this is clearer in other translations/French?  I mean,the kid seems terrified of the old man, and the old man doesn't seem all that fond of the kid, so I'm not even sure from the context clues!

If you're wondering why there is a child running around in the first place, this boy is M. Gillenormand's grandson. The words are telling me that we will see this kid again.  Should I pretend like I don't know who this child is?  Well, I have a feeling there are many loose strings in this plot line that are going to be pulled together in the next chapter.  I will see you then!

Dak Reads Les Misérables / MARIUS: Book 1

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers 


  Marius: Book 1; In which Paris is the Hub of the Universe and homeless children roam the streets


  So, in this chapter we have moved on from nuns to gamins. Google tells me gamin means 'kid' or more specifically a small boy. Apparently there is more to it than that though, because I just read thousands and thousands of words about them. They are in this context the young boys that populate the streets of Paris, they don't really have any homes or parents or anything. The street is their home.

 They've got their own little society going on, with its own rules, money, and hierarchies depending on where the kid's been and what he's seen. The kid that saw a dude fall off Notre Dame gets some mad respect. One important thing to note: They know all the police officers. Maybe not by name, but definitely by appearance: The tall one, the short one, the mean one, the one with a fierce mustache etc.... This might come into play later on. By might, I mean definitely. 

 So, these homeless children running around everywhere were convenient when the King wanted to build up a navy. The police would just grab a kid whenever they needed someone, and nobody missed them when they disappeared. Sometimes, though, if supply was running short, a kid that did have a father would get nabbed. There were nasty rumors about the King's "Crimson Bath": a cursory web search to see if this was an actual rumor of the time only nets me pictures of red tiled bathrooms, but since it's described as a "Monstrous Conjecture" I'm going to go ahead and assume it's some sort of Elizabeth Báthory type situation they're imagining. Monstrous indeed. 

 And what of these fathers whose sons were stolen away? Well, they'd go after the policemen who grabbed the boys and end up having to face the law themselves. Apparently this usually ended in a hanging sentence for the fathers. 

 Moving on to the city itself, this is another one of those intro chapters that name-drops about a hundred million things in order to describe Paris that I'm going to have to look up. Just imagine a tidal wave of text filled with names and places and allusions to ancient Greeks and Romans and -- well -- everything and anything, and you will have this chapter. Someone in two hundred years is going to need to upload some encyclopedias into their brains to catch all the nuances and references. I am afraid I have no such encyclopedic knowledge, and the only ones I caught without a Google were the refs about Boston in the 1770s and Harper's Ferry, the latter of which hadn't even happened at the point in which this book is taking place right now.  To be fair it's in a paragraph about Paris influencing future as well as past events, specifically revolutions. 
You can sort of get the idea though: Paris is a happen' town in not just the Earth, but the whole dang Universe with a wide influence in a vast array of areas, a hub for sure.

 Even its street dwelling orphans are a special breed. Even my website is named after it.***  Look at that! It'll build you up. It'll let you down. It will laugh right in your face:

Paris does more than lay down the law; it lays down the fashion; Paris does more than lay down the fashion; it lays down the routine. Paris can be stupid if it likes; sometimes it indulges in this luxury , and the whole universe is stupid along with it. Then Paris wakes up, rubs its eyes and says, "Am I ever stupid!" and burst out laughing in the face of mankind. Go Home, Paris. You're drunk.

We are going to meet one very specific little boy here. His name is Gavroche, a child of around ten or twelve, something like that. Whatever. 

 His family goes by the name Jondrette, and four of them live in one room in Gorbeau House, because of course they do. Of all the run down tenements in all the towns...

 Sometimes Gavroche drops by for a visit where the entire family lives in a single room... Mom, Dad, and two older girls, but he doesn't get anything out of it as far as I can tell. He comes from the streets and returns to the streets at the end of the day. Needless to say these parents don't really care for him. There's not a spark of warmth from his mother, though she does love the two sisters. 

 Well, if this isn't a familiar scenario, don't you think? I will let you ponder about where you've heard this one before and give you a friendly reminder about all the times people keep coincidentally running into each other in what I think is a pretty big country to keep running into the same people all the time!

 There are other tenants in the Gorbeau house now. The old landlady has since passed away and been replaced by a new one exactly like her, so we don't have to bother describing her. There's no mention of the giant creepy spiders, but I'm going to assume they're still spinning around, and there is a dirt poor fellow that lives there in the room next to these Jondrettes. Guess who it is? I'll give you a hint: this entire volume is named after him.

 He is is called Monsieur Marius.

*** I guess I can mention here, that this website is named after the city in which I grew up: Cincinnati.  It was one of the Queen City's many nicknames at one point.  It is merely a happy accident that it coincides so nicely with what I'm reading right now!

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Dak Reads Les Misérables / COSETTE: Book 8

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers

Cosette: Book Eight: In which nuns violate public health and safety in the name of God, and Valjean is buried alive

Yes, these are things that are happening in this chapter. How did we arrive here, you may be asking, because I'm reading it and I'm wondering that too. Well, let us return to the night Valjean jumped into the garden. This is exactly where we left off on that wild tangent a couple sections ago, but it seems like it's been a thousand years since Valjean scaled that wall.

He and Fauchelevent are hanging out eating cheese and wine and Valjean is watching Cosette sleep. He has come to the conclusion that he must stay in this convent. It is surely the most safest place to be, you know, besides a different city, or a different country, or any place other than the city in which Javert is currently employed.  Be that as it may, Javert would never suspect him in this convent, since nobody gets in. That's a pretty reasonable assumption, but there are a couple of problems with this amazing plan.

A. Are the nuns really going to let another dude onto the premises?

B. If the do, they can't know that he's already broken into their convent. I'm pretty sure that would quickly get him on their bad side and they'd never allow him back in.

Valjean enlists Fauchelevent to help him scheme a way to accomplish his continued safety at Petit Picpus.

Fauchelevent is rightfully dubious that he can do anything about it. He only has contact with Mother Innocent, and all the other nuns run away from his knee-bell. He suggests Valjean just climb over the wall the way he came in, but apparently that cannot be done in the opposite direction. No. Really? Surely, it would be easier for Fauchelevent to say...acquire a ladder than what's about to go down? I guess that would too be simple and easy, and we can't have that.

Well, it just so happens there was a dying nun on the premises and Fauchelevent hears his own personal bell tone that means he's being summoned to a meeting with Mother Innocent. Once he's there, she goes into some long speech about the final wishes of the dead, particularly some of the sainted brothers and sisters that have lived their lives in service to God. Surely they deserve to have their final wishes honoured? She goes on to cite a couple of examples as precedent.

Meanwhile, Fauchelevent is explaining that he's old and decrepit and he could use a little help around the garden. He has just the guy! His "brother" and his "brother's" daughter should come to live among them and help out.

It seems as if Mother Innocent is down with this on one condition.  Can Fauchelevent procure a lever to lift the stone covering vault underneath the altar in the chapel? Fauchelevent can. He wonders why she would want to do that though.

She wonders if he did not hear the bells earlier that announced one of the nun's deaths. He says he did not. He can't hear much in his own little corner of the convent, besides, his bell is the only tone he pays attention to anyway.

Well, Mother Innocent explains, this particular nun's final wish was to be laid to rest beneath the altar in the coffin that she has slept in during her life.

Wait. Is something lost in translation here again? Do nuns sleep in coffins for real? or was this woman secretly a vampire?

Fauchelevent is taken aback, because burying people under the floor is just not done. There are safety issues! What of the health inspectors? They would never let them just stick a body underneath the altar in the church where alive people congregate.

Mother Innocent is not going to let some silly government or the threat of disease get in the way of fulfilling this woman's final wishes though. As far as she's concerned, she's got a higher authority that she must obey, so what does Fauchelevent think of those apples?

Fauchelevent isn't going to argue about it any further. So, now to get down to the gritty details... It's easy enough to conclude they are going to have bury a coffin at the cemetery, so nobody catches on; but how is Fauchelevent going to sneak the empty box out of the convent without the pallbearers knowing it's empty?

Why is everybody leaving their scheming plans up to Fauchelevent here? He totally did not sign up for this when he fell under that cart.

Good thing Fauchelevents are smarter than they appear. You see, before he fell on hard times and had to turn to being a cart driver, he was a notary. He wasn't always a simple laborer. He easily concludes that they can just fill the coffin up with dirt and be done with it.

Mother Innocent approves. With the plan in place, she dismisses him to go about his work.

Back in Fauchelevent's shed of collusion, Valjean is still chillin', watching Cosette and eating cheese. He asks how the meeting went. Everything is set with to bring in Fauchelevent's "Brother", now to get Valjean out.

It's easy enough to sneak Cosette out, she's tiny and easy to carry and hide. Valjean threatens her with Thenardiers again to make extra sure she doesn't utter a peep, which is a tactic I don't entirely like, but hey...it's super effective.

And what of Valjean? Fachelevent can't just throw a blanket over him and carry him out under his arm. I would hate to bear the wrath of these nuns should they find an unauthorized dude on the premises.

He's just pondering this and how dirt in the coffin isn't going to feel exactly like a human person ... You know where this is heading now, right? You can practically see the lightbulbs appearing over their heads.

And this is why you should read the "brick". For every endless chapter about nuns or Waterloo, there are treasure chests full of gleaming gems of amazingness like this. I wish the sheer length of this novel wasn't such a deterrent, because it's so worth the read. It's just a thousand more pages to love. Seriously, Valjean just sneaked into a convent, so he could sneak out of a convent. IN A COFFIN. So, he can legitimately enter the convent and hide out there; an opportunity that presents itself just because he ran into a guy he used to know, and a nun happened to die that morning and wished to be buried on the premises rather than in an outside cemetery. 

You also won't know that Valjean is secretly hilarious. I don't know that he means to be, but he is to my wry funny bone.


"You can come and nail me up in the coffin at two o'clock."



Fauchelevent recoiled, and began to crack his finger joints.



"But it's impossible!"



"Not at all. To take a hammer and drive some nails into a board?"



Valjean does not understand why this could be a problem

All plans are in place now. The only thing that Valjean is worried about in this surely foolproof caper is what's going to happen when the get to the cemetery?

Fauchelevent has that covered though. He knows the ins and outs of the place and is a personal friend of the gravedigger, who is also a drunk and easily distracted in his drunkeness.

Fauchelevent plans to wait until the priest is done giving his blessings and then make sure the gravedigger is plastered then just send him home.

There is one important thing to note about the gravedigger's duties. This cemetery has a gatekeeper and the only way the gravedigger can come and go after hours is with his card, which he drops into a box and is permitted entry or exit in some sort of 19th century key card system. If the gravedigger forgets his card than the gatekeeper can let him through by sight, but that's a fifteen Franc fine. This is relevant information this time, I assure you.

So the day comes and everything is just going swimmingly. Cosette has been sneaked out and is hanging out with a flower shop lady for the time being. Poor little Cosette is worried about this of course. I don't blame her for having abandonment issues at this point. She knows something is afoot though and instinctively keeps her mouth shut about it.

Meanwhile, let us return to: The Great Convent Escape!

Everything has gone perfectly so far on all of Fauchelevent's flawless schemes. There's a nun under the altar, Cosette is away, and Valjean is squeezed into a coffin, ready to go.

Nothing could go wrong, I tell you! NOTHING!

I know we've been hit with the foreshadowing stick before in this book, but this is a particularly gratuitous beatdown. 

As soon as Fauchelevent meets up with the gravedigger everything starts falling quickly apart.

This gravedigger is not Fauchelevent's drunken friend. This is some other guy who is all business, and no drinking. What happened to the drunk? Well, he up and died. How dare he!

Fauchelevent is having a meltdown over here in the meanwhile, and is desperately trying to convince this gravedigger that he really needs to come out and have a drink. He even goes so far as to offer to pay himself, which is definitely above and beyond the call of duty.

New guy sort of relents, but only after his job has been done will he go grab a cup of wine. Fauchelevent tries to convince him that the taverns will close soon, but this guy is really determined to bury this 'nun'.

Meanwhile, Valjean is chilling in the coffin, waiting for the priest to be done giving a blessing and for Fauchelevent to pry him out of this predicament. That's when he hears the first shovel full of dirt rain down on him. This causes Valjean to basically have a panic attack, and he just passes the hell right out. 

Back above ground Fauchelevent is beside himself. He doesn't know what to do until he spots the gravedigger's key card, and he gets an idea. He picks the gravedigger's pocket and then asks him if he has his card.

The Gravedigger can't find it, and it's almost time for the graveyard to close. He must go home and find his missing card or have to pay fifteen francs. This dude is really very extremely opposed to having to pay a fine, so he rushes off home.

The gravedigger won't be finding that card anytime soon, since Fauchelevent stole it and everything so there's plenty of time to get Valjean.

Fauchelevent is totally my hero right now.  He is not just some rando that fell under a cart once upon a time.  Okay?

Soon enough, Valjean has been untombed and...well, he's still passed the hell out, and Fauchelevent assumes he suffocated in there. He has another meltdown, but soon Valjean wakes up, the night air having revived him. Fauchelevent admonishes him for nearly scaring him to death.

All is right in the world again. They escape the cemetery using the stolen card and Fauchelevent stops by the gravedigger's house (where he has turned everything over in the search for the missing card) to let him know the key is at the gatehouse. Fauchelevent "found" it on the "ground" and finished up the gravedigger's job for him.

The poor gravedigger is relieved and forever grateful to Fauchelevent. As is everybody apparently.

The nuns are grateful that he's helped them out with their scheme. They're so pleased that they even give a report when the archbishop comes for a visit. Everybody is apparently A-Okay with storing bodies under the altar, government be damned!

And Valjean and Cosette come to live with him in the Convent free and clear. Valjean's new alias is Ultimus Fauchelevent, which is Fauchelevent's actual brother's name, but who is dead now and can't use it. It is also a totally bitchin' name. ULTIMUS! The nuns just call him "Other Fauvent" though. He gets his own knee bell so they can avoid him forever.

As for Cosette, she goes to live in the school for girls where it is impressed upon her how incredibly homely she is. Which is mean, because she's Fantine's girl, there's no way that's actually true unless she inherited all of Tholomeyes features or something. Which she hasn't. It's just something the nuns tell girls, so they don't get ideas that they're good looking enough to score a guy or worry about superficial things like appearances.

She gets an hour a day to spend with Valjean and that is the best hour of the day for both of them. Though, Cosette does wish she would have brought Catherine along had she known she was going to be stuck in a nunnery for the rest of her life.

This convent is Valjean's new life. He dares not leave the convent for fear of being caught again, so that leads him to contemplation about his life in prison and this life here in which there are similarities. In fact, the nuns seem to live in even harsher conditions of their own volition than the convicts did.  

And this is how Valjean now spends his days, putting his mad hedge pruning skillz to use and contemplating stuff, like how Godly institutions and/or love seem to enter his life every time he feels like he's falling back into the abyss to remind him to stay on the straight and narrow.  He prays every night outside while the nuns are praying inside. 

And as for Javert, he's spent a month keeping his eyes peeled.  Only a month?  I guess so, because that's the last we hear about this particular pursuit, but we all know it's not the last we'll be hearing of Javert.

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Dak Reads Les Misérables / COSETTE: Book 6 & 7

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers


Cosette: Books Six and Seven: Nuns, Nuns, Nuns, and did I mention Nuns?

Okay, so, stick with me, because...wow, these chapters are kind of tedious after all that exciting chase action in the last one! (By kind of, I mean extremely) Though, if there's one thing to be said about Hugo, it's that he usually gives you advance warning that something not entirely pertinent is comin' at'cha. In fact, one of these chapters is called "Parenthesis" (Y'know, because here's some tangential information hangin' out smack in the middle of everything.) But, hey, I'm all for background information, and we're at a convent now; so, gosh darn, we are going to learn all about some nuns!

So, we learn about some different varieties of nuns, and how some have more or less strict rules than others. These sisters at Petit Picpus are some some of the strictest there are. Outside people are not allowed into the convent, and should anybody come to visit they have sit in this area called the : Locutory, and there is a watch nun, who makes sure nothing/nobody untoward gets in.

Okay, we're going off my rusty old memory now, because I want to get on with things and I really don't want to go back and read these chapters again for all the details that probably won't ever come up again, so I may get things wrong, and maybe I'm rushing in anticipation of getting to the next volume. For reasons. But I'll point out a couple things here I remember.

A. The convent is really, really, cloistered. The only outside contact they get is the bishop, and they have to hide behind a curtain while attending mass anyway. Then there's Fauchelevent, who they call Fauvent. He has to wear a bell on his knee so the nuns don't accidentally catch sight of a dude.

I still think this is a really weird place for a bell to be located. Why his bum knee? I guess that makes it ring more often then bells on his belt maybe, or is something lost in translation here? Is it a French thing? Is it a nun thing? Is it a 19th century thing? Is it a Fauchelevent thing? I don't know!

B. The Convent is divided into three parts: The part where the nuns of this particular order live by their strictest of rules, the part where other nuns go to retire from all over from orders of varying strictness, and the part that is a school for girls. They are pretty much expected to follow the rules too, but they will climb up on roofs just to catch a glimpse of a person who has been playing a flute in the street next door. They'd built this guy up in their minds to be some kind of handsome, romantic, young man, so of course they had to risk life and limb to see this fine fellow. Who, as it turns out, is just an old blind guy back from exile whiling away the time in the alley.

The girls also manage to steal a rule book that nobody is allowed to read. This seems to defeat the entire purpose for having a rule book in the first place. They find the passages about the sins of boys to be of particular interest.

C. There is no C, just a bunch of anecdotes about different people who live at the convent. There's a nameless old lady who's a hundred years old and doesn't visit with anybody because the Locutory is too gloomy. She covets an item and doesn't let anybody see what it is. They only find out it is a Faience Plate when she dies and they bum rush her room to find it because it's been a topic of gossip for a while.

Then there's Madame Albertine, who isn't even a nun, but she lives there anyway. She never utters a word and walks around in a corpse-like state. She also knows a new priest by his first name, which she stands up and shouts out in the middle of everything one day: Auguste! Nobody knows why, and we never find out. Though there is naturally plenty of speculations. Somebody write the fanfic!

And those are the only ones remember. Hah! I promise, if any of this ever comes up again, I will totally revisit it.

And finally D. This particular order has been dwindling in numbers through the years and by the time Valjean manages to break into this impenetrable fortress of Nuns there isn't very many left.

After we learn about convents and everything, we go on to ruminate on the merits and demerits of living in a monastic setting for a while. It can be great, or it can be terrible. Feel free to read along with the actual "brick" and leave your thoughts in the comments, because I already started reading book eight and am supremely distracted by the forthcoming antics that seem to be in store for us!

Yes, that's right. Antics!

Dak Reads Les Misérables / COSETTE: Book 5

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers.


Book Five:  Return of the Wolf Puppy

Alright, people! Are you prepared for Hugo to drop some real realness in your eyes? Well, here it goes. He does that thing that I usually despise by interjecting author notes directly into the story. He wants to let us know that this Paris he's about to describe is the Paris of the past. It has changed through the years and this is how Hugo remembers it. Have some of his thoughts about it:

While we come and go in our native land, we imagine that we are indifferent t these streets, that these windows, roofs and doors mean nothing to us, that these walls are strangers to us, that these trees are like any other trees, that these houses we never enter are of no use to us, that the pavement where we walk is no more than stone blocks. Later, when we are no longer there, we find that those streets are very dear to us, that we miss the roofs, windows and doors, that the walls are essential to us, that the trees are beloved, that every day we did enter those houses we never entered, and that we have left something of our affections, our life, and our heart on those paving stones. All those places that we no longer see, which perhaps we shall never see again, but whose image we have preserved, assume a painful charm, return to us with the sadness of a ghost, make the holy land visible to us, and are so to speak, the true shape of France; and we love them and call them up such as they are, such as they were, and hold onto them, unwilling to change a thing, for one clings to the form of the fatherland as to the face of the mother. (Now that we're all thinking about where we grew up and how it's all changed...)

Oh, by the way, in case you didn't know...Hugo was in exile for fifteen years after speaking out against Napoleon III (This novel was published while he was away). So, there's that. I think I don't mind the interjections and digressions, because it may not be relevant, but it's definitely interesting information that I don't mind being in my brain.

Back to Jean Valjean, who is now traversing these streets of Paris, and I suppose that disclaimer up there is sort of relevant, because he lists off the many streets Valjean is traveling down, even down to a sign advertising a sale outside a shop as he passes by. He doesn't really have any destination in particular. He's letting God lead the way, and as for Cosette? She trusts Valjean, and goes with him without any fuss.

He comes to the realization that Javert is indeed on his tail. He thinks he shakes him several times, but Javert and his men are never too far behind. Valjean crosses a bridge and becomes trapped at Petit Picpus when he notices a sentry is posted at the outlet of the street. He knows he can't go back the other way, because Javert is back there.

What's a guy to do?

There is an old decrepit door there, but Valjean soon realizes that the thing isn't actually a door. When is a door not a door? When it's just hanging there on the wall for no apparent reason. He knows it's a waste of time to break it down if there's not going to be an opening behind it. He eventually formulates a plan to go over one of the walls.

It's an easy job for himself. He used to scale walls like a spiderman back in prison, but he's got Cosette now, and he can tell that the police are moving in on him. They are taking their good sweet time about it though, methodically checking out every crevasse as they inch slowly toward him.

He finds a rope attached to a street lamp that he can use to hoist her up after him and thus begins his ascent. Cosette's getting a little bit worried at this point and wants to know who these people are that are after them. Valjean gets her to be quiet by telling her it's the Thénardiess. This is an effective bogeyman, and we won't be hearing a peep out of Cosette now. They make it over the wall and into what is apparently the creepiest garden to ever creep. It's super gloomy and weird things are afoot there.

Valjean finds a shed to hide in and they remain silent as they listen to Javert and his buddies searching around out in the street. It feels like they're sitting there for quite a while. Valjean peeps inside a nearby building and sees what looks like a dead body, but isn't a dead body? Whatever the case, it's really weird, and then there's the singing, and the sound of a bell coming from what appears to be a guy tending garden. Is Valjean trippin' ? Because this is just strange. Maybe there's a reasonable explanation?

As he sits there, he reflects about Cosette, and how she's everything to him now. He's going to live his life for the little girl and do everything for her, and it is at this point that he notices she has gone cold as she'd fallen asleep in the freezing night air. He has only one recourse and picks Cosette up, rushing to the guy with the bell. He has to warm her up fast and this is the only option, even if it means being caught.

The old man is extremely excited to see Valjean there. He's surprised and delighted to find Monsieur Madeline has apparently fallen from the sky straight into his garden. Wait a minute...

Who is this old man who seems to know Valjean from another life? It's Fauchelevent! You remember Fauchelevent, right? He'll refresh everybody's memory now, because Valjean doesn't even remember him.


Fauchelevent was the guy that was trapped under a cart once upon a time and Valjean saved his life that day despite Javert and his suspicious eyes being all over him. What Valjean has stumbled into is the Convent at Petit-Picpus, the very same place he procured work for old Fauchelevent. The guy is only out in the cold night to put jackets on his melons so they don't get frosty. The reason he has to wear a bell on his bum knee so the nuns stay away from him, and he has no idea about Valjean and his post mayoral trials and tribulations. As far as he knows, Valjean is still Madeline. He's also a bit put out that Valjean had no idea who he was and calls him an ingrate, but is still willing to help him out in any way he can. To be fair though, Valjean's got a hell of a lot on his mind right now.

And he's totally going to take advantage of Fauchelevent's cluelessness right now. He only has a couple things to ask for and that's a warm place for Cosette and that he doesn't utter a word about this to anybody. Fauchelevant is happy to provide and soon Cosette is sleeping warm and cozy in a bed by the fire and very much not dead.

That is how Valjean evaded the clutches of Inspector Javert and found a safe haven, but how about we take a look at it from a different angle? It's time for Javert's point of view now!

So, after he played a crucial role in bringing Valjean in after he escaped in Montreuil Sur Mer, he was given a position in Paris. Seems as if his zesty zeal in catching Valjean did not go unnoticed. This is a perfectly reasonable explanation for why Javert is in Paris, and, as it turns out, he has not been ceaselessly chasing after Valjean every waking second of the day and also in his dreams (okay, maybe in his dreams). These two have a history now.

In fact, Javert probably would have gone on about his business of terrifying the rest of the Paris citizenry, content with the knowledge that Valjean, the dangerous criminal, is back in Toulon serving his time where he belongs, had he not happened to open up the paper for the purposes of catching up on Monarchy news. It's the only reason he was even looking at it; he usually doesn't read the paper. This is where he saw Valjean's death notice.

Again, Javert is was totally taking this at face value and was on the road to forgetting about Valjean, since he was dead and everything.  The wolf has new things to sniff out, so there's no reason for the old stuff to stick around, right?  This is when he gets word through police networks of a girl kidnapped from Montfermeil. This piques his interest greatly, because that was the area in which Valjean was last captured, and Javert knew exactly why he was there. He still thinks it's hilarious that Valjean had the audacity to ask him for three days grace to go fetch Fantine's little girl right in the middle of being arrested. It just so happens this little girl is the same girl that had been reported missing.

I'm telling you, were Javert the star in his own crime procedural, we'd all be rooting for him and the exemplary sleuthing skillz he's putting on display here. He would have his own show on USA and nobody would call him the villain. He would still be the annoyingly uptight, straight-laced, absolutely frustrating by the book 100% detective, and they would team him up with the loose cannon, rule breaking newbie with a heart of gold though.

In any case, Javert wants to be really sure that he's right about this. He doesn't want the press to have a field day should he wrongfully arrest an innocent man. So, he puts in the requisite work rather than going off half-cocked on some wild goose chase.

He goes to speak with Thénardier, who filed the report and regrets it now that he's got a wolf on his doorstep. He attempts to recant and says that Cosette wasn't stolen away. She merely went to go live with her grandfather. Lol. Those townspeople, you know how they talk? Javert doesn't really believe this, but he does have doubt seeds growing. He really doesn't want to get this wrong.

He hears about the beggar who gives alms, and this gets his gears working too. He goes undercover as one of his police informants. Who is his police informant? It's the beggar that Valjean regularly funds, and this is the point at which Valjean first peeped spy!Javert, and Javert first laid eyes on Valjean again.

They are both still not sure though. Javert gets the aid of the landlady in his spying, so Valjean was correct in assuming they were in cahoots when he decided to make a run for it. He dropped some coins on the floor which gave him away though, and the Landlady ratted him out to Javert.

It really isn't until they catch sight of each other at various points during the chase that they are really surely sure that what they are seeing is what they had believed to be true. I guess neither one of them had been able to wrap their mind around it until everything unfolded right in front of them.  Javert had honestly had doubts up until this point, and he couldn't in good conscience make that arrest.  On top of that, he followed instead of arresting Valjean right away, because he was slightly worried that if this man were not Valjean, then he might be some sort of criminal underworld mastermind.  In this case, Javert would want to follow him and see what he was up to.  A premature arrest wouldn't be wise if that were so.  

 He had asked for resources from the higher ups though, without telling them exactly what he's been up to for a couple of reasons:   He doesn't want anybody to think he's insane or be eviscerated in the press. Remember, he already got accused of the crazies when he thought Mayor Madeline was Jean Valjean while a different man was in custody, and wrongful arrests were starting to be a problem.  Valjean's not even supposed to be alive, remember?  On top of that, Javert knows, being a relative newcomer to the Paris police, those higher ups are going to take credit for his great feats of detectiving.

No. He wants this great masterpiece of police work to be a surprise (He loves surprises!), only to be revealed when everything falls neatly into place, and he can ride into work the next day on the stallion of triumph, having been the one dude smart enough, and sly enough to capture a man everybody else thought was dead.

Javert? You are familiar with the saying about what pride precedes, right?

He keeps his eyes on Valjean the entire time he's trying to escape down all those streets. Even while Valjean thought he was safe in the shadows, Javert's suspicious eyes were there. He follows along with his goon squad at a safe distance, picking up backup and random patrolling soldiers along the way to aid him, until he finally traps Valjean in Petit Picpus.

 

Having caught Valjean, and thinking there's no way the man is getting away now, he takes his good old time searching every single nook and cranny from both ends of the street in for the express purpose of messing with Valjean's mind like a tiger playing with a mouse before eating it. As we know now, Valjean was totally sweating this. Unfortunately for Javert,Valjean isn't a mouse. This dilly-dallying gave him enough time to formulate an escape plan that we have seen.

By the time Javert and his wolfpack meet in the middle, Valjean is gone.

You say you like surprises, Javert? Well... SURPRISE!!!

They can't figure out where the hell Valjean went, though they assume somewhere over the wall because they spot the rope, but where it's lying is a misdirect. They still can't find him, searching gardens in the opposite direction from the one he'd actually gone in. There are a few paragraphs devoted to what an egregious fuckup this is for Javert. Apparently his failure to arrest Valjean straight away is right up there with the greatest tactical blunders of all time. Ouch! 

 He returns to work riding on the donkey of shame instead.  This was not how he thought things were going to go.

What's going to happen now? Is Javert going to try and get himself fired again? I don't know, we'll have to wait and see until next time!

Dak Reads Les Misérables / COSETTE: Book 4

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers.

BOOK 4:  Valjean and Cosette

So, now we are learning all about an area of the city (Paris, in case you forgot where in France we are right now!) which is pretty shady sounding area. It's boring in the daytime and terrifying at night. Y'know, due to all the murderin' that's gone on in the area. Let's learn about a particular house at 50-52 Boulevard de l'Hôpital, . Here's another anecdote for you!:

The Gorbeau House is a run down looking place that appears smaller on the outside than it actually is. It's a TARDIS! There used to be two guys that lived there. They were lawyers and their lawyer bros made fun of them by creating cute poems in reference to their names: Corbeau (Raven) and Renard (Fox). Eventually they got fed up with this little rhyme dedicated to them and applied for a name change. Probably not a bad idea. I don't know that I'd want to employ the Raven and Fox law firm. That sounds a little TOO crafty. So, they went before the King. And the King decided that Corbeau would get a fancy flourish added to his name to make it Gorbeau. As for Renard he got to add a P, making his name Prenard, which this text is telling me means "grasping fellow". It's not much of an improvement.

Wait, so what I'm getting here is that in order for your name to be changed, you have to petition for an audience with the King, and the King just gets to name you whatever the hell he wants? I don't know that I'd want to roll that dice!

Anyway, that's why the Gorbeau house is called what it is called. and there are spiders there. Gigantic spiders. This quiet creepy corner of the city is where Jean Valjean has made his home. Before we go any further, let me issue a correction: Jean Valjean is fifty five according to this chapter, because it's right there in black and white. He just looked like he was in his sixties before I guess. This is what I get for letting things marinate in my brain for too long. I forget. That's why I'm writing this in the first place!

Well, the only things Valjean has in his living space are a matress on the floor and cot. He places Cosette on the cot and the next morning watches her until she wakes up. She's really disoriented at first and still thinks she's at the Thénardier's, but she's safe for now. Catherine is there, and her buddy Valjean is there and there are no more floors to be swept.

While he's watching her, Valjean has this strange feeling come over him. It's nothing he's never felt before. Could it be... love?

But wait! You might be saying...what about Valjean's family? We learned about them. He clearly loved them because he took care of them and stole bread for them. That's what got him here in the first place. Had things turned out differently would he still be pruning hedges? Well, all of that was before prison messed him up and hardened his heart. It's been so long that he doesn't really remember them. Though he has tried to search for them and hasn't turned up neither hide nor hair. We didn't get to hear about any of that though, because we were off learning about history, and vulture eyes, and giant Gorbeauian spiders.

Cosette is here now, and she is successfully melting Valjean's heart, and he's feeling real love for another person for the first time twenty five years. They spend their days in each other's company, only going out at night. Valjean's trying really hard to stay under the radar now. No more being on the lam while simultaneously rebuilding an entire industry and rising to a prominent position in a political office. Nope. He's going to find the darkest corner in the biggest city and hide this time.

We get to learn that Valjean has been teetering on the edge for a while now, and Cosette bringing love back into his life has pulled him back over to the side of virtue again. See, in all this time, even the bishop's influence has been waning on and off. It's been a while since his kindness had touched Valjean's heart and he was starting to get disillusioned once again. What with Fantine's sad story, and him being imprisoned again despite everything good he'd done and despite doing the right thing by turning himself in so Champmathieu didn't have to go to jail who can blame him?. Yeah, so Valjean was close to falling off the wagon after all apparently.

As for Cosette, for the first time she has someone that cares about and someone to call father. He tells her all about her mother, and teaches her to read...something he learned in prison for the express purpose of doing bad things. He feels happy about using his powers of literacy for good. They go on walks together, but sometimes Cosette stays behind with the nosy landlady to watch. This woman is the only other person to live in the house and functions as a sort of concierge. It turns out that, though she still has her quiet moments, Cosette loves to play. She's an actual kid underneath all that sadness. Wouldn't you know it?

Of course the nosy landlady has speculation about Valjean, and she snoops around, one day following him to a deserted room in the house where she spies him removing a thousand Franc note from the lining of his old yellow jacket. He still dresses as a poor man despite all his money, so much so that people mistake him for a beggar as he's walking in the street and they give him money. He in turn discreetly gives even more money to the actual beggars. They call him the beggar that gives alms.

Anyway, later on the lady snoops some more and feels around in his jacket while he is otherwise occupied. It has everything in there: Needles, thread, wigs. Wigs? I know, I know, they're probably in there for clever disguising should he need it, but how big is this coat? How many pockets does it have? Is it some kind of bag of holding? In the lining she thinks she can feel other paper notes hiding.

There is a certain beggar that Valjean always gives money to, and one night as he hands over the cash, he looks down and thinks that instead of the usual guy, it's Javert! That can't be, but he doesn't ask. He just goes on about his biz and frets over it until the next time. When he looks the man in the eye it actually is the beggar he remembers. Valjean convinces himself that he was just imagining things. He wonders why he would be imagining Javert after all this time. Maybe it's some kind of post traumatic flashback?

He becomes even more worried when he hears someone come into the house one night and he knows it isn't the landlady, because she's usually in bed by that time. He rationalizes that maybe she's ill and had gone out for some medicine. He blows out the candles, and tells Cosette to go to bed quietly anyway. He sits there nervously in the dark listening to the unknown footsteps in the hallway. He can see a light through the keyhole as if this stranger is just standing there in front of his door with a candle. Eventually the stranger moves on since there isn't a peep coming out of Valjean's room.

The next time Valjean hears the man go by he peeps through his extra large keyhole to see what he can see. What does he see?

I'll give you a hint: He's tall, terrifying, and carries a cudgel

It IS Javert!

What is happening? I don't know, but this simply cannot be coincidence.

Valjean questions the landlady the next day, and she informs him that Javert is the new tenant. She thinks his name is Dumont, and he is just a guy living on his income just like Valjean is.

She could have meant nothing by that, but Valjean has in his brain that there's something behind those words. He packs up some money, and gets Cosette and they head off down a seemingly deserted street.

Dak Reads Les Misérables / COSETTE: Book 3

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers.

BOOK 3: Simply having a Terrible Christmas Time

 So, I don't know why I got so bogged down in the details of this chapter.  Perhaps I was having trouble describing just how despicable the Thénardiers are, because they are.  They are not hilarious or funny in any way here. They are truly, truly awful people.  But, enough with the intro, you will see in short order.

Right now it's time to discuss the water situation on Montfermeil. This place sits upon a plateau and the water is in either end some distance away. There is a dude that will bring it to you during the day for a fee, but if you need it after hours then you're out of luck and have to go get it yourself.

This night is a Christmas Eve and there have been some traveling booths set up around the city to showcase wares of which we will note two particular things:

First is the Brazilian (King) Vulture on display, bound for the King's menagerie. It's exciting, and amazing because the bird's eye is a tri-coloured cockade! I actually looked this up, because I was having trouble picturing what this would look like and if it was actually true. It's true. Soldier's have come from all around to see it, because of this patriotic eyeball and declare it destiny that the creature is headed for the menagerie. And we know that nothing says destiny like taking a creature from its natural habitat and caging them in entirely different areas of the world.

As far as I know this has nothing to do with anything. I just thought it was interesting.

The other booth of note is the one straight across from the Sergeant of Waterloo. It is a toy booth and there is one particular beautiful doll that all the girls in the village covet. It is the most beautiful doll in all of dolldom.

This is where we meet Cosette again, a young girl of around eight, and her situation has not improved at all. If anything it has probably worsened since her mother passed away. She has to work, and she can only look at the beautiful doll from afar. Her days are spent slaving away and attempting to not rouse the ire of Mme. Thénardier, which is pretty much impossible because her ire always seems to be roused. The Thénardiers also have a baby boy at this point who nobody seems to give a toss about to bother with him at all. (jot that down under things to remember.) Mme. doesn't even remember why she had another kid, except for that she got bored one day.

Almost everybody here is described in some animal analogy: Cosette is a mouse (and also a lark), Thénardiess is an Elephant (and also an Ogre...I am now imagining that she looks like Fiona from Shrek. Thanks for that mental image, Dreamworks.) She's basically described as a giant, intimidating beast, and you really should read it, because I'm not doing anybody justice here! M. Thénardier is a Weasely Weasel who Weasels (and also looks like Abbé Delille)

As for Thénardier, he spends his days palling around with the customers, drinking but never appearing drunk and swindling everybody. He likes to regale people with stories of his grand heroics on the battlefield of Waterloo. Much exaggerated, as we already learned. Fearsome as Mme. Thénardier is, she is still afraid of this husband. They make quite the pair.

He's fifteen hundred in debt since acquiring the inn and makes extra cash by charging his customers for everything down to how much a man's reflection wears down a mirror. (someone write a story about what would happen if mirrors actually did that.) He's pleasant to his customers, of course. How else would you convince someone to hand over their hard earned cash if not with a friendly smile?

Cosette is still getting beaten often, she's even sporting a black eye that Mme. Thénardier gave her. She is a quiet child and has the countenance of someone much older, you know, since she's basically living in hell right now. At present, she is working her little fingers away, while keeping out of sight under the table, on knitting stockings for the other girls. She becomes wary when Mme. Thénardier goes for the water bucket and only comes out with half a cup while she's cooking.

Thankfully, she declares this amount enough, and no more water will be needed for the night. The patrons there aren't going to be drinking any. They have other things they're more interested in drinking. (I mean booze, in case that wasn't clear.)

Just as Cosette was beginning to relax, as much as she can in this awful, terrible, no good, very bad place, one of the patron speaks up.

He says his horse hasn't been watered yet.

Cosette says something too, because she's desperate not to go out at night. It's really dark and the well is out of town and in the woods. She insists that the horse had been watered, but the man is just as adamant. He knows what his horse is like when it hasn't had its drink. I don't want Cosette to go out in the inky black night either, but somebody get this horse some water!

Cosette attempts to hide, but it's no use.  Mme finds her, tells her to get the water, and calls her "nameless", "the worst", and a "toad" just in case Cosette has accumulated some shred of self esteem.

Cosette is handed this gigantic bucket, that is almost as big as she is and some money for bread while she's out wandering the cold night. She stops at the toy booth to gaze upon the doll until Mme. Thénardier notices and shouts at her. Travelling through town isn't so bad. At first there's the lights of the booths to illuminate the way, then there's the light from the townspeople's houses, but there comes a point where she reaches the beginning of the woods. This is terrifying, but she ultimately decides that Mme. Thénardier's wrath is even more terrifying. What we are saying is that this woman is scarier than the night. Yup. And this is what Cosette has been dealing with for five years.

She runs until she makes it the water, and manages to fill it, but it's slow going back to the inn. As was pointed out, this bucket is already much too large for her to be carrying, and now it's full of water. Even I have been known to fill up a bucket of water far past my abilities to carry it effectively, and I'm a grown up person. Little Cosette can only travel for a very short distance before stopping to rest, and it's dark, and it's cold, and her clothes are rags, her hands are freezing from the bucket handle and the water splashing all over because it's awkward as hell. She's miserable and trying not to cry, because that will earn her another beating. She realizes it's going to take over an hour to get back to the inn and that is also good for a beating. Cosette can't win either way.

This is when she feels her burden being lifted from her, and suddenly there is a gigantic stranger man hauling the bucket instead. Somehow, this stranger in the woods is the least terrifying thing going down right now, because Cosette's instinct is not to fear him at all.

We're going to take a break from Cosette and this stranger man whose identity is a mysterious mystery. *wink* Let's find out what this mysterious stranger has been up to.

I'll just make it short: He got himself a room in Paris, tramped around the woods as if he were searching for something. Gee. I wonder what it could be? This mysterious white haired stranger is in his sixties or thereabouts. Since we can all make an educated guess as to who this dude is, just let that info soak into your brain and think about what happened down in Toulon on the Orion not so long ago. Seriously. What are they feeding this dude in prison?

I guess it's important to note a certain event that happens to this guy while he is in Paris going on about his business, whatever that is. Every day, around two o'clock, the King comes riding in his carriage down a certain road. Everybody in Paris knows this is the daily routine, but this guy, being new in town, does not.

He sees this official procession along with the guard and ducks around a corner. This makes him something of a suspicious person with his yellow jacket that he's wearing and everything. Thus the order is given for him to be followed.

He loses the tail and immediately books passage some distance out of town. He pays for the entire ride, but gets off the carriage early. I guess this could work as an getaway tactic, but let's hope nobody questions the driver.

And now he is carrying Cosette's bucket and making conversation with her.

She explains her whole sordid life to him. She lives with these terrible people.   She has to work and rarely, if ever gets to play. All that fun stuff is reserved for 'Ponine and 'Zelma.

She explains that her only toy is a little lead knife. It is only good for cutting lettuce and cutting the heads off flies, and this whole walk and conversation with this mysterious stranger man is totally endearing her to me right now. Seriously, she has to put up with so much crap. Her guardians are abusive, her 'sisters' are also terrible to her, she lives off scraps, goes barefoot if M. Thénardier has anything to say about it, her bff is the cat, the knife is her plaything, not that they give her a chance to play, and she survives.

She also tells him that she has no mother that she knows of. Hey, remember all those letters Fantine paid to have written to Cosette? I guess she never got them.

Cosette steals one last longing glance at the beautiful doll in the booth, and before heading on in she takes the bucket from the man, because she will get a beating if they know she didn't carry it the entire way. The Thénardiess immediately starts giving shit to Cosette anyway for taking so damn long. That is, until she notices stranger man there. She turns on the charm for him as he requests a room as a paying customer.

Her first instinct is to assume that he's poor because of his state of dress and his threadbare yellow coat. They call him 'yellow man'. She charges him double the price of a room. The other patrons manage to notice this discrepancy despite their varying states of inebriation. Apparently, it's double for poor people. Okay, then.

Mme. Thénardier asks after the bread that Cosette was supposed to purchase, and Cosette, has not only forgotten to stop at the bakery, but she's lost the money that she'd been given. She lies and says the bakery was closed, but then cannot provide the missing coin. Of course the Ogress is not going to believe the poor child and assumes that she'd just taken the money. Just as she's about to completely lose it on Cosette, the Yellowman speaks up and gives her one of his own coins, pretending that he'd just found it on the floor. The coin this stranger provides is worth more than what Cosette had been given for the bread, but Mme. Thénardier takes it anyway.

Cosette meanwhile, has resumed her knitting work underneath the table and Jea... I mean the stranger in the yellow coat observes quietly while the Thénardiers speculate about the state of his finances. They try to get him to buy dinner, but he just sits there watching out for Cosette, and they wonder if he's going to get a room or not.

Eponine and Azelma make their grand appearance then. They come in looking every inch the opposite of poor Cosette. These girls are well fed, and well clothed, and apparently well loved by the Thénardiess, who has so far only been observed to be a heinous beast where Cosette is concerned. Cosette, who is clothed in rags, often barefoot, and threatened with a whipping if she even thinks about doing something out of line. She spends most of her time miserably cowering in the grip of fear, because pretty much everything she does is considered out of line.

For instance, Cosette is sitting quietly watching the other girls play with their doll. This is wrong because she should be working her fingers raw right now instead of dreaming about pretty dolls, and the Thénardiess is about to get the whip down again, when the stranger steps in again. He asks about Cosette and what the problem is, and the Thénardiess proceeds to badmouth a little girl and her mother in front of him. It's sort of like that awkward moment when someone makes conversation thinking you're going to agree with them and they're really proud of their terrible opinions...but you don't and you really think they're awful.

. He thinks Cosette should be allowed to play, so what of it? Mme. Thénardier has to come up with a new excuse -- Cosette needs to work on those socks because she needs to pay her way and Eponine and Azelma might soon have to go sockless. (Meanwhile Cosette's feet are raw in her wooden shoes.) Either way, they haven't heard from the mother or received payment in six months. They think the woman might be dead; and they're not into charity, so Cosette works.

Cosette catches bits of this conversation and is now murmuring a chant about her mother being dead while she hides under the table.

Yellowman asks how much the time Cosette is spending knitting these socks is worth.

The Thénardiess comes up with a number, the stranger shells out more cash than she asked for and now, having purchased Cosette's time, instructs her to play, because that is what children of eight are supposed to be doing. Everybody's kind of stunned that he would do this, and Cosette goes, a bit reluctantly after she asks permission from Mme. Thénardier, to retrieve her knife, which she treats like a little pointy doll...because gender roles. Meanwhile, the Thénardiers are reconsidering the amount of money this guy might have on him. They have to figure out just how much money they can get out of him, right?

Eponine and Azelma are playing with their doll by the fire though, happy and healthy, but they are soon distracted by the cat. They have decided it would be much more fun to dress up the poor creature and the doll is abandoned.

Probably against her better judgement, Cosette decides that it might be okay if she played with the doll. Nobody else is. It's just laying on the floor, right? She gets fifteen whole minutes of happiness as she plays. Eventually Eponine notices the doll's foot sticking out from under the table, and runs tattling to her mother. As far as the Thénardier girls are concerned Cosette is on the same level as the family dog. They barely notice her existence, and how dare she play with their toy?

The Thénardiess goes into a rage again, and again the stranger intervenes. Descriptions of how Cosette's dirty hands shouldn't be sullying her own daughter's playthings don't impress him, and he challenges the woman. So what if the kid plays with the doll? He walks right on out of the inn at that moment (a moment in which Mme. Thénardier takes to kick Cosette.) and he returns with the doll from the booth across the street. That precious doll that the entire town has been admiring. He gifts it to Cosette. She names the doll Catherine.

The Thénardiers are shocked at this, of course, but he let him do it, since paying customers get to do what they want. This leaves Cosette asking permission of the Thénardiess every time she makes a move with the doll, and Mme. Thénardier has to reassure the kid that it's okay.  It is probably killing the woman to be somewhat nice to Cosette here.

The stranger sits at his table well past midnight. Everybody has gone to bed except for Thénardier, who has stayed and eventually just asks this guy in the yellow coat if he's ready to rest. The stranger, now broken out of whatever thoughtful reverie he has been sitting in, asks to be shown to the stables. Instead, Thénardier leads him to the bridal suite.

The stranger bluntly informs Thénardier that he'd have preferred the stables.

Later on, he goes creeping around the inn after everybody is asleep. He finds that Cosette's room is the nook beneath the stairs and she sleeps on a straw mattress that can't even hold in all the straw. From there he wanders into another room where Eponine and Azelma and the unnamed baby boy are sleeping. He almost leaves when he notices their shoes by the fireplace. There is one empty wooden clog there that clearly belongs to Cosette. He drops in a gold Louis and heads off to bed.

The next morning, the Thénardiers confer on what inflated charges they are going to make the stranger pay for. He decides that the bill should be twenty three Francs. She's a little surprised at this, but they both agree that he deserves it after all the business he caused with Cosette the previous night. In fact, just the sight of Cosette having something as nice as her new doll has upset Mme. Thénardier so much that she's going to kick the girl out.

t's Christmas day too, just in case you were forgetting that. Happy Christmas, Cosette!

Thénardier gives the wife the bill to hand over to the stranger. She even seems a little embarrassed to do it with that huge price tag. The stranger asks if they do good business there at the inn when he receives it and she complains that it isn't great, and they can't afford much much, especially charity cases like Cosette when they have their own children to feed.

He offers to take Cosette off their hands. The Thénardiess is more than happy to have him just take her away, but...

Thénardier stands up in the middle and declares the bill a mistake. It's not 23 Francs, but 23 Sous! He does this, because he's about to sell Cosette for the 1,500 Francs he needs to settle his debt. After Thénardier puts on a show of actually caring about Cosette, the stranger pulls out his huge wad of cash and just peels off the bills like it ain't no thing.

The Thénardiess fetches Cosette, and the stranger gives her a mourning outfit to wear. It's a real outfit, not rags or hand-me-downs or anything. Nobody recognizes the girl as they leave.

As soon as they have gone the Thénardiers come to the conclusion that they could have gotten so much more money out of that guy. He was throwing Francs around like they were going out of style, and Thénardier only asked for enough to cover his debt? He grabs his coat and hat and actually runs off after them.

Thénardier manages to catch up on the road out of town when the stranger and Cosette stop to rest. There he tries to get Cosette back so he can extract more money, but the stranger has had enough of his shit. He shows Thénardier a letter from Fantine that gives him custody of Cosette, and when Thénardier tries to explain that she still owes, the stranger busts out the maths.  It seems he knows exactly how much Fantine owed, and how much has been paid.  Her debt is more than settled.  He then stands up with Cosette in his arms and his big old walking stick in his hand and tells Thénardier in no uncertain terms that they are finished. His walking stick and stature is intimidating enough to get the innkeeper to back off.

Thénardier does follow them though. He wants to see who this stranger is and where he's going. The stranger eventually catches sight of him, and gives him a look that makes makes Thénardier decide that it isn't really worth the trouble to follow the guy. He turns to go back home and wishes he would have brought his gun.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, this stranger is Jean Valjean, who is confirmed to not be dead in the last part of this chapter. (but let's face it, we already knew that.) He had escaped by swimming to a boat that was attached to a ship that was moored in the harbor after he fell into the water in Toulon. He hid in that boat until he could swim back to shore. There he got some clothes and wandered all around France until he came to his destination in Paris. Once there he procured lodgings and mourning clothes for a child. Then he retrieved Cosette and took her on a round about path in carriages and on foot back to where he was staying.

This way of travelling made the poor girl tired, and she eventually fell asleep holding her doll, cradled in his arms with her head on his shoulder. All together now: Awwwwwwwww!


Dak Reads Les Misérables / COSETTE: Book 2

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers.



BOOK 2: The Devil Came to Montfermeil 
 

You guys are not going to believe what just happened while we were over in Belgium pontificating about Waterloo for sixty pages!

If you guessed that Valjean got recaptured, then you would be right. Seriously, Valjean. What are you doing, bro?

In any case we aren't going to get any details about how that happened at all, which is a first for this novel. Suffice it to say that our dear Valjean has a new number that nobody is going to remember, since 24601 has been fully imprinted onto all our brains with the power of song now.

The shiny new number of record is 9430 though. Let's have a quick look at what happened post escaping Javert in Montrieul sur Mer by piecing together bits of information from some newspaper articles:

Jean Valjean had withdrawn about half a mil of his legitimately earned money from his bank account and stashed it somewhere during his time of escape. Nobody knows where. He was recaptured near Montfermeil in Paris. He mounted no defense, even when they found him guilty of being part of a band of thieves that have been thieving around the area. Which is suspect at best. I mean, we're pretty short on details about what he's been doing during this escape, but I doubt Valjean would be hooking up with a bunch of criminals at this point in his life.

At first he was sentenced to death. Oh, no! But if that happened the this book would be really...okay, it would still be really long. Luckily the sentence that was commuted to life of hard labour. Just how lucky that is depends on your opinion about working on a chain gang for the rest of your live long days. 

In order to advance the story, we must have a few words regarding superstitions about the devil in Montfermeil. It has been told that sometimes, under the cover of darkness, a strange being can be seen lurking around the forests. It appears to have horns and is said to be the devil burying his treasure.

If you were to go up to this devil and have a chat with him you will see that it is just a guy toting a pitchfork on his back. Guess nothing irks the Devil more than having to chat with people while he's trying to bury his treasure incognito, because, if you talk to him, you will die within the week.

If you see him and don't talk to him, but instead dig up his treasure then you will die in a month.

If you ignore the devil and run away then you will live for a whole year... then you die.

Most opt for option two, because at least they get some treasure out of the deal and they are going to perish no matter what.

I don't know why, because the devil's treasure is pretty crappy. Sometime's there's a bit of money, but mostly it consists of things like bloody skeletons and pennies or maybe gunpowder that will make your gun explode in your face. I'm not seeing the upside to this "treasure"

 

Back to the real world we go, where a old convict and drunkard named Boulatruelle has been lurking in and about the woods. Nobody trusts him because he is just too darn nice (He even smiles at gendarmes! The nerve of that guy!) The gossip is that he is part of a band of thieves. Is this band of thieves going to come in play later, because this is shout out number two for these guys? I'm not sure of anything any more. That's why I'll mention Boulatruelle by name. Everybody's paths keep intertwining, even characters I thought we would never see again.

The townsfolk of Montfermeil are wondering what Boulatruelle is up to anyway, and maybe he's seen that Devil of legend. It's the logical explanation considering his recent creeping in and out of the woods.

A certain innkeeper (it's Thénardier, you guys!) decides the best way to get to the bottom of this mystery is to ply the drunk with drinks. Of course, this takes a whole lot of drinks, and he's still pretty tight lipped.

Boulatruelle reveals eventually, through bits and pieces, that he saw a man he recognized go into the woods with a little chest, a pick axe, and a spade. This strange man comes out without the chest so Boulatruelle has been searching the woods for the treasure it must have contained, because what would be kept in a small chest besides piles money?

Now that the tale of Boulatruelle has been covered we're going to go back to Toulon, where the ship Orion has come to port.  It's in for repairs and so we can get another history lesson about French wars and revolutions.

Well, the ship is being repaired when one of the men gets caught up in some line and is left dangling far above the decks. Nobody dares to go up there and save him, because it's a really dangerous job and nobody is up for the task.  There is a mass of spectators watching this unfold, because they came to see the great warship.  It was a big deal back then.


These spectators become witnesses to this terrible accident when suddenly! They spot a convict climbing up the rigging on his way to rescue the dangling man, who is getting weaker by the second as he tries to hang on. They can tell this savior is a convict by his clothes and they can tell he's a lifer by his hat, and they are surprised to see his white hair when the hat blows away. This man of incredible strength is no spring chicken.

The crowd calls out for his pardon once the man is saved. Yes! Pardons all around! I agree, crowd. But soon, this now unchained convict is falling into the water, in between ships. He doesn't come back up for air, and they can't find the body despite dredging near the docks. He is declared dead.

This convict? We keep his big reveal to the end of the chapter, even though we all knew damn well who it was as soon as the word convict was mentioned. If not, then the white hair and the fact that Jean Valjean can simply not help himself from helping others in mortal peril probably did. You see, when nobody stepped up to help the poor man, Valjean asked to be freed so that he might take the chance.

Since the guy in charge of this particular chain gang at the time was not a Javert, he released Valjean from the chain.  

   Oops.

his is jailbreak #6 for those of you keeping score at home, and on top of that, everybody is now convinced that he's dead. I take it all back. Jean Valjean is still the worst at hiding, but he has got to be some kind of escaping mastermind!

Dak Reads Les Misérables / COSETTE: Book 1

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers.

BOOK 1: A Little History

We are now on Part 2 of the story, called "Cosette". I thought we were starting out with Jean Valjean coming across Hougoumont, because I just assume any unknown person wandering around is Jean Valjean at this point, but no, it's the author of this story, who is now going to tell us all about a certain battle.

Hougoumont, If you are unfamiliar, is a farm in Waterloo. You've probably heard of it. If you don't know how that all went down, aside from the fact that Napoleon lost a battle there once in such spectacular fashion that it is still, nearly 200 years later, synonymous with crushing defeat... I am now going to suggest you go either: A. Read up on the battle in your History books or B. Read Hugo's prose yourself or C. Do Both, because this battle is exactly what the first part of this chapter is about, and I think me filtering that information is probably as useless as me making a laundry list of all the Bishop's good works that were mentioned in the opening of the book. Just for a little perspective though, Waterloo took place around the time Fantine first hooked up with Felix if he was dumping her in 1817.

A couple of random notes:

Every time Blücher's name makes an appearance my brain's Pavlovian response is to hear horses whinnying.

I did not think I was going to have to use the dead horse tag this many times.

Anyway, the author finally gets back to details of the actual story he's telling in the very last part of this chapter.

There are men who follow along behind these armies for the purpose of looting the corpses after the battles have taken their tolls. This particular night Wellington (the English General) has ordered these thieves executed.

One if them is skulking around near the sunken road when something in the moonlight catches his eye. It is a gold ring. He lifts the ring from the corpse and turns away, but finds he is held in place by a hand grabbing onto his cape.

He ends up clearing everything away from the hand and there is an unconscious man underneath, he has a gash from a sabre across his face and the way he had fallen happened to keep him from getting trampled as many others had.

The thief proceeds to rob him of all his money and his Legion of Honour medal while he is passed out. All this rifling around on his person does eventually wake him up though.

He thanks this man who has stolen all his stuff, and asks who won the battle. He gets the news that it was the English, and then proceeds to attempt to offer the thief all the money that was just stolen.  The wounded man assumes he has already been robbed by somebody else and is not in the process of being robbed at this very moment.

Meanwhile, there are men on watch, looking out for these crooks and one is approaching, so the thief lies to the wounded man and tells him, although he is a fellow soldier, he must go lest he be shot.

The fallen soldier asks after his rank and his name. He gives the rank sergeant, and as for his name?

It's Thénardier!

Now you know why the Thénardier's inn is named what it is named. That was an awful lot of words to get to that payoff.

And the wounded Soldier? Well, he's going to remember Thénardier as the man who saved his life. This soldier's name is Pontmercy.

You should probably hang onto that piece of information too. Just sayin'.

Dak Reads Les Misérables / FANTINE: Book 8

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers.

BOOK 8: Javert Gets His Man...for a second

Somehow I forgot to mention that this whole ordeal in the last chapter has turned Valjean's hair completely white. Yep, that is a thing that has happened. He hitches a ride on the mail cart after he evades authorities by...continuing on about his business as planned, because they're too busy trying to figure out what the hell just happened to arrest him. (They Mayor has gone mad is still a popular opinion) They're still attempting to finish the trial anyway, and we're going to recap that even though we learned what happened to Champmathieu in the last chapter already.

The prosecution still tries to go get Champmathieu convicted, but the defense has been handed a massive gift horse that the judge and jury just can't ignore. Champmathieu is acquitted and a warrant is sent out for Jean Valjean aka M. Madeline.

They have to send it by special courier so it will make it to Montrieul Sur Mer and Javert before Valjean can get away. So, I guess he could have avoided all of what happens next if he'd just not gone back there, but he still has some things to take care of. Also, I don't think he's actually trying to avoid anything anyway. He did really try his best to get arrested back in Arras.

In any case, Valjean makes it there slightly ahead of the order for his arrest. He goes home where he learns of Fantine's poor state the night before, and that Sister Simplice let her believe that Cosette was on the way and how it made her feel better. He thinks it's for the best. She's surprised to find that his hair has turned completely white.

He asks to see Fantine, and Sister Simplice doesn't think this is the best idea, since Cosette isn't with him after all. She thinks maybe if he takes a few days to go and get her that it would be for the best. Fantine won't know the difference, and it will make her happy. That way she won't have to lie again.

Lie or not, Sister is getting adept at this deception thing.

And it would be a fine enough plan, if Valjean wasn't about to get arrested at any moment. This is what he's worried about, and he wants to see Fantine before he goes. Sister Simplice acquiesces to his request and he finds Fantine. She's happy to see him, and is already in quite a state, thinking that Cosette is there. She's happy that she's going to get to see her daughter and the sound of a different child playing outside has her convinced that the happy reunion is moments away. Valjean is talking to her, trying to stall the best he can when she sits straight up in bed, terrified, staring at a spot beyond him like she's seen a ghost. Or a monster. Or a monster ghost.

What is so frightful that could make Fantine react like this?

It's Javert standing in the doorway. Hand in coat, he seems outwardly chill about this whole thing, but if you're a close personal friend of Javert (I would like to know who these close personal friends of Javert's are) you can tell that he's super keyed up right now and not quite as cool as he's acting. How can you tell?

The buckle on his collar is on the side by his ear and not in the back where it should be. Just taking this moment to profess my love for Javert and how he expresses emotion through buckle location here. (Also, I've attempted to look up what exactly a collar buckle is, and I think it's referring to a stock buckle, because that actually makes sense in this context.) He is just really pleased with himself for being vindicated after all those years of suspicions and trying to catch the Mayor at being Valjean. Not even the fact that he testified about the wrong man's identity in front of God and everybody can put a damper on the fact that he's finally got his guy. He's gone so far to the left of being pleased with his rightness that he's dancing on the wrong side of it and is getting a bit scary in the process.

He's left some soldiers out in the courtyard and hasn't come in guns blazing or anything. He just Grabs Valjean by the collar, tells him to hurry up, without showing a warrant or anything. Javert don't need no warrants when he's this right, I guess.

Valjean, much to Fantine's extreme distress, hangs his head and doesn't attempt to break Javert's hold on him. She doesn't know how this could be, as far as she's concerned the Mayor is her savior and Javert can't hurt her as long as he's there. Javert, on the other hand is the monster that tried to put her away for defending herself. She's really confused, because, up until that point she'd thought the Inspector had come for her.

Valjean would be ready to go, resigned to his fate, but there's one thing he wants to take care of first. He asks Javert for a moment to speak to him alone.

Javert is having none of this. Whatever Valjean has to say, he can say it in front of everybody. So, he has no choice but to ask, out loud, in front of Fantine, for those three days to go fetch Cosette and bring her back. Then he'll turn himself in. He even offers to let Javert accompany him.

Now, I know we all want to see Fantine and Cosette reunited, and we're rooting for Valjean, because he's turned his life around after prison messed him all up, but... Javert isn't doing anything wrong here, and this is a totally insane request from his point of view or any policeman's point of view, really. At least if they're not terrible at their job. There's absolutely no reason to think that Valjean isn't just going to take off, never to be seen again. He's escaped before, several times. The fact that he's repeatedly been caught at it doesn't seem to be a deterrent. Javert is absolutely not going to grant this request. I can't really blame him.

Well if you weren't able to tell Javert's current state of agitation by the location of his buckle before, then you will be able to now because he's not being very subtle about it anymore. He's pretty much howling in disbelief that a convict would ask such a thing of him. He denounces this town were convicts can be mayor, and calls Fantine a whore for good measure. Way harsh, Javert.

Javert is just getting increasingly excited this whole time. When Fantine cries out for the mayor, Javert silences her, grabs Valjean by the collars again and goes off on this rant about Valjean and convicts and there is no mayor. I have this mental picture of Javert bouncing around the room, arms flailing in triumph shouting something like: I got him! Valjean, that dastardly criminal is mine at last! Woohoo! Javert, for the win!

As for poor Fantine, she has now been alerted to the truth. The mayor is a former convict, Cosette is not there, and nobody's going to get her. Thanks a bunch, Inspector. She sits up in bed again; a spectre of herself. With all this terrible news hitting her all at once, she finally gives in, and with one last breath, she is gone.

This tragic turn of events causes Valjean to lose patience. He easily prys Javert's hand from his collar, because the only reason Javert held onto him at all was because he was allowing it. Valjean walks over to the the fire place to grab some kind of big ole metal rod thing and warns Javert that he'd better not try anything. Javert does not, which is probably a wise choice.

He returns to Fantine's bedside and arranges her on the pillow. she looks at peace for the first time in a very long time. He whispers something in her ear that later Sister Simplice swears caused a smile to cross the dead woman's lips.

When Valjean is finished at Fantine's bedside he gives himself over to Javert's custody.

As we well know by now, gossip travels here and in the wink of an eye the entire town has turned against the former mayor despite all the awesome things he's done for everybody. Its like a game of telephone when they talk of his real identity: "Béjean", "Bojean", "Bonjean"...(Bonjovi?) There are only three people who are still on Valjean's side. Any guesses?

If you guessed the sisters and his concierge/servant (who, as it turns out, is a woman. I don't know how that escaped me before.) you would be right.

Later as the concierge is getting ready for the night, she finds a key removed from its peg. Where has it gone? Well, Jean Valjean has escaped from prison again and has sneaked back into his former residence for unfinished biz. Can I just say that I quite enjoy that Valjean did not, in fact, escape from Javert right there at Fantine's bedside. He actually broke out of jail AGAIN. (Fifth time's a charm??? Countdown to recapture starts now.) Of course, if they put the many awesome things that happen in this book into the film/stage adaptations we'd be sitting there for a month. The first chapter alone would take a week, although I would look forward to the song about the bandits returning their stolen goods to the Bishop, and the one about his thirteen chairs. Somebody make it happen.

Here Valjean actually prefers not to visit Fantine, because he doesn't want to disturb her just in case he gets arrested in her presence again. Instead he asks for the concierge to fetch Sister Simplice, who is holding vigil over Fantine with Sister Perpétua and to meet him in his room.

Since they're all still friends there, she only questions how he's not in jail right now. He tells her the story which involves removing a metal bar and dropping off a roof. Ain't no big thing. Once Sister Simplice arrives, he hands over a note. It's instructions for his money to be given to the Curé to be divided up to pay for his trial, Fantine's funeral, and the poor. No sooner does he do this than there are some noises out in the hallway. Valjean goes to hide in a corner.

It's Javert and some henchmen coming around like a herd of elephants. He demands entrance despite the concierge's protestations, because he saw a light in the window.

Javert is chastened when he barges in and finds Sister Simplice praying instead of the Valjean he is expecting. Now, Javert is a man who believes in authority, and the clergy and the nuns, etc...etc... are right on up there.  As far as he is concerned these men and women of God are above reproach.  Particularly Sister Simplice, because it is well known that she just never ever ever ever lies.

So, when he asks if Jean Valjean is there (he is) and she says without hesitation that he's not, Javert believes her.

And when he asks if Valjean had been there at all that night and she says "no", he believes her.

Dang, Sister Simplice! Look at you, aiding and abetting!

Javert leaves empty handed, and Valjean heads off into the night in the direction of Paris.

Later, the Curé decides that he's going to allocate most of Valjean's money to the poor, and gives Fantine the cheapest burial available...in a common grave. If you don't know what that is: Here. And join me in feeling extremely horrible and sad about this final turn of events in Fantine's story. 

Dak Reads Les Misérables / FANTINE: Book 7

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers.

BOOK 7: Remember That Guy Who Stole That Bread?

So, now we are going to learn about some events in which nobody really actually knows exactly how or what happened. They must, however be described in very great detail anyway. This is not conjecture on my part due to the verbosity of previous chapters...that is the actual text in the first paragraph. So, let's get detailed all up in these mysterious events! Settle in!

Fantine has two caretakers in the infirmary, Sister Perpetue and Sister Simplice. To Sister Perpetue being a nun was just a job. Apparently for many this is the case these days. It just seems like the thing to do. Sister Simplice on the other hand was devout, pure and good, fragile in appearance, but strong, neither young nor old, and above everything else she cannot tell a lie.

Let me stress this, because apparently it is something that needs stress: No lies detected. Lying is not within this woman's capabilities. Never shall her pants be alight. I have some foreshadowy feelings right now.

In any case, Fantine is still dying and waiting for Cosette. She's not getting better. M. Madeline comes to visit her everyday to reassure her. She no longer hates his guts, and his visits are now the highlight of her days. She asks for Cosette, he says soon, my heart breaks a little, because there is no Cosette forthcoming and Fantine is fading fast.

Later, M. Madeline goes to see a man about a horse. He is really careful to avoid the door to the rectory and the curé that lives inside for some reason. I wonder why? Anyway, he needs a horse that can travel an exactly calculated distance in a short time at a fast clip without dropping dead in the street as horses are apparently wont to do in these days. M. Scaufflaire, the horse renting dude, has the perfect candidate, but he has all sorts of provisions that Madeline must follow if he's going to be working the poor thing that hard. After haggling for a while, Madeline procures the ride which will arrive early the next morning to his place of residence.

M. Scaufflaire and his wife have a little back and forth about where the mayor is going in such a big hurry, because of course they do. Everybody talks about everybody's business here, don't they? She thinks he's off to Paris naturally, but he has the exact distances that Madeline outlined for him. He's going to Arras, which just so happens to be the place Champmathieu is being tried.

Meanwhile, Madeline avoids the rectory again on the way back and returns to his room where, according to the dude who lives below him, he paces back and forth all night long.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, we're just going to spell it out for you right now that Champmathieu is not the ValJean they are looking for. M. Madeline is indeed the Jean Valjean of legend, and right now he's having a massive internal crisis over what he should do with the info that Javert has just laid upon him. It's the reason he avoided the rectory earlier in the afternoon. He was hoping he had left Jean Valjean behind him for good.

He vacillates between the two options: A. Turn himself in and B. Do nothing.

First he thinks he ought to do nothing because clearly God wanted Champmathieu to go to prison in his place, and who is he to go against God?

After that he thinks he should turn himself in, because to remain hidden and let this other man take the fall for him would be a crime unto itself, and it would undo all the good he's done in his life after turning over his new leaf. He could either be a good devout man in public but secretly a sketchy bad dude or vice versa.

Then he thinks of Fantine and everybody else in town. what would happen to all of them if he goes back to the slammer? And, I mean, Champmathieu was born with his face after all, and he did steal those apples, didn't he? So he should be going to jail anyway. Of course there is a world of difference between a while in Jail for a first time apple stealing offence and the remainder of life on the chain gang for breaking parole and stealing from a chimney sweep.

He decides again that it would probably be best for everyone if he just let nature take its course and stay put instead of going to confess his identity. So, he opens up a secret cupboard where he has been keeping all remnants of his former life. His old walking stick is there, his old convict clothes are there. That 40 sou piece he stole from the chimney sweep is there. He throws all that in the fire. All vestiges of Jean Valjean are gone, save one... The Bishop's candlesticks. The most valuable of all the silver and the only pieces that Valjean did not sell. He has kept them as a sort of souvenir, to remember his goal to turn his life around. He can't decide whether or not he wants to pitch those into the flame as well. You see, he's only had two goals since he came to that crossroads those years ago: #1 Live his life as a better man, doing good works and such. He's basically been following in the Bishop's footsteps all this time. and #2 Self preservation, and he's been willing to sacrifice #2 for #1 in the past. See: going into mourning for the Bishop, and keeping his candlesticks on full display in his room instead of hiding them away with the rest of his past, and lifting that cart off Fauchelevent despite Javert standing around practically calling him out right there.

It is at this point while he's pondering the melting point of silver that he hears voices. They might be the voices of his conscious at work, which I imagine sound like a certain Bishop, telling him that it's wrong to let an innocent man take the fall for something he didn't do. And his mind continues to go around and around in these circles all night long.

Madeline remains undecided until 5am when the cart arrives. He does manage to write a letter to his banker and get a wink of sleep in which he has an insane dream during this long night of reflection. He writes down the dream so we can relive it in vivid detail, because these are the most detailed events that nobody knows about ever:

He's walking around chatting with his brother that he hasn't thought about in ages in a place that he thinks might be Romainville by way of a desert road. They're talking about a neighbor that used to leave her window open, because that is the sort of thing that happens in dreams. It is probably symbolic in some way that I can't parse right now. There's also a hairless grey skull man riding a brown horse that doesn't talk to them. The brother disappears and leaves Valjean in this mysterious town with mysterious men around every corner who just stare at him and don't answer his questions about where he is.

He decides to leave this city, and as he's out walking in the fields he realizes that all these men are following him. They overtake and surround him and tell him that he's been dead for a while. When he tries to speak they have all disappeared.

He wakes up in a kind of daze to the coach waiting for him. His one and only servant comes to get him. He's really confused at first until he gets his bearings back and he decides to go ahead to Arras.

He takes off out of town at quite the pace, according to the guy delivering mail...a process which is described in great detail down to the color of the mail cart and when the mail is delivered. M. Madeline is a man with a purpose! He brushes by the mail cart on his way, and he stops at the agreed upon intervals to rest his horse, and doesn't realize that he's been running on a broken wheel the whole time until a wheelwright there happens to notice and inform him that he was lucky to make it as far as he had.

M. Madeline attempts to get the wheelwright to fix the wheel, but he's told it will take the rest of the day, but it's alright, he can make it to Arras in the morning. Of course, this won't do, because the trial is supposed to be that day. Madeline then tries to buy a whole new wheel, but he can't drive on mismatched wheels. He tries to buy two new wheels, but they won't fit on the axle on his particular cart. He tries to buy a whole cart, but all the available carts are too heavy for his poor horse that is really tired already. The wheelwright isn't going to rent him a new one either, because he's worried about what condition they might come back in judging by Madeline's current horse and cart situation.

I'm really worried about this horse at this point, and also wondering why Madeline just doesn't buy a riding horse from someone since he's flinging money around for carts and wheels all over anyway. (In retrospect, a day after reading this I realize that he can't ride his current horse because Scaufflaire specifically mentioned that this speedy creature doesn't like riders. It likes pulling the cart though.) In any case, he's actually really rather grateful to be running up against all these obstacles, because the longer he's delayed the less he has to confess his Valjeanness to the world. He's just about ready to feel relieved about the situation when he's accosted by another citizen who just so happen to have a rickety old cart he could use.

Oh, well.

On the road again. Eventually his new cart is too rickety and his horse too tired to go the final miles which have increased because of road construction and he now would have to navigate a new route through unknown country in the dark. Once again the townsfolk try to convince him to stay the night, and again he tries his best to continue on his way, because if he tried his best then at least he can get a gold star for trying. He considers that maybe God is trying to tell him that he shouldn't be going to Arras after all, but he manages to procure a new cart, a supplementary horse to help pull it, and even a guide to help him on his way. He makes it to the trial by 8 o'clock. He thinks maybe they have finished and he missed it, because he's really late and his trip took ten more hours than he was expecting it to take. He asks after the verdict and someone happily tells him that it was an easy guilty call.

He's sort of relieved until he finds out that it was the trial before Champmathieu that's being referred to. A woman, an infanticide. Open and shut. The guy he's talking to seems to think the apple stealing, chimney sweep robbing, former convict case will be just as easy, but that trial is still ongoing.

At first they won't let Madeline into the trial, but he calls on his mayoral renown to get a seat in the packed room. He's still roiling in his internal conflict and very nearly runs away, but he's drawn back and takes his seat in the poorly lit room where he can see what is going on, but they can't really see him.

I would like to take this moment to point out that jerk, Bamatabois, is a juror in this trial. If you don't remember, he's the fierce mustache that Fantine almost got arrested for attacking. I wonder if he just randomly keeps popping up everywhere for no reason.

Anyway, there Madeline finds himself, facing himself in the form of Champmathieu who is quite bewildered at the whole situation and denying everything, even his 'name', because it's not his name. We know that, of course, but everybody else is quite convinced otherwise, what with so many witnesses including one Inspector of unimpeachable moral character. Madeline spies his former convict buddies, but he can't see Javert anywhere even though he knows the Inspector is supposed to be there testifying. Right now Champmathieu is only being charged by the apples, which they're only certain he stole because he's this former convict. Otherwise there is no proof. If they prove he's Jean Valjean then that is enough. He'll be tried for the other things (the parole breaking and chimney sweep robbing) at a later time and the punishment will be much harsher for being a second time offender.

Well, what's a mayor to do now? He's had every obstacle thrown in front of him, and here he is facing his fate anyhow. Maybe God is trying to tell him something after all, but it's not the thing he wanted to hear.

Meanwhile, Fantine is in a terrible state. She's withering away and her illness has made her old. She's weak and watching the click for any sign of M. Madeline, but we know he is off carting himself to Arras at this point.

In fact the sisters have only just found out from the servant guy that Madeline is gone out and they have no idea where to. So what to tell Fantine when the time of Madeline's regular visit has come and gone and still there is no sign of him?

This is where Sister Simplice's lie comes in.

It's pretty much a lie of omission for not telling Fantine everything about M. Madeline's trip...not that she knows much to tell. She lets Fantine believe that he has gone to Montfermeil to fetch Cosette and she'll be there in the morning. This thought makes Fantine's spirits soar. Where she was tired and haggard before, she is now bright and alert.

Oh, Fantine.

As we know, Madeline has actually gone in the opposite direction from Paris. He's still watching Champmathieu denying any wrongdoing over in Arras. The poor old guy Denies even stealing the apples! He claims to have found the branch lying on the ground, and he's never heard of this Jean Valjean character.

In the face of these denials, the witnesses are called again. Except for Javert. The reason Madeline hasn't spotted him isn't because he's lurking somewhere in a dark corner, but he had to return to work.

His previous testimony is read aloud, where he recounts his time working at Toulon and seeing Valjean there, and his suspicion that Valjean did steal the silver despite what the Bishop told the gendarmes, and of course the matter of the forty sous.

Then the convicts are paraded in one by one. They can't be sworn in officially, but they testify to Champmathieu's identity as well.

So the trial is about to end and poor Champmathieu is pretty much a goner at this point despite his only crime being nothing actually, when there is a cry from Madeline as he enters the courtroom floor. Gasps of surprise from Bamatabois and all around.

Madeline reveals himself as the real Jean Valjean right there at the last possible second. The judge wants him to be taken into medical care because clearly he has come down with a case of the crazies. Nobody believes his confession. He even confesses to the silver theft and wishes Javert was there, because Javert would believe him for sure.

I'm not gonna lie, I wish Javert was there too. I'm sure the look on his face would be priceless.

Madeline finally has to prove himself by revealing details about his convict buddies that only the real Valjean would know.

In the end Champmathieu is found not guilty and Valjean walks right out because everybody's too stunned to do anything about it. Where's a wolf puppy when you need one!

Dak Reads Les Misérables / FANTINE: Book 6

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers.


BOOK 6: Wolf Puppy!

In which Javert even refers to himself in the third person in the book.

M. Madeline takes Fantine to the hospital after she passed out in the last chapter. The hospital is also his house, or his house contains hospital beds. Either way, Fantine is there. She's not really recovering, but she hopes to see her daughter soon.

Madeline has written to the Thenardiers and attempts to settle Fantine's debt to them. He sends for the child. The Thenardiers are no dummies, so they realize quickly that Cosette has just turned into some kind of major cash cow. They don't send her. Instead they ask for more money. Madeline supplies it.

No Cosette. They want more money. So it goes for a while while Fantine is over here dying. Madeline's about to travel down to Montfermiel himself to get Cosette when he is visited by a certain Javert.

we'll switch gears for a moment and see what our dear inspector has been up to since last we saw him. Gossip around town is that he's been corresponding with Paris and now he's come to tell the Mayor that there has been a crime committed. A crime that has been perpetrated against the Mayor himself!

This all comes as news to Madeline. I mean if someone committed a crime against him, surely he would know about it. Right? He asks Javert what the fresh hell he's talking about. Javert, as it turns out, is the perpetrator.

Plot Twist!

Madeline is still confused. Javert insists that he be fired. Quitting would be too honorable, and he feels he should be disgraced for his indiscretion. We're all going to need a little clarification before anybody gets dismissed, and Javert is going to give us a tour through the mind acrobatics he's gone through in order to arrive at the conclusion that he ought to be sent packing.

So, after the whole Fantine debacle, Javert was pretty enraged. He actually put pen to paper and wrote down his suspicions and sent them on their suspicious way to Paris. Their reply? Javert, you crazy! They already had the suspect, Jean Valjean, in custody.

Oh, really?

Let's explain...

It seems a guy who just happens to match Jean Valjeans description was caught stealing apples from somebody's tree. (Bread is a gateway food!) This guy also just happens to have had the same job as a pruner that Valjean had. Though nobody from Valjean's old life can be found to identify him, there are a couple of his old convict friends that say this apple-stealer is the guy. Even Javert recognizes him, and is already to set forth and identify the man himself.

And then there is the matter of his name. His name is Champmathieu. I will spare you the prodigious hoops it takes to derive that from Jean Valjean. All you need to know is that it is somehow a perfectly logical assumption based on Valjean's mother's maiden name and French dialects. Javert seems excited about it.

And this is why he must be dismissed, for slandering the mayor's good name.

Of course, Madeline has absolutely zero intention of dismissing anybody. Javert insists, Madeline declines -- a few times. Javert makes his case further.

He doesn't think he should be dismissed for being suspicious. He would be a crap inspector if he wasn't. He thinks he deserves the dishonor because he denounced Madeline as a convict in a fit of pique with no proof and it just isn't right to be vengeful like that. He doesn't want any special consideration, because he would totally sack his subordinates if they ever did such a thing, and what kind of an example would that be if he didn't abide by the same rules?

Javert spends a bit more time explaining why he must be fired immediately, and in the end Madeline shakes his hand and offers up a maybe. Javert is certainly vexed at this point. He considers himself no better than a spy right now, and the Mayor should not even deign to shake hands with him. What does a guy gotta do to get fired around here?

Javert finally leaves, informing Madeline that he will do his job until his replacement arrives, and that is that.

Dak Reads Les Misérables / FANTINE: Book 5

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers.


BOOK 5: BEAD BUSINESS

A little background on Montrieul sur Mer...apparently the main form of industry in this town at the time was bead making. The materials were expensive and the cost too high though. The bead business was slow until some guy, we'll call him Madeline, breezed into town, bringing with him ideas to revolutionize the industry. He changed the materials to something cheaper than what they were using, and basically ran around town doing awesome things for everybody with the piles and piles of money he had made with his business. He owned a factory that would pretty much hire everybody, he built schools, he built shelters, he paid teachers out of his own pocket, and everybody pretty much thought he was the bees knees.

Except for this one guy. He was the chief Inspector of the town, and his name is Javert. Javert is basically described as a walking coat and hat with amazing facial hair, and his spirit animal is the wolf puppy voted most likely to kill all his siblings. He was born in a jail to a fortune teller, and considered himself a permanent outsider, which in his mind only left him two career options: crime or law enforcement. He chose the latter. He detests all forms of revolution. He considers all law breaking a form of revolution. He'd even turn in his own mother for breaking parole, and believes that a criminal will never change his stripes. M. Madeline reminds him of somebody he used to know from back in the day, and he walks around with suspicious eyes. Being a wolf himself, he feels he knows a wolf in sheep's clothing when he sees one.

 

This all culminates in an incident where a poor old guy named Fauchelevent, who only owns a cart and a horse to make his living carting stuff around, has somehow managed to get himself caught underneath a load when his horse breaks its legs there in the street. He is basically being crushed under the weight of it and there is not enough time to wait for a jack. M. Madeline keeps offering more and more money for anybody who is willing to go under the cart and lift it up off the guy, but there are no takers. He's not doing it himself because there is somebody keeping an eye on him.

Javert is there to announce that nobody's offering because nobody's strong enough. Only one person he has ever known would be strong enough: this convict he used to know when he worked down in Toulon. It gets to the point where M. Madeline can no longer stand by and watch the man perish despite Javert heavily implying left and right that nobody on Earth could do the job except for that one guy. wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Madeline raises the cart himself along with Javert's suspicions, and once everybody is safe and sound, he buys the broken cart and the dead horse and sets up Fauchelevent with a new job in Paris once he is healed.

Now, if you thought gossip traveled fast down in Digne, then you haven't met Montreuil sur Mer. It kind of feels like the rumor capital of the world here. First of all, there is all kinds of talk about M. Madeline; where he came from, and what his motivation is for doing all the awesome things that he does. There has to be some kind of reason he's so nice, right? At first they just think he's in it for they money, but he can't give that stuff away fast enough. Then they just think he's an ambitious dude, but he keeps refusing every accolade offered to him. He refuses the Legion of Honor , and he continually refuses a position as mayor of the town until the people finally beg for him to just take the job already. He introduces himself to every traveling boy looking for chimney sweeping work who wanders into town so he can give them money. Word gets around. It's a popular destination. (I wonder what that's all about. Hmmm.) He's pretty much an well loved enigma, and the fact that he very publicly mourns the passing of the Bishop of Digne just adds more grist to the rumor mill. (Let us take a moment to mourn with him. :( ) All he will say is that he was a student of the guy once a long time ago.

Those aren't the only rumors flying around town though. Let us return to Fantine, who had happily procured a job in the women's side of the bead factory. (They are separate from the men so as to preserve their modesty of course.) Everything started out well enough for her, she was so optimistic that she even took out some credit to purchase furniture for her apartment there. But well, as we all know, the Thenardier's kept jacking up their price for taking care of Cosette, and on top of that...

Well, M. Madeline had employed a certain overseer for the factory. Here she is an old lady who delights in malicious gossip for no other reason than keep herself entertained, and she's got her sights set on Fantine. Fantine, who can neither read nor write and has to employ someone to pen her letters to Cosette, which she sends often. So, the rumor mill starts to turn, and they find out about Fantine's illegitimate daughter. Scandal! Apparently this impropriety is reason enough for dismissal and she's sent packing. M. Madeline has no idea this is happening, and Fantine doesn't go to him for help since she has him pegged as the source of this trouble anyway, so what good would that do?

So, begins Fantine's descent into abject poverty. She tries to get odd jobs sewing with a friend that lives in her building, but it definitely isn't pulling in enough cash. She's definitely has some kind of ailment, because every so often it is pointed out that she has this lingering cough. It's been around since she left Cosette at Montfermeil. She owes for her rent, she owes for her furniture and the Thenardiers keep asking for more money or they'll turn Cosette out on the street. She's making it work at this point and can still look in the mirror, and brushing her hair makes her feel okay... But then come the extra expenses.

First it's only ten francs for wool skirt. Fantine heads straight off to sell her hair. Instead of sending the money, she sends the skirt. The Thenardiers give it to Eponine.

Then Cosette is 'sick' and needs 'medicine' by sick and medicine, the Thenadiers mean neither of those things. They just want some extra cash, and this time it's forty.

Fantine's beside herself, because how can she come up with that? Just so happens there's some people in town buying teeth. They are interested in Fantine's two front ones, which will just so happen to bring in the exact amount of money she needs. I know I failed to mention this before, but Fantine's teeth are fabulous and pearly white. It's mentioned more than once. She doesn't go in for this idea right away and even talks it over with her neighbor, but in the end she decides to go through with it, because what's she going to do? She gets rid of her mirror, and she can't even brush her hair to feel better anymore.

The Thenardiers write again, and this time it's for a hundred, because why they hell not? So, Fantine is still behind in credit (even though she's returned all of the furniture) and rent and now has to pony up another extra hundred so her kid isn't turned out on the street. No matter how hard she tries, she can't climb her way out of this debt she's accumulated. She can see no other option than turning to prostitution. All this she blames squarely on M. Madeline, because if she repeats it enough then it must be true. Boy, does she hate that guy who she once adored along with everybody else.

And this is where we find Fantine, with little hope and no prospects, when she stumbles upon a M. Bamatabois. This guy is a dandy, an idler, he layers his waistcoats and wears more chains than necessary on his watch. In his circle they wear boots and spurs and have "fierce mustaches". The fiercer the better. This is quite a picture that's being painted in my mind.

One day, he's just hanging around with his dandy buddies doing idle dandy things, spurs and mustaches and all, and Fantine just happens to be there, pacing back and forth and muttering to herself. Naturally, these guys proceed to harass her, because Fantine really can't catch a break at all. It comes to the point where Bamatabois puts snow down her back and this finally is the last straw. She comes after him and manages to lay a smackdown on him before she's apprehended by the police. And by police, I mean Javert, because Javert just happens to be in all the right places at all the right times these days.

He takes her back to police HQ and is quite determined to send her to jail for six months. He's unmoved by her pleas for mercy, and there are plenty. Meanwhile, unseen, the mayor has entered and he's hearing Fantine's sad story as well. (He must be following the same bat signal that Javert is.)

Madeline asks for a moment of Javert's time, and upon realizing that this is the mayor...sole cause of her whole situation...Fantine spits right in his face. Madeline orders her free.

This is when things start to get a little crazy.

Fantine is beside herself and she goes on a long rant about how great and awesome and forgiving Javert is, because she seems to be under the impression that he's the one who set her free. The mayor couldn't do such a thing, since she's built him up as such a bad guy in her mind.

While this is happening, Javert's brain has apparently broken. He's standing there at a loss for words, because A. The Mayor is ordering this wrongdoer free for no reason. She's clearly committed a crime and must be punished for it accordingly! B. She just spit in the mayor's face! An inconceivable affront to authority! Still he orders her free!, and C. This guy might be that one convict from Toulon. I guess to be fair, 'C' is always lurking in the back of Javert's mind.

Finally, Fantine's mistaken impression is corrected. She cannot believe this shit. Javert can really not believe this shit. He attempts to argue with the Mayor, but he shuts the inspector down and pulls rank on him. What can Javert do?

 He's getting articles of law quoted at him, and if there's one thing Javert is, it's a stickler for the rules.


So, that leaves Fantine and Madeline there, Javert having left them to their own devices apparently. Here, Madeline offers Fantine all she's wanted for the past few years...he will pay her debts, he will reunite mother and daughter, either there or in Paris. Whatever Fantine wants. He basically offers to fund the rest of Fantine's existence so she'll never have to work again. She falls to her knees and kisses his hand in thanks and then promptly faints.

Cliffhanger!

Dak Reads Les Misérables / FANTINE: Book 4

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers.

BOOK 4: The Sergeant of Waterloo

In which we meet the Thenardiers. They own an inn outside of Paris in Montfermeil. It is called the Sergeant of Waterloo for reasons. We will get to the reasons later on, I'm told, so hold that thought! There's some sort of broken down vehicle in front of the place. It is described in great detail, but I think the main point is that it is huge and rusty. So, what better to do with a huge hunk of rusty machinery than to play on it?

At least that's what the Thenardier girls are doing at the moment. They are on a makeshift swing that their mother is pulling them on as she sits nearby.

That is the scene when Fantine stumbles by. She has decided that she can't stay in Paris any longer, and she's on her way to her old hometown Montreuil Sur Mer to look for work. She lost all her friends in the aftermath of Tholomyes little joke, and then, having gotten used to the life she'd been living with him, she let her opportunities pass her by. I guess that means she could not / would not get work as a seamstress anymore. So, Fantine is jobless and friendless and the only thing she has in the world is her baby girl, having sold all her fine clothes to pay her debt.

(PS: In case you are wondering what happens to Felix before he is never spoken of again, he becomes a fat lawyer.)

On her way to Montreuil sur Mer, Fantine sees Thenardier there with her kids, who are looking happy and well taken care of. Introductions are made and all three kids begin playing together. They look like they could be sisters, and this sparks an idea in Fantine.

She doesn't think the child is going to make the journey, and offers to pay the Thenardiers to watch dear little Cosette for her. Cosette's real name is Euphrasie. Fantine just calls her Cosette, and so shall we all for the rest of time. Nicknames, such weird things, incomprehensible even to Etymologists. Anyway, she pretty much thinks this will be a great arrangement, because in the two seconds she's known Thenardier, the lady seems like a great mom and Cosette is so happy playing around with the other kids.

Fantine is a terrible judge of character. The Thenardiers are actually the worst.

After  Thenardier and her husband haggle a bunch of money out of Fantine, they come to an agreement. A few Francs a week and all of Cosette's fabulous clothes, of course. Fantine leaves her daughter in their care, but all is not candy and roses.

The Thenardier's price keeps increasing steadily over the years, and their treatment of Cosette is downright abusive. (Actual bad guys alert) The poor kid is made to work, wear hand-me-down rags because they pawn off her clothes, and she eat scraps in the corner with the dog and the cat. I'll point out now that Cosette is only between 2 and 5 years old during this time, and all of Thenardier's negative attentions rain down on her in the forms of yelling or beating or whatever. The Mother pretty much hates the girl since any attention, even the negative attention she gets is something taken away from her own daughters, who she adores. And the Daughters, Azelma and Eponine? Well, they treat Cosette like crap too, because they're just following the leader.

Eventually, Fantine falls behind in her payments to them as they extort more and more money out of her.

The people of the town think the Thenardiers are great people for taking the child in, and that Fantine had abandoned her. The people in town are also bad judges of character.

Dak Reads Les Misérables / FANTINE: Book 3

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers.


Book 3: In Which We Are Introduced to Fantine and her Posse

So, let's leave Jean ValJean behind for a while and learn all about the names and places and fashions and events/political climate of the time. The time is 1817. Seriously, the names and events come flying at you fast and furiously in the beginning of this chapter as the scene is set.

We meet Fantine near Paris, a rather mysterious young lady whose origins are unclear. She only bears one name, having no known family. She works as a seamstress and is having an affair with a thirty year old student named Felix Tholomyes who seems to be crumbling apart at the seams, decrepit before his time, but at least he has good humour about it. She is young and beautiful *Let me stress that Fantine is beautiful here* and in love with him though.

And he's just having fun. Yep. It's that old story.

One day, Felix comes up with a brilliant idea. He and his friends are going to surprise the ladies! Oh, how nice -- Is what I would be saying if I did not know the main plot points of this story already. In any case, he and his friends take Fantine and her friends for a Sunday outing. It's a scene that I'd like to imagine looks something like a Renoir painting...y'know if Renoir had been painting stuff at the time. (I am aware that this takes place 20 some years prior to his birth, before someone is kind enough to point that out for me.)

Well, they are having a jolly good time, and the men are in especially fine spirits. Felix talks and talks and talks (He even talks about how the girls probably shouldn't want to get married, which is a gigantic red flag if I ever saw one. They are pretty much clueless, and everybody thinks Felix is charming and wonderful.) Basically, only a horse dying in the street gets him to finally shut-up. The girls request their surprise, and they're really excited about it, which makes me rather sad.

The guys wander off, and Fantine makes note of a coach stopping along the road. She thinks it odd, and her pals think she's just not worldly enough to know that is a regular thing. They laugh it off. It's a tiny detail, but I'm going to assume that this coach contained their guys who are totally ditching them where they stand. They are probably laughing it up and patting Felix on the back for this brilliance.

The girls only find out that they've been dumped an hour later when a kid comes out and hands them a letter of explanation.

Yes, my friends, they have been broken up with by text. Group text.

The men, it seems, have gone back to their families to be proper gentlemen or something, and the ladies should be grateful for them having spent time together at all. What a packet of assholes!

Fantine goes home heartbroken, because this guy was her first love.

Oh, and by the way? She's got a kid with him.

Dak Reads Les Misérables / FANTINE: Book 1 and 2

About: Dak reads Les Misérables and recaps it here, so that she may better retain the information. Things not to expect: deep literary analysis. Things to expect: Spoilers. All the spoilers.


Fantine: Book 1: In Which the Bishop of Digne is Awesome!!!

 

In which M. Myriel goes to Italy in his youth comes back a priest, and basically proceeds to be the best guy to ever walk the planet. We learn about all of his good works -- All of the them. He lives with his sister and her maid. Also, he only has 11 movable chairs...and the only luxury item he owns is some silverware. I have a feeling this might be of some importance later on.


Fantine: Book 2: Jean Valjean is Redeemed


In which Jean Valjean can't catch a break. As soon as he steps into town everybody knows he's a dangerous convict. Seriously. I guess gossip has had a way of travelling like wildfire since the dawn of time. As soon as he attempts to grab a bite to eat with legit money, he's turned out on the street and everybody and their brother knows he's a con. (Valjean can't even get a job without being cheated out of half his due pay. He should have applied at the Wendy's I used to work at.)

Finally, after wandering in, out, and around town for a while and getting pelted by rocks, some lady who has somehow managed to not hear the news happens upon him. She directs him to the Bishop's house, and ValJean accepts some $$$ out of her before he goes.

Meanwhile, the Bishop's sister and maid are making a case for putting locks back on the doors, because even they have heard the news that there's some dangerous dude lurking around town. The Bishop, of course, is unconcerned, because God will take care of everything. I mean, I can't really blame the guy...he travels through bandit infested mountains and the bandits actually return some of their ill gotten gains to him. He's that good. Seriously, though... where do I sign up to go to this guy's church??

In any case, this important conversation about security is interrupted by Jean ValJean himself, looking scary and famished. He blurts out his entire post-parol tribulations in one big long stream, having given up on trying to get by without mentioning it since everybody already seems to know. It's almost funny in a "Here's a laundry list of shit I've been through, go ahead and do your worst!" kind of way. Y'know, if it wasn't such a downer.

The Bishop surprises him by welcoming him and treating him as any other guest anyway and instructs the ladies to set the table for company, full silver and all.

Later, as it turns out, they have set ValJean up to sleep in a room that can only be accessed through the Bishop's room (The ladies are duly worried that this arrangement can only lead to tears somehow, but the Bishop is again unconcerned.) ValJean manages to peep where all that silverware is kept in a cupboard next to the Bishop's bed. We can see where this is going, right?

We learn a little bit about how ValJean came to be in this situation in the first place. He once made a legitimate living by pruning hedges, a job his father before him held. He had to take care of his sister who had lost a husband and had seven children to take care of, so he basically had no time for anything except working. One hard winter, when there was no work, he stole that infamous loaf of bread.

He was caught, literally red handed after cutting up his hand on the window pane that he broke with his fist. It was the desperate act of a desperate man at a desperate time, and he pretty much acknowledges that all of this could have been avoided if he'd A. asked for the bread, or B. just waited things out. He knows he just made things worse, and all the time he spent in jail only heard about the fate of his sister once. So, he only got five years for breaking and entering an occupied house, and had subsequent years tacked on for trying to escape (four times in all). Which he also knew was only making things worse, but at that point it was reflexive. When it was his turn to make a break for freedom, he was going to take it.

And this is how Jean ValJean spent nineteen years in prison for stealing some bread. (We also learn that he spent his time there being super strong, scaling walls, and getting a bit of an education.) In summary, he was not quite an innocent basket of puppies, but definitely felt unjustly persecuted for his crimes. Prison hardened him and instilled a hatred for man in him that was honed to a sharp point by the time he came to the Bishop's house. So...in the middle of the night he absconds with the silver, which was worth twice as much as all the money he had earned in prison over all those years. I'm not quite sure if we're meant to believe he actually contemplated doing the Bishop in at that point, because there's a long passage about how benevolent and glowing with the light of God the Bishop looks when the clouds part and the moonlight crosses over his face as he sleeps while ValJean stands over him with some kind of heavy tool that sounds like it could easily be a weapon. (Which he then uses to pry open the Silver cupboard.)

In any case, the ladies are in a flutter over the stolen silverware the next morning. The Bishop remains unconcerned and makes inquiries about what other forms of cutlery they have. He is possibly the chillest dude ever, and does a little contemplation of his own...does the silver really belong to them and not the poor in the first place? Either way, ValJean is caught in short order and returned to the Bishop's doorstep in the clutches of some gendarmes so they can get the real story.

I think what we can take away from this chapter is that ValJean is the worst at escaping. He should really rethink that strategy.

The Bishop welcomes his return by claiming that ValJean had forgotten the last, and most expensive, of the silver -- the candlesticks. He hands them over and manages to confuse and astound everybody with this gesture.

With his story that the Bishop had given him the silver confirmed, the gendarmes have no reason to hold ValJean. He is released, and the Bishop sends him on his way having purchased his soul for God.

So, Jean ValJean wanders on his way down the road extremely conflicted about this massive influx of kindness toward him after nineteen+ years of terribleness rom all corners of life. As he's sitting there thinking about all this shit, in a sort of 'too much good all at once'' shock, a boy comes down the road tossing some coins up in the air. He drops one near ValJean and once again the reflexes of a hardened man kick in and he steps on the coin, so the kid can't get it. He doesn't respond even when the kid begs for it back and the boy eventually runs away crying.

Later, ValJean lifts his foot, spies the coin, and realizes what he's done. He goes down the road shouting the boy's name, but doesn't find him anywhere. When he comes to a fork in the path (Nope, no symbolism here. None.) he has a total emotional breakdown right there in the middle of the road. It's the first time he's shed a tear in nineteen years.

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