One spring day, Lanoire and Leblanc are walking past Marius’s bench. Just after Lanoire passes, a gust of wind comes and lifts her skirt up almost to her garter. Marius is upset. What if someone else had been there and seen her ankles?
When Lanoire passes back by the bench, Marius gives her an irritated glance.
An old man passes by and gives Marius a look that is almost like a wink, and Marius concludes that the man must have seen Lanoire’s leg. Marius grows very jealous and sulks for three days.
Nevertheless, he is still so passionate for her that he borders on madness.
In which it is revealed in a shocking twist that Cosette has legs, or at least a leg. “But there might have been somebody there. And if anybody had been there!” Someone was there, Marius, it was you.
Marius gets unjustly possessive and jealous over a gust of wind and Cosette gets justifiably snippy, all nonverbally of course. Communication really is key. Marius contemplates killing a disabled veteran.
Marius is truly the most oblivious person in the world if he’s missing what are no doubt blatant ‘fuck off’ glares from Monsieur Leblanc, especially after following them to their home. Valjean, very sensibly, changes their patterns and then moves.
It all seems awkwardly endearing from Marius and Cosette’s perspective, but can you even imagine what this looks like to Valjean? I know what it would look like to me, a woman who lives alone in the city and walks home by myself most evenings. I would want to move too! And I’m not even a convict with a life term on the run raising a daughter who depends on me.
In Which Marius Can Fuck Right Off. Thankfully, Hugo is pretty much also of this opinion, although he shades it with way more, 'ah, Youth. Isn't he such an adorable idiot?' than I would. But, like, getting angry at her for something the wind did and then following her home are pretty big deals. If Cosette's dad didn't have legitimate reason to distrust Marius before, he absolutely does now.
(Brief Cosette is awesome interlude: when she responds to Marius glaring at her by raising her eyebrows and being like, 'the fuck, dude?')
So Marius takes to just... habitually following them home, apparently entirely oblivious to how utterly creepy this is. And honestly? I'm not sure Hugo knows it either. He knows that the ankle thing is over the top, but I don't know that he realizes that literal stalking isn't some, 'oh, Youth' thing. Marius is acting like a serial killer right now. The 'Marius will kill us all' meme could not have come at a more appropriate time. Even the porter is suspicious, which should be a clue that Marius is crossing the line but apparently isn't. Taking hints: not in Marius' skill set.
(Sidenote: We're told that Marius pretty much stops caring about eating during this point, but we're not told anything about the state of his actual work. Is he still working? Surely he doesn't have enough in savings to go for too long without income, and it's been over a month now. I can't remember if we get this info later on, but it feels like kind of an oversight to not at least pay lip service to Marius either ignoring his job or doing it without paying it any attention here.)
So Jean Valjean, who is not a stupid man and also, you know, a justifiably paranoid one, notices that he is now being stalked by this weird dude and, unsurprisingly, moves away. This is honestly one of the most normal things Jean Valjean has ever done in this book.
It’s interesting that Marius’ devotion to his father which was a religion for him is replaced by his love. I also don’t really know what to make of the fact that Marius’ devotion to his father is gradually becoming dimmer and occupying less of his time, so he needed something else to focus on. Hugo seems to be going with the love as guided by Providence by adding the detail about religion, but it still feels incredibly weird that Marius’ behaviour gets a pass so easily.
I also don’t really like the idea of Marius going to Luxemburg Gardens as a form of duty, since it feels very stalkerish. The only thing that makes it better slightly is that Cosette is also flirting with him and likes having him around. Once again Hugo is pretty weird about Cosette’s ‘virginal gaze’ and it being an ancient ploy that Cosette is using here.
The handkerchief should be pretty funny, but I don’t know reading it this time around, I don’t find it particularly amusing that Marius is picking up someone’s handkerchief. It does however tie back to how he was obsessed with his father’s letter, he is obsessed with the handkerchief in much the same way. He started to research his father and the handkerchief is the only clue about the young girl. Except it’s not even hers and she tries to tell him but Marius in his obliviousness does not pick up on the cues.
I don’t know if we’re meant to find Marius’ wooing cute, I am really not finding anything very endearing in this whole thing.
3.6.8
We get more evidence that Marius really is jealous and while we’re not meant to blame Cosette obviously, somehow, we’re meant to take this as part of Marius’ devotion and him becoming more and more in love, his passion growing.
I don’t like Hugo making light of Marius’ behaviour, sure he’s really trying to show his younger self in a better light, I think the skirt incident did actually happen between Hugo and Adele, but I wish the narrative had not taken Marius’ side, Marius’ anger is not ‘fair and justifiable’ at Cosette.
He is objectifying Cosette here instead of respecting her like a real person and somehow all this is fine and is treated half like a joke, half like he is becoming more devoted and consumed by his passion. Marius seems more in love with love because he wanted something to occupy his time spent doing nothing, rather than in love with a real person.
I can’t help but think of how better Seigneur Aymer handled his courtship with Diana in Champavert written by Hugo’s contemporary and friend Petrus Borel. Instead of stalking he was very frank with her and respected her decisions. This is where Marius seriously loses any sympathy from me, I don’t find his courtship at all cute or funny.
3.6.9
Marius wanting to know more about ‘Ursule’ follows the same patterns of him discovering his love for his father and wanting to know more about him. Obviously, because it is Marius he turns to stalking. Even though Hugo does say that Marius went too far by following Ursule and therefore his relationship may not be perfect, it's still pretty creepy behaviour which the narrative could have criticised more.
Valjean is understandably spooked out about someone inquiring about him and following him. Marius is asked if he is a spy- and I would rather read a whole novel about him as a spy rather than suffer through more of Marius being in love.
This is the second time (or maybe more?) that Marius has forgotten to eat, driven completely by love and it is interesting that his love obsession is described in terms of hunger. It is meant to be a passion that we’re supposed to take seriously.
Marius doesn’t really understand what he’s doing is wrong, he’s only happy in collecting more information, obsessed with the idea of Cosette rather than her as an individual. He does not think at all of Cosette but treats her like an object still to read about and know about. He also really doesn’t find anything meaningful about her, all he finds is a name and where she lives, nothing of what makes Cosette, Cosette.
In the case of his father it was understandable because he had just lost his father, was grieving and had found that he had been raised on lies about his father all his life. Here, he has no justification whatsoever and he still does not find anything wrong with it. I don’t know whether to blame his upbringing or to blame him or both.
To end on something cheerful, I like how Aunt Gillenormand was a really good spy who found where Marius was living and Marius in his turn finds out where Valjean and Cosette are living. Aunt Gillenormand teaching Marius her spy skills needs to be an AU.
Scene: Luxembourg Garden. It is a fine afternoon. COSETTE and JEAN VALJEAN have just arisen from their bench to take a turn about the room path.
Marius: *hides behind a tree with a book like the noodle he is*
Enter COURFEYRAC, BOSSUET, and BAHOREL, taking a walk in the park after cutting class for billiards.
The Wind: *blows*
Cosette: *wrangles skirt like a f*ing champ*
Marius: *is weirdly angry and shocked*
Bossuet: *chases after his hat, which has been knocked off his head and is now rolling merrily towards the nearest puddle* My old friend Aeolus is not done with me yet!
Bahorel: Those are some shapely stockings.
Courfeyrac: On ankles finer still.
Marius: *#!$@#?!?!?!? IT”S PISTOLS AT DAWN, BOYS!
Jean Valjean: *looks over at the students with concern, keeps walking*
Cosette: *looks at the students with confusion, keeps walking*
Bahorel: Coco, did that tree just turn into your gothic protégé?
Bossuet: *returning to the others, hat in hand* Wait, now it’s ok to mention the tree thing? Last week you told me--
Courfeyrac: *cuts him off with a long-suffering sigh* My dear Eagle, mind your hat before it takes flight again.
The Wind: *blows*
Bossuet: *almost loses his grip on the hat, which is making an energetic attempt to fly away despite no one else’s hat being affected*
Marius: Such vulgarity! Such lewd insinuations about one of heaven’s own angels--
Courfeyrac: My dear--Oh, is Mlle LaNoire your mistress, Pontmercy? Congratulations.
Bahorel: Lanoire? Look, I know one our best friends in a fan-painter named Feuilly, forgoodnessake, but I refuse to believe that a lady’s favorite color of dress is her actual name and not one of Courfeyrac’s pathetic attempts at wit. Do you even know this girl?
Marius: I--! How dare--!
Bossuet: *still struggling with his hat* Nope, Pontmercy’s been too abstractly distracted for that--a new mistress is more of a “happy” distraction.
Marius: *has apparently lost the use of words*
Bahorel: *clasping Marius on the shoulder* Ah, say no more. We’re all going to the Musain for a little chat about talking reasonably to ladies, and not stalking them from behind trees. *he begins to steer the group out of the park, a bewildered Marius in tow*
Bossuet: *to Bahorel* Reasonable precludes Courfeyrac on this topic, does it not?
Bahorel: *to Bossuet* Look, I’ll deal with M. Romeo here, you use your special powers on his boyfriend, and hopefully we can end this more like the comedy it is and less like a Russian tragedy.
Bossuet: *finally loses grip on his hat*
The Wind: *blows a particularly strong gust which pulls Bossuet’s hat up in a triple somersault and lands it daintily on his head*
Cossette: *laughs to herself, goes back to exercising her eldritch airbending powers for fun and profit*
Yeah, Hugo points out that Marius is wrong to be upset with Cosette because WIND HAPPENED, but VIcky’s far too amused by it. This possessive jealousy is gross enough on its own--girls have knees, Marius, deal with it--but Marius literally does not even know this person. He is projecting! Even if they were involved in some capacity, his behavior is completely out of line: getting angry at her, wishing violence on a stranger who was nearby... Red flags ahoy; do not date; flee, flee for your lives.
Between this and following her home to the Rue de l’Ouest apartment and trying to isolate her from her father after the wedding, Marius is ticking off an alarming number of boxes on the abusive relationship checklist. The omniscient narrator seems to think this is an epic love story, but keeps showing us ‘harmless foibles’ that are actually scary. Sort of like how Gillenormand’s an eccentric odd fellow, who beats his dependents.
The infamous ‘Marius gets mad that the wind blows Cosette’s skirt around’ scene. I give Hugo credit for pointing out that this is the wind’s fault--not Cosette’s--but he loses it for making Marius mad at Cosette. I get it, he’s trying to show how love (or at least non-physical infatuation) is making Marius a bit irrational, but I still don’t like it.
[For context: My current mid-century clothing researching indicates that women’s garters are usually tied just below the knee, and less often just above them. So, at most, Cosette’s calf was briefly visible.]
Okay. What is going on in this chapter. There are so many open questions and I can’t really make sense of most of them, so I’ll just try to sort them a bit and hope that something comes to my mind or someone else posts their thoughts.
Why is the French Republican Calendar suddenly used in this chapter - I don’t get the feeling that this is supposed to be Marius’s narrative, and even if it were, why would Marius subconsciously name the months like that?
What is the use of the war invalid? Does he serve for any other sort of symbolism besides enhancing the absurdity of Marius being jealous for no reason? To illustrate a change of heart, maybe, because he didn’t show as much respect to the veteran as expected? Then again, why let him wear a Louis XV uniform in this case?
Hugo - why would you say that Marius’s anger is “right and just”? It’s not - it’s just really, really, really unsettling, and the fact that it’s approved by the narrator like that doesn’t make it better. I’m trying to understand what Hugo tried to convey with the whole scene, but I’m honestly to appalled to make much of it. Is it supposed to serve as a demonstration that Marius’s feelings are completely non-sexual / non-physical? But why the anger, then - it would have been sufficient for him to be uncomfortable about having seen “Ursula’s” legs.
Literally the only good thing in this chapter was Cosette tilt[ing] backwards slightly and rais[ing] her eyebrows as if to say: “What’s got into you?” Yeah, Marius - what on earth has got into you?
