Jeanne and her children get a mention here and it is so heartbreaking that he tried to find them but when he could not, he forgot them, but also understandable.
I like the parallels between Valjean and Cosette here too, in prison he was sullen and ill natured, whereas Cosette is described as cold-hearted, she had tried to love, she even had ‘a dog who she loved but he died’ but no one else loved her, so as a defence mechanism she stopped loving. I like the distinction between wanting to love and being loved and both of them being necessary.
These two poor souls find each other ‘Poor old heart coming to love quite fresh’ and Valjean’s love is described as that of a mother’s for Cosette and is completely dedicated to her. ‘He felt pangs like those of a mother.’
It is this role that causes him this vision of light as he surrounds himself with love for this innocent child, the second only after the bishop. The bishop brought him virtue and Cosette brought him love. Valjean, the ordinary man, and people by extension need both to live and thrive.
Cosette has found someone to love and someone who loves her and it is so natural that she would not care about outward appearances of the house or how old Valjean is because of all the emotions. It’s a nice little touch there Hugo. Hugo also goes on to describe this event in the child’s life as the advent of God. Cosette after not having been taught anything about God, finds God through Valjean, who is symbolically also Jesus.
I love the descriptions of Valjean spending every moment with Cosette, teaching her to read and Cosette so unused to being loved and knowing only beatings is so surprised and shy. I also like that Valjean having taught himself to read in prison with evil intentions against society, is now using his knowledge to teach Cosette. It’s another of those Providence and God intervening and bringing Valjean towards light because he rescued a child from the darkness around her.
It’s sort of selfish and not very practical on Valjean’s part to assume that Cosette would be ugly and therefore stay with him forever. Like, this is not how it works, you can still live with her and her husband, even after her marriage, Valjean. But it is not surprising that she seems ugly after years of abuse, but she is changing quite a lot in her personality and I like that she is described as ugly here.
Hugo again emphasises how much Valjean needed that innocent love of a child and to be needed by a small human to stay on the path of virtue. He might have gone astray had it not been for Cosette and Cosette certainly would have faced a life of terrible abuse had he not been there. Though this time, I quite like Valjean learning about and being outraged by society’s treatment of Fantine and women like her and his raging against the violence inherent in the system is a good thing, but he needed love to go on living and for that he needed someone to love.
These two needed each other and somehow by chance and Divine Providence found each other. Valjean also found his name and identity, he is Father from now on and it is so wonderful to watch the little things they do together and the time they spend with each other.
I continue to love Cosette and Valjean having a positive effect on each other, Cosette is singing and lively, while Valjean has found someone to live for.
Valjean is being his usual over cautious self but is also too conspicuous because of that. He’s often mistaken for a pauper and accepts sous but he is dropping silver coins in random beggars’ hands and then running away and that is such a funny image.
Gossip once again plays a heavy role in this chapter though I feel that Hugo means it negatively here, but I don’t blame the people from talking about Valjean because of his odd behaviour after coming to the new neighbourhood. I also feel like he is trying too hard to carry on the bishop’s model of giving charity as much as he can but it was not a sustainable model with the bishop and his family too, who were also living very frugally.
The old woman cannot resist making conjectures about the thousand-franc note that Valjean produces from his pocket right after she sees him with it. But Valjean’s behaviour in this chapter is suspicious, so it’s not surprising the old woman is curious about who they are. So, she rummages in the coat and we find that Valjean is prepared for anything and is carrying wigs, needles, scissors and thread, and it is pretty funny to imagine Valjean always walking around with these things on his person so casually, while we see some of these things poking out and also dropping silver coins in random people’s hands and then running away with dramatic music playing in the distance - Valjean the comedy hero.
