2.6.1-2.6.4
2.6.1
This is a convent with a physical appearance full of contradictions. The entrance is smiling, the courtyard is pleasant, yet the building itself is somber and tomb like. There is both a feeling that treasure might be found here, as well as the feeling that this place is too gloomy for existence.
I feel like this chapter conveys a lot of Hugo’s feelings about convents. It conveys a very cloistered feeling, it’s a prison/tomb like structure and even this chapter has a very somber mood to it, despite the fact that the people inside are illuminated by the light symbolism. The nuns are good and kind, according to Hugo, but this convent has strict and harsh rules, perhaps what most bothers Hugo, is that this place seems to be devoid of personal love and the nuns are devoting themselves to Jesus and as much as that is a noble quality (though Hugo’s views on Catholicism aren’t favourable), this is still an incomplete love, which is why this dichotomy, in my opinion exists in this chapter. Hugo says there was life in the death, but for him, I feel, without laughter, without cheerfulness, without love/kindness for other people (Bishop Myriel and sassiness comes to mind), this devotion feels like being buried inside a tomb, albeit a tomb with treasure.
2.6.2
I’m not sure what the difference is between the different orders and the nuns? I’m not familiar with Catholicism, so if anyone has already said something about it or knows something about the differences, please let me know.
What I do get from the chapter is that the nuns voluntarily undergo all these hardships, even wearing the woolen chemise that causes fevers to break out and their rule is extremely harsh. Forgive my ignorance once again, I’m not sure why they have to pray like this? They are undergoing deprivations for the love for Christ, I guess, but this order seems so much harsher than the others and I’m not clear why they have to be specifically harsh. They do have democracy in place and get to elect the prioress, but their devotion to the prioress is absolute, and once again this becomes something wrong, maybe?
The reparation too is very strict with no rest in between, why do these nuns and this place give a very living in the prison vibe- from the prison in Toulon where Valjean was- except theirs is for the sins of the world instead of personal sins/crimes and is voluntary, but you get the feeling that it is much too strict, stricter perhaps than love/dedication to God should be? They live in open cells, are not allowed to communicate with family and can only see friends through the gate. How can they live cloistered in such a place, without showing any friendship/love/kindness for each other, even some kind of attachment to a thing or a book is frowned upon, whereas they have devoted themselves to God/Christ and to sacrifice? Is their good doing more harm, according to Hugo? You know it is not good when three nuns have gone mad in such a short span of time, it’s also not healthy, because they are always punishing themselves, humans aren’t meant to live like that. I have no answers and only questions for this chapter.
Sidenote: I love the line, ‘Brushing your teeth is the top rung of a ladder, at the bottom of which is the perdition of the soul.’
2.6.3
The nuns have to face all the strict rules, but it does not seem so harsh for the young girls who live in the boarding school attached to the convent, although they still have to abide by all the rules of the convent. It is still pretty strict that even pupils who have left still remember the habits drilled into them. What breaks my heart is that even the little children are not allowed to say goodbye to their mothers or sisters. This seems to cause a moral outrage since the nuns actively discourage love and kindness among themselves and the young girls. Their intentions might be good, but I shudder to think what psychological damage living in a boarding house without the kindness and comfort that the children need to grow up, might be doing to them, especially for the ones who spend years here.
It’s also as @akallabeth-joie noticed that it takes such a long time for the nuns to take their final vows and they don’t accept widows into their order, which is also surprising. Not to mention that mostly wealthy families are sending their girls to convent ---from my limited search, there appears to be a revival of Catholicism after the French Revolution during Napoleon I’s time and then during the Restoration from 1814 to 1830, which may explain why the wealthy are so connected to Catholicism or at least want to be.
Sidenote: This is not related, but throughout these chapters, I wonder if this is also Hugo contrasting the bishop with his love and kindness and being vaguely Christian, with the Catholic nuns, who while they mean well and dedicate themselves to the love of Christ, are too strict in everything.
2.6.4
I really like the chapters with the details of the young girls’ lives that we are invited to share in. The girls fill the rooms with brightness and sweetness, the sound of laughter and birds singing, whereas the nuns stay in shadows, is that a direct light/dark symbolism?
The gloomy walls are filled with laughter again and the characters and writers from the epics merge with the fairy tales, there is something to amuse everyone, a child’s innocent laughter and play. I also love the little remarks and the stories that the girls make, they are so funny and very childlike, Hugo is really good at writing the little children and understanding that their manner of experiencing the world is different from adults. I also love the children using a pun for the nun who carries the keys.
My favourite part is the whole sorting of the children into the different houses, (it’s my personal headcanon that Cosette is a caterpillar because she transforms later and also because Hugo never gave us this very important detail). Everything in this chapter is so refreshing from the doom and gloom of the previous chapters. The childrens’ laughter and joy, transforms this place. I think it is not a coincidence that Hugo lists laughter as an important point in the revolution and assigns it to Bahorel, here too, laughter completely transformed this place.
