#2.1.14

[kingedmundsroyalmurder]

Brickclub: 2.1.14

All the threads we’ve been building up to, all the layers of symbolism and social commentary, they’ve all led here, to Cambronne surrounded by his martyred troops, shouting defiant expletives at the encroaching English.

As with many pivotal moments in this story, we’re not in anyone’s head for this. We don’t know what Cambronne is thinking, what the men around him are thinking as they die, what the English are thinking as they watch. We get hints -- the English pausing for a moment in the face of the French martyrdom, the English generals being stirred by emotion as they urge the French to surrender -- but nothing concrete. We’re left to parse out what they must be thinking for ourselves.

And there’s also, I think, a point to be made here regarding the intersection of man and the divine. God has turned His back on the French, has made it very clear that He stands, if not with the enemy then against Napoleon. The squares are crumbling, the enemy is winning, and still Cambronne and his men make the choice to stand. Even in the face of Divine will, men still choose to stand, and that choice is a noble one.  Cambronne’s standing fast with his men during Waterloo is a prelude to Enjolras standing fast with his friends at the barricade. It really comes through why Hugo thinks that this is the most important part of the book, because all of the themes converge at Waterloo.

[umeed-e-sehr]

2.1.13

I love the short sentences and the urgency they convey in this chapter and the terrifying picture that Hugo sketches. The army starts collapsing on all sides, people rush around trying to save themselves. Ney tries to rally the army, but they simultaneously shout ‘Long Live Marshal Ney’ while also fleeing from him. It is chaos, friends kill each other, people desert in large numbers.  Even Napoleon’s cries of trying to form the battle lines fall on deaf ears, the people who had shouted ‘Long Live the Emperor’ only a few hours ago, now cannot say a word. His own army does not want to listen to their leader’s words and are trying everything in their power to escape.

For all the similarities between Waterloo and barricades, this is so different from the last stand of the revolutionaries and I think that may be the point.

Hugo does not blame the army running away but the hand of Providence and destiny which caused them to surrender, it’s a very French perspective of the battle as @melle93 pointed out, but also a perspective Hugo wants to emphasise throughout the book, that the century of ‘Great Men’ like Napoleon is past. I love the imagery that Hugo has used here, with the ‘lions turned into hunted deer’ and the picture of terror on the battlefield he has sketched.

All this had to happen because Napoleon’s demise was essential for the century to flourish, he was a somnambulist trying to keep alive a desperate dream. I cannot say that I disagree with Hugo’s point of view that Napoleon had to go, his time was done. This is why Hugo keeps emphasising the people in his army, the farmers, the peasants, the woman telling the story about the battle, Les Miserables is their story and in these pages, Napoleon becomes just another general, another ordinary man who had grand dreams and fought and lost, not someone Great to emulate, which is the point of Waterloo.

2.1.14

The last remaining Guards in the battle are still noble and heroic and they die magnificently because of that. There is one last square that is still causing a discomfort to Wellington’s army. This square itself is commanded by Cambronne, an unknown soldier. This heroic column of an odd few soldiers is the one countering the Anglo-Dutch army to the last.

It makes sense that everyone is tired, it is the end of the battle, but this column of brave French soldiers keeps replying grapeshot to grapeshot. This group also commands the highest respect from the Anglo-Dutch army and from Hugo himself (I can’t help it, but their defiant stand is so similar to the stand of 1832 revolutionaries towards the end and Enjolras’ defiance before being shot).  

They know they are going to die and are surrounded by the cannons on all sides, like 'tigers’ eyes in the dark’ but they still resist. It’s brave and desperate, but it makes us care for these soldiers in their last moments. It’s their last act of defiance, the view around them, that of corpses also lends pathos to this moment. The English army has to pause, because they too are moved by the scene, they too feel some respect and compassion for their enemy in their last moments.

In the lull of the moment, these brave men are asked to surrender. Cambronne utters a word, ‘Merde’ in response.

It is interesting that the chapter ends on this word and then we learn more about the significance of an unknown soldier like Cambronne, and the word that he utters in the next chapter, but I love the fact that Hugo situates the word and an unknown soldier as the most important part of this chapter and the battle too.

They know they are going to die, it is a hopeless battle, but he says 'Merde' regardless of the impossible circumstances they have found themselves in. It is the little acts that do matter, that do count and this is something that feels very relevant in the present times, unfortunately.

It must be a fact not lost to Hugo, concerned about the situation of his country in 1862, the importance of the word, against the enemy, having written many words against NIII's government. So, it is this word of defiance that situates this chapter and begins the next.    

[technobladelibraryliveblogs]

I’ll be honest, I was expecting a ‘heh’ or two instead of a bunch of ‘what’s, but the sentiment is the same. XD

[technobladelibraryliveblogs]

Ah, this is a short one. I’ll probably do two for the day then, since the next one is pretty short too.

I do always like when Techno posts himself messing up a bit. He was always very, very good at Minecraft, but even he sometimes got blindsided by a creeper exploding him into lava.

[technobladelibraryliveblogs]

Time to live-blog this itty bitty video

[garbagecann24601]

The Last Square

The Guard is vanquished square by square until, at around nine o’clock at night, only one square, led by Cambronne, remains.

“When this legion had been reduced to a handful, when nothing was left of their flag but a rag, when their guns, the bullets all gone, were no longer anything but clubs, when the heap of corpses was larger than the group of survivors, there reigned among the conquerors, around those men dying so sublimely, a sort of sacred terror, and the English artillery, taking breath, became silent. This furnished a sort of respite. These combatants had around them something in the nature of a swarm of spectres, silhouettes of men on horseback, the black profiles of cannon, the white sky viewed through wheels and gun-carriages, the colossal death’s-head, which the heroes saw constantly through the smoke, in the depths of the battle, advanced upon them and gazed at them. Through the shades of twilight they could hear the pieces being loaded; the matches all lighted, like the eyes of tigers at night, formed a circle round their heads; all the lintstocks of the English batteries approached the cannons, and then, with emotion, holding the supreme moment suspended above these men, an English general, Colville according to some, Maitland according to others, shouted to them, “Surrender, brave Frenchmen!” Cambronne replied, “——.””

[ssdgames]

With the floor selected, click the Add Component button in the inspector pane to add a Physics2D component.

Use the search bar to narrow the options as shown and choose Box Collider 2D.

[allmoddedapk]

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Cafeland - World Kitchen Mod 2.1.14 Apk [Unlimited Money]

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