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This Tess is from 2.1.8!

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Brickclub: 2.1.8

“[Napoleon] never counted the cost in the heart-rending detail of its individual numbers."

And this is, I think, the heart of why we are spending so much time on Waterloo. We here are telling the story of the things that Napoleon didn’t care about. Napoleon cares about grand plans and battle schemas, about Victories and Defeats. Hugo cares about the details. Hugo is laying out for us exactly what those heart-rending details of individual numbers are and what it looks like to really notice them.

And so, one sweep of Napoleon’s eye takes up two pages of Hugo’s text. Napoleon casts a glance over the scope of the battlefield and Hugo describes it in intricate detail. Napoleon dismisses the events of the morning and Hugo meticulously chronicles what those were. At every step he’s reminding us what what it means, in human lives and actions, to have a battle. It’s not just an abstract set of numbers and maneuvers, it’s men and horses, each one alive until they’re not.

Meanwhile, Napoleon is half in light, half in shadow. Perhaps the Heavens are displeased but the shine of his Greatness is enough to mask that fact for a little while yet? Or perhaps this isn’t Divine light and shadow, this is the light and shadow of history. Either way, Napoleon’s self-assurance is taking him down a dangerous path, and his men are paying for it.

#brickclub #2.1.8 #this fcking book though

2.1.8

This chapter is about Napoleon, but we also see a major flaw with him and his planning from a different angle this time, mainly from Lacoste’s point of view, a Flemish farmer who ended up as Napoleon’s reluctant guide. And this chapter shows that the events which have resulted in the retreat of the English forces have not been smooth, some have been due to an ineffectual attack which succeeded, but nevertheless, there have been a lot of casualties from Napoleon’s army. All these incidents which could so easily have turned to defeat, have been in favour of Napoleon so far, but that makes him think that he is protected from anything bad from the hands of destiny in this war.

Once again, we see the symbolism in play here, with Napoleon being half in shadow and half in light, mistakenly believing himself to be protected by Providence/God and therefore ignoring any signs that might be ominous, he also ignores lessons from previous battles and continues with his cocky attitude from the previous chapter.

His major error though, is in not caring about the casualties of his army (Hugo names many of them in this chapter too) and in only considering how to reach his target, he does not care how many men are sacrificed for his own personal ambition of winning against the English.

He therefore does not understand that Lacoste, an ordinary farmer, might not really want to guide him, but Napoleon is making Lacoste do work for his own personal glory. Lacoste refuses in answer to what Napoleon asks, yet Napoleon convinced that the victory is his, has already has sent a messenger announcing his victory to Paris.

(Sidenote: I’m not sure if the last sentence proclaiming Napoleon being a genius who just sent his thunderbolt is actually meant to be snarky or serious - is Napoleon really being compared to Zeus or some other mythological deity summoning a thunderbolt? The best I can guess is that it is meant to be from Napoleon’s point of view and Napoleon still thinks that he has found a great way to ensure his victory by attacking Mont Saint Jean.)

#brickclub #2.1.8