“M. Mabeuf’s political opinion consisted in a passionate love for plants, and, above all, for books.”
“He did not understand how men could busy themselves with hating each other because of silly stuff like the charter, democracy, legitimacy, monarchy, the republic, etc., when there were in the world all sorts of mosses, grasses, and shrubs which they might be looking at, and heaps of folios, and even of 32mos, which they might turn over.”
“When it sometimes happened to him—and to whom does it not happen?—to say: “Oh! if I were only rich!” it was not when ogling a pretty girl, as was the case with Father Gillenormand, but when contemplating an old book.”
He also wrote and published a rather popular book about plants.
“He never went out without a book under his arm, and he often returned with two.”
His servant is nicknamed Madame Plutarch, and she owns a cat.
In 1830, Mabeuf’s brother dies, and for some reason Mabeuf does not receive what was allotted to him in his brother’s will. At the same time, the July rebellion leads to a decrease in the sales of his book. He moves to a smaller house, selling most of his furniture.
Despite his misfortune, Mabeuf still manages to find joy in the simplest things.
And here we are introduced to Mabeuf, who is Marius’ one of two friends and also referred to as a candle for Marius, providing him with some light/guidance.
Monsieur Mabeuf, has no interest in politics, he approves of all political opinions, as long as there is no violence, while he enjoys reading his books. He’s such a kind person to talk to Georges Pontmercy, and he does seem to have some parallels to Bishop Myriel, who also tried to not focus on political opinions. He also shares Myriel’s love of gardening.
The love of gardening is both focusing on the flowers/beautiful, as well as the useful trying to grow new fruit and also trying to popularise the indigo dye in France, which used to be imported till the late eighteenth century and would have made him rich if he had found a way to naturalise indigo plants. In some ways, Mabeuf is a dreamer, a bit like Marius, because he seems too focused on his dreams.
He is a recluse in many ways too, he avoids people’s company, preferring to stay active with books or his gardening. I love this line, ‘He never went out without a book under his arm and came back with two.’, this is so relatable.
He has a housekeeper, whom he has named Mother Plutarch, choosing to address her with a Greek nickname is perhaps another of his eccentricities and also, she has a cat which she has dubbed Sultan- this is such a delightful family.
Although, Mabeuf too, probably could have done with asking Mother Plutarch more about her wishes, when he had to sell and move to a much smaller house, instead of thinking she would be pleased with the thought of the indigo plant, much in the way that the bishop could have taken Mademoiselle Baptistine and Madame Magloire’s little wishes of saving up for a sofa into account.
Mabeuf only wishes for wealth in the general sense to buy more books compared to Gillenormand wanting to have money so he can appear better to women, although, in some ways Mabeuf did become a sort of paternal figure towards Marius that Gillenormand didn’t, teaching him about his father through flowers, otherwise, there isn’t anything that Gillenormand and Mabeuf have in common.
It feels as though Hugo is pointing out that Mabeuf’s reclusiveness is working at a disadvantage for him here, much like for Marius, because he could live with other people and build a community around him of people who would help him in his old age, but he has cut himself off society so much because of his shyness and his reclusive nature, it might also be a warning to Marius in a way.
Mabeuf and Mere Plutarch meanwhile are finding their fortunes dwindling after the death of Pere Mabeuf’s brother and a bankruptcy, they find they have to sell their books and prints and move to a smaller and smaller house each time because a time of political turmoil is hardly a good time to sell the Flora of the Environs of the Cauterets.
I find it interesting that while Hugo does mention that Mabeuf’s dreaminess is carried to an extreme- Hugo shows darkness gathering around Mabeuf while he keeps his illusions- such a dreaminess does lead to an awakening (is that foreshadowing of Mabeuf’s barricade role? It seems that way and also maybe there is a very slight comparison to Grantaire being made here, who will also have his own awakening).
It’s also I guess, maybe the fact that society in 1830 does not have any social safety nets in place for Mabeuf and Mere Plutarch in their old age, so in his mind, maybe all political opinions are fine but he would not spend much time thinking about them because they ignore him and his life.
Mabeuf though has his moments of jokes and puns, I love how characters get these little moments, they are so delightful, and I really wish these two and Sultan the cat could adopt all the children in this book and live happily for the rest of their days.
I feel like there’s a thing going on in the juxtaposition of Marius and Mabeuf, but I can’t put my finger on what it is. Maybe just the comparison of two very different, but also not so different, forms of poverty in such quick succession. Because their circumstances are very different but, ultimately, they have the same approach to those circumstances: to ignore the physical world and dwell as much as possible on dreams. Only, for Marius, who is young, this is a temporary thing, and for Mabeuf, who is not, it’s the rest of his life.
Mabeuf is such a dear, though, and I wish he and Valjean had gotten a chance to get to know each other. I bet Valjean, with all his botanical knowledge, would have a lot to talk about with Mabeuf. Petition for, somehow, Mabeuf and Valjean and Fauchlevent to become garden friends.
The old, apolitical dreamer is a Type for Hugo, I think. We’ve got a couple of them in this book, and another pretty important one in 93. I’m not sure about his other books, not having read them, but it feels like an archetype he comes back to repeatedly. And at least here, he’s using it to make a point, namely that, even if you want to ignore politics, politics won’t ignore you. Mabeuf’s poverty is precipitated by a change in the political situation, and his falling through the cracks into poverty is because of the general lack of social safety nets that Hugo’s highlighted elsewhere. He approves of all political opinions, but not all political opinions approve of him, and therein lies the problem.
To Mabeuf (not Maboeuf, dear lord), “all political opinions were indifferent to to him, and he approved them all without distinction, provided they left him quiet.” He could learn a lesson from Jehan on how to both care about plants and your fellow man.
“Though poor, he had succeeded in gathering together...a valuable collection of rare copies on every subject. He never went out without a book under his arm, and he often came back with two.” Dare I say...same hat.
“None of her dreams went as far as man. She had never got beyond her cat.” DARE I SAY...SAME HAT.
Hugo seems to have a lot to say about eccentric old men and their dim but obedient female companions. Is it constant callback to Bienvenu or is he just part of the pattern?
This is where Marius becomes fully ensconced in his own alienation, to the point that he seeks it out without second thought. “He now preferred an idea to a fact.”
“There is will in the thought, there is none in the dream...Nothing springs more directly and more sincerely from the very bottom of our souls than our unreflected and indefinite aspirations towards the splendours of destiny.” This is a fair observation. But, while I may be able to more surely judge a man by his dreams, I am only able to commend him for his actions. Dreams are fine, but they only exist on a metaphysical level and, being a sociologist and not a philosopher, I don’t care much for metaphysics. Marius may have a pure soul and grand dreams of the future, but that’s simply all they are since he isn’t willing to engage with anything on a real world level! You know who else has all these things? Les Amis!
“...he had finally come hardly to look at anything but the sky...” And that about sums things up, doesn’t it?
Hello Zoog, first program for BCT’s programming for creative. I did the code and it was nice to know that it is quite similar to different language codes. this was actually my first time using processing 3.5.4 because i’ve only used python, html and css in highschool.
I did some experiments with my Zoog like making it jump up and down and use my mouse to drag it around the frame, and even change its colors.
M. Mabeuf is fabulous, and I want to give him a hug.
"M. Mabeuf avait pour opinion politique d'aimer passionnément les plantes, et surtout les livres...il était bouquiniste." I sympathize with this position. I'd make a joke about joining his political party, but since 2003 or thereabouts, I feel irresponsible for even joking about it.
Anyway, we get nice character sketches of M. Mabeuf and Mere Plutarque, about their interests in cats and flowers and books, and their lack of interest in romantic attachments. These honestly feel like sketches of people Hugo has met--composite figures, perhaps, but real.
Reading this again is making me even less content with Mabeuf's role in the BBC Mis. He's explicitly pacifistic, to the point that it affects where he lives (or at least how he feels about living in a village named for a battle or next to a shooting range). Having him bond with Marius over Georges' military career instead of his flower-growing is a reversal of his character. It's also one we, unfortunately, saw too much of.
“A bouquiniste” … ”though he loved people’s faces, he hated their noise” …. “‘Oh, if only I were rich!’ - it was […] gazing at a book” … “He never went out without a book under his arm and he often came home with two” … “The sight of a sabre or a gun froze him” - Monsieur Mabeuf, I feel you. (Side note: Hugo, I’ve known you for so long now that your introduction immediately told me something bad was going to happen to this man, and I have the impression that it’s not going to get better.) I had the impression that Mabeuf doesn’t notice Marius’s devotion to him, but takes it as affection alone, and I feel like it’s a good thing, and that Mabeuf might have a calming influence on Marius. Which he really needs. What is it with female housekeepers in this society? Was this an attractive job for an unmarried woman? I’m a bit irritated by the way they are described - it seems an odd mixture of admiration and condescension which I can’t figure out right now.
