Hi guys! I'm breaking out the proper caps and smart quotes real quick because I want to talk about some parallels between LM 1.6.2 (How Jean May Become Champ) and LM 1.8.3 (Javert Satisfied) & 1.8.4 (Authority Reasserts Its Rights)! It's that time of year and I realized I wrote this in a book review that I deleted and not anywhere for real on Tumblr. With that said, it's looking at quotes time!
1.6.2: “If any physiognomist who had been familiar with Javert, [...] he would have said to himself, “What has taken place?” It was evident to any one acquainted with that clear, upright, sincere, honest, austere, and ferocious conscience, that Javert had but just gone through some great interior struggle.”
1.8.3: “Any one who was thoroughly acquainted with him, and who had examined him attentively at the moment, would have shuddered. The buckle of his leather stock was under his left ear instead of at the nape of his neck. This betrayed unwonted agitation. [...] That he should have set the buckle of his stock awry, it was indispensable that there should have taken place in him one of those emotions which may be designated as internal earthquakes.”
This is a neat parallel because we're seeing in both chapters an idea that someone who really understood Javert (which... there really is no one now that I think about it) they would see his inner turmoil on plain display. In the first, however, we see the start of the turmoil which has ended in Javert concluding he has erred; in the second, we see the full conclusion of this turmoil with triumph. Yet, we still see how his triumph has caused him to be sloppy in a sense, which is interesting... I don't have anything more to say about it, sorry. It's just interesting.
LM 1.6.2: “...he waited without uttering a word, without making a movement, in genuine humility and tranquil resignation, calm, serious, hat in hand, with eyes cast down, and an expression which was half-way between that of a soldier in the presence of his officer and a criminal in the presence of his judge, until it should please the mayor to turn round.”
LM 1.8.3: “Properly speaking, he did not enter. He stood erect in the half-open door, his hat on his head and his left hand thrust into his coat, which was buttoned up to the chin. In the bend of his elbow the leaden head of his enormous cane, which was hidden behind him, could be seen. Thus he remained for nearly a minute, without his presence being perceived. All at once Fantine raised her eyes, saw him, and made M. Madeleine turn round.”
And here we see Javert's dramatic entrance skills at work! (jk, that's in 3.8.20, these two are actually kinda bad) In both chapters, even though he's at completely different ends of the Javert feeling spectrum (until it expands in 5.4.1 but that's irrelevant) he enters quietly and waits to be noticed, though for completely different reasons.
1.6.2: “All the sentiments as well as all the memories which one might have attributed to him had disappeared. That face, as impenetrable and simple as granite, no longer bore any trace of anything but a melancholy depression.”
1.8.3: “The satisfaction of at last getting hold of Jean Valjean caused all that was in his soul to appear in his countenance. The humiliation of having, in some slight degree, lost the scent, and of having indulged, for a few moments, in an error with regard to Champmathieu, was effaced by pride at having so well and accurately divined in the first place, and of having for so long cherished a just instinct. Javert’s content shone forth in his sovereign attitude. The deformity of triumph overspread that narrow brow. All the demonstrations of horror which a satisfied face can afford were there.”
More contrast between how Javert looks in these scenes! This is particularly interesting in regards to the turmoil mentioned above as Javert having gone through that heavy inner turmoil in 1.6.2 only helps to enhance his pride at being right the whole time. It's also really interesting how we see Javert's melancholy described throughout 1.6.2 as making him humble and dignified, especially in contrast to how horrifying his joy is in 1.8.3.
1.6.2: “His whole person breathed lowliness and firmness and an indescribable courageous despondency.”
1.8.3: “Javert was in heaven at that moment. Without putting the thing clearly to himself, but with a confused intuition of the necessity of his presence and of his success, he, Javert, personified justice, light, and truth in their celestial function of crushing out evil. Behind him and around him, at an infinite distance, he had authority, reason, the case judged, the legal conscience, the public prosecution, all the stars; he was protecting order, he was causing the law to yield up its thunders, he was avenging society, he was lending a helping hand to the absolute, he was standing erect in the midst of a glory. There existed in his victory a remnant of defiance and of combat. Erect, haughty, brilliant, he flaunted abroad in open day the superhuman bestiality of a ferocious archangel. The terrible shadow of the action which he was accomplishing caused the vague flash of the social sword to be visible in his clenched fist; happy and indignant, he held his heel upon crime, vice, rebellion, perdition, hell; he was radiant, he exterminated, he smiled, and there was an incontestable grandeur in this monstrous Saint Michael.”
This is like... quite possibly the most interesting part of the 1.6.2/1.8.3 parallels to me. In our first chapter, Javert is humble and specifically lowly; in our second one, he is grand and terrible. It's also fascinating how Javert goes from being lowly and nothing more than a police spy to having these contrasting motifs of being in heaven/the monstrous Saint Michael and being "a demon who has found his damned soul" earlier within this same chapter. Really interesting how he's able to be described as both a demon and an angel within a few lines of each other (cue joke about "I could be your angel or your devil") which are both very grand ideas. He's got this cognitive dissonance pretty obviously which will come back to bite him later, but he's also becoming The Law rather than being against it. Very triumphant; very interesting to look at the difference between him in the two scenes specifically here.
1.6.2: “Javert recoiled, and said in a wild voice:—
‘Excuse me, M. le Maire, but this must not be. A mayor does not offer his hand to a police spy.’
He added between his teeth:—
‘A police spy, yes; from the moment when I have misused the police. I am no more than a police spy.’”
1.8.4 (Authority Reasserts its Rights): “‘I tell you that there is no Monsieur Madeleine and that there is no Monsieur le Maire. There is a thief, a brigand, a convict named Jean Valjean! And I have him in my grasp! That’s what there is!’”
Although Javert is talking about himself vs Valjean here, there is an interesting opinion that really strikes at the heart of Javert's ideology in both. In both, the respect afforded to each by their positions is made to be superseded by the other when a line is crossed and a law is broken. Javert isn't worthy of being offered a hand because the second he misused his office, he becomes nothing more than a police spy. Valjean is treated in the same way; there is no longer a M. Madeleine or a M. le Maire because the second his crimes are known he's nothing more than a convict. It shows us very effectively how Javert (& by extension the law) doesn't see criminals as people, since their crime takes precedent over who they are.
1.6.2: “‘M. le Maire, there is still something of which I must remind you.’
‘That I must be dismissed.’ M. Madeleine rose.
‘Javert, you are a man of honor, and I esteem you. You exaggerate your fault. Moreover, this is an offence which concerns me. Javert, you deserve promotion instead of degradation. I wish you to retain your post.’
Javert gazed at M. Madeleine with his candid eyes, in whose depths his not very enlightened but pure and rigid conscience seemed visible, and said in a tranquil voice:—
‘M. le Maire, I cannot grant you that.’”
1.8.4: “Jean Valjean went on in a lower tone:—
‘I have a request to make of you—’
‘I tell you to speak loud.’
‘But you alone should hear it—’
‘What difference does that make to me? I shall not listen.’”
Here we see Javert's stubbornness on full display, really exemplifying the rigidity of the law. Even when Valjean wants him to stay in his office, he can't allow it. When Valjean wants to talk to him, he will not listen. I think this also shows the prejudice in the legal system via Javert, because no matter what, he does not listen, only persecuting blindly.
Anyways! Those were just some notes and parallels but I would love to hear your thoughts. Great line up of chapters here from Hugo, fr.
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