daughter of a wolf

˗ˏˋ les mis sideblog ´ˎ˗ promise to give me a kiss on my brow ⊹ blog runs mostly on queue

[eponinesthenardier]

Hermine Karagheuz as Éponine Thénardier Les Misérables (1972) dir. Marcel Bluwal

[liroller]

好久没更账号微死……原因是忙了几乎一整年 感觉画家产都是前几年的事了，一直画工作，都没手感了。趁试笔刷的时候复健一下下

[julictcapulet]

don’t post on barricade day until it’s like 11:45pm wherever you are. go to sleep super early. wake up in a panic when the day is almost over and commit a drastic act of devotion to the revolution and the love of your life before it’s too late. make grantaire proud.

[allamp]

Combeferre, who spoke thus, was not an orphan. He recalled the

mothers of other men, and forgot his own. He was about to get himself

killed. He was “an egoist.”

(Full size →【DA】) 

[cliozaur]

- It’s one of the most heartbreaking chapters. Poor little Éponine. Hugo goes on and on, describing her unhealthy appearance, ragged chemise and petticoat, and the premature aging that poverty forced upon her, almost robbing her of her innocence. Just when you think he is done, he comes up with new depressing details, like this: “She entered resolutely, staring, with a sort of assurance that made the heart bleed, at the whole room and the unmade bed.” The numerous hints that her father prostitutes her are just… unbearable. It’s difficult to comprehend how Hugo can simultaneously sympathize with her and dehumanize her in such a hideous way! Just look at this: “a species of impure and innocent monsters produced by misery.”

- Even worse is the part where we learn that she is literate (she reads well and can even write - in Fantine's case, these would have been lifesaving skills), but literacy doesn't add anything to girl’s chances in life! It’s striking contrast to Marius, whose education allowed him to earn his living. I like that we are reminded that she is Gavroche’s sister, and he takes her to the theatre! It seems that this entire family (including their abominable father) has a soft spot for theatre and plays!

- Her speech about sleeping in the ditches, suicidal thoughts, and hallucinations due to hunger is so sincere and heart-wrenching. And it also evokes some vibes of Javert ("When I thought of drowning myself, I said to myself: ‘No, it’s too cold’" and “The stars are like the lamps in illuminations, one would say that they smoked and that the wind blew them out” – but this last reference is more fitting for the musical version of Javert).

- As for Marius, he was not as bad when interacting with her. Although all the things Hugo said about Éponine (nice and ugly) are supposedly Marius’ observations, he was quite polite (calling her “Mademoiselle,” and not reprimanding her) and generous. And it’s also good to know that Marius figured out that his neighbour, “Jondrette,” is a swindler.

[patron-minette]

While being highly distressing to even think about, it is extremely important that we acknowledge how Éponine (and Azelma) are evidently being forcibly solicited out by Thénardier— as @cliozaur has discussed above in their wonderful analysis.

The concluding sentence of ‘Jondrette’’s letter: “P.S. My eldest daughter will await your orders, dear Monsieur Marius” speaks absolute volumes. Thénardier is not merely seeking charity from Marius here— rather these lines clearly indicate he is willing to literally ‘trade’ his own daughter for a few sous.

This information is particularly disturbing when contextualising Éponine’s bold proposition of Marius later in the chapter:

“Do you know, Mr. Marius, that you are a very handsome fellow?”

And at the same moment the same idea occurred to them both, and made her smile and him blush. She stepped up to him, and laid her hand on his shoulder. . .

. . . She tried to render her voice soft, but only succeeded in making it very deep. A portion of her words was lost in the transit from her larynx to her lips, as though on a piano where some notes are missing.

Marius had retreated gently.

While Éponine might genuinely find Marius to be handsome, we as readers should understand the real reason why she is choosing to tell him in this moment… the poor girl is doing exactly what her father sent her over to do.

The additional observations made above are absolutely heart-wrenching too because they suggest that this is (likely) not the first time Éponine has been forced to do this sort of thing— hence why she stares “with a sort of assurance that made the heart bleed, at the whole room and the unmade bed” when initially entering Marius' chambers.

[et-in-arkadia]

favorite quotes from les miserables >> grantaire

[roach-kinnie]

fuck ‘do you permit it’ because ‘it is a pity I am ignorant; I would tell you countless things if only I knew them’ is officially my new favourite Grantaire brick quote

[riotstarruika]

Thinking about how much I love Victor Hugo's early draft description of Enjolras ('cold, fanatical, and sad, with the complexion of a woman, the smile of a virgin, and the sweetest blue eyes that could have existed in the world'), because:

It's always been fundamental to his character that he's a youthful hottie; and

It's an interesting starting point for his characterisation in fic. It doesn't really describe who he is by the time we get to the barricade, but it's fun to imagine that this is what he was or would have been like without the influence of his friends. It's also pleasing on a meta level to make his character development mirror how he evolved over the course of Hugo's writing process.

Anyway, I love quiet and thoughtful with a vague air of sadness Enjolras, and I love his 8 joker friends making fun of him for it and loving each other so hard that he changes.

[et-in-arkadia]

–Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

[historymaker-inprocessofmoving]

Courfeyrac était le centre. Les autres donnaient plus de lumière, lui il donnait plus de calorique; le fait est qu’il avait toutes les qualités d’un centre, la rondeur et le rayonnement. or the photoset in which Courfeyrac is a paladin whose personal mission is to have a friendly chat with everyone marching to the barricades (or in Courfeyrac’s case, hopping) 

[thevagueambition]

A concept I'm obsessed with, and which makes a substantial appearance in Enjolras' barriacde scenes, is the concept of moral martyrdom

The ends don't justify the means, but that does not mean that awful means are never not to achieve just goals. The powerful do not give up their power on a whim. All that the people has, the people has fought for.

If natural law can judge all existing law only in criticizing its ends, then positive law can judge all evolving law only in criticizing its means. If justice is the criterion of ends, legality is that of means. Notwith­standing this antithesis, however, both schools meet in their common basic dogma: just ends can be attained by justified means, justified means used for just ends. Natural law attempts, by the justness of the ends, to "justify" the means, positive law to "guarantee" the justness of the ends through the justification of the means. This antinomy would prove insoluble if the common dogmatic assumption were false, if justified means on the one hand and just ends on the other were in irreconcilable conflict. Critique of Violence, Walter Benjamin

When Enjolras liquidates Cabuc for killing a civillian, Enjolras does the necessary and in so doing condemns himself.

"Citizens," said Enjolras, "what that man did is frightful, what I have done is horrible. He killed, therefore I killed him. I had to do it, because insurrection must have its discipline. Assassination is even more of a crime here than elsewhere; we are under the eyes of the Revolution, we are the priests of the Republic, we are the victims of duty, and must not be possible to slander our combat. I have, therefore, tried that man, and condemned him to death. As for myself, constrained as I am to do what I have done, and yet abhorring it, I have judged myself also, and you shall soon see to what I have condemned myself." [...] "In executing this man, I have obeyed necessity; but necessity is a monster of the old world, necessity's name is Fatality. Les Mis 4.12.8

If the uprising had become a revolution and if said revolution had succeeded in making the world Enjolras was imagining, Enjolras would not think he had a place in that world. Achieving the just would not wipe his hands clean of what he has done with them to build it. What he has done is horrible and doing horrible things is the purvey of necessity -- not of the righteous future he glimpses from the barricade's horizon.

"What a pity!" said Combeferre. "What hideous things these butcheries are! Come, when there are no more kings, there will be no more war. Enjolras, you are taking aim at that sergeant, you are not looking at him. Fancy, he is a charming young man; he is intrepid; it is evident that he is thoughtful; those young artillery-men are very well educated; he has a father, a mother, a family; he is probably in love; he is not more than five and twenty at the most; he might be your brother." "He is," said Enjolras. "Yes," replied Combeferre, "he is mine too. Well, let us not kill him." "Let me alone. It must be done." And a tear trickled slowly down Enjolras' marble cheek. At the same moment, he pressed the trigger of his rifle. Les Mis 5.1.8

The sergeant is Enjolras' brother, his comrade, his neighbour -- he is another human being whom Enjolras would prefer to treat with the care and dignity all human beings ought to be afforded. He is not the opressor class, but simply a tool of them -- a young man similar to Enjolras in all but ideology.

There is literal martyrdom, where one dies for the cause, and there is moral martyrdom, where one sacrifices one's clean hands, one's peace of mind, for the cause. Enjolras does both.

"I've given up all chance at inner peace. I've made my mind a sunless space. I share my dreams with ghosts. I wake up every day to an equation I wrote 15 years ago from which there's only one conclusion, I'm damned for what I do. My anger, my ego, my unwillingness to yield, my eagerness to fight, they've set me on a path from which there is no escape. I yearned to be a savior against injustice without contemplating the cost and by the time I looked down there was no longer any ground beneath my feet. What is my sacrifice? I'm condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else's future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I'll never see. And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude. So what do I sacrifice? Everything!" One Way Out, Andor

[fluentisonus]

so many posts on here about dog coded characters and yet none of them can truthfully be tagged as javert despite his being insanely dog coded bc unfortunately they all assume certain positive characteristics he simply doesn't possess

[fluentisonus]

also like unfortunately those posts will never hit upon whatever this is

[ueinra]

By | Arai Takahiro

Arai's style is EVERYTHING.

[jondrettegirls]

[Image transcription: “Promise to give me a kiss on my brow when I am dead—I shall feel it.”]

Les Misérables - Victor Hugo

[orpheusmyth]

sometimes i walk alone at night when everybody else is sleeping. i think of him and then i’m happy with the company i’m keeping. the city goes to bed and i can live inside my head.

showtunes edit meme: a solo i love (on my own from les miserables).

[dandanmiann]

—Enjolras, Les Misérables, volume v, book i

[secretmellowblog]

Another issue I have with Les Mis adaptations is how the horror of prostitution is always made the Central Focus of Fantine’s story, instead of the horror of poverty. Idk when you’re used to the musical it’s almost a bit surprising when you read the brick and find out that most of Fantine’s chapters are about ......the mundane horror of living paycheck to paycheck, and giving up everything that makes you happy in order to make ends meet.

Even when book!Fantine does become a prostitute, the horror of it is more like “because of her job the police are Not on her side, she is stigmatized/considered inherently illegal, and so she has no legal way to defend herself when she’s attacked.”

Most of Fantine’s chapters center on her slowly descending deeper into poverty over the course of years, learning to live on less and less and less, and gradually being forced to give up control over every little thing that gives her any joy. She’s initially living an austere but somewhat stable life— and then she unexpectedly loses her job at Valjean’s factory. She’s forced to return all her rented furniture piece by piece because she can’t afford it, she can’t keep a rosebush in her window because she doesn’t have the time to water it; in order to pay rent she has to sew all day and into the night, using the candlelight from a neighbor’s garret. The only thing that brings her joy is brushing her hair; and then she's forced to sell her hair, and then forced to sell her teeth.....

The tragedy of Fantine's plotline in the book isn't that she became a sex worker, it's that poverty ripped away her autonomy in the same way it ripped away Valjean's. And I think that tragedy really deserves more focus in adaptations, because it's such an important part of the book.