Marius is speedrunning a lot of processing. No one is really making it easier for him. “He, the poor, he was rich; he, the abandoned, he had a family; he, the despairing, he was marrying Cosette.” So many of these things are now arbitrarily his, or were never really gone, it’s no wonder it all feels like a facade. I’m peeved at Valjean for resolutely ignoring Marius’s desperation for understanding and letting him wander around in the fog. God! No wonder Marius is having trouble! Is he really concerned about money? Is Gillenormand supposed to be his newfound family? Is his father-in-law going to gaslight him for the entirety of their relationship?
Marius is looking to extinguish his demons, so to speak. Thenardier is gone in the wind and, as such, condemned to death. “This condemnation was the only thing which remained in regard to Thenardier, throwing over that buried name its ominous glare, like a candle beside a bier.” Marius! Heed literally every red flag and drop this!
There are so many threads here, asking to be connected. Except Valjean won’t say a word, the fiacre driver doesn’t know which officer “stationed him” and that it was the same officer who happened to kill himself later that night, Thenardier is a shadowy criminal, and everyone else with testimony is dead on the barricade. All Marius has is that “he could not doubt his own identity.”
Marius is actively and unreservedly very impassioned about this and it’s still vaguely ticking me off that Valjean is being so guarded about this. But I know Marius and Valjean doesn’t. Valjean doesn’t /know anybody except Cosette and I guess that’s fair for his circumstances. Marius could be a good and noble guy for decades and Valjean still wouldn’t share anything. “’Oh! if Cosette’s six hundred thousand francs were mine—‘ ‘They are yours,’ interrupted Jean Valjean.” He has always given alms rather than words.
Cosette comes with Valjean to visit Marius every day. Marius and Valjean don’t talk much, and when they do, Marius feels like there’s something off about him. Marius begins to doubt whether he really saw him at the barricade.
Marius struggles to discern what really happened at the barricade. He even begins to wonder whether it was all real.
“Enjolras, Courfeyrac, Jean Prouvaire, Combeferre, Bossuet, Grantaire, all his friends rose erect before him, then dispersed into thin air. Were all those dear, sorrowful, valiant, charming or tragic beings merely dreams? had they actually existed? The revolt had enveloped everything in its smoke. These great fevers create great dreams.”
Hello, lampshade chapter. Just in case we were wondering, Hugo gives us some answers:
*Yes, Marius misses his friends, and is traumatized by what happened. Now, let's move on.
*Yes, Marius' whole situation has reversed itself: the forbidden love is being celebrated, poverty is now wealth, his found family has been relaced by his formerly alienated genetic relatives, etc. It sure is bewildering. Let's move on.
*Marius doesn't trust his own memory; he and JVJ are too reserved to speak plainly about the whole barricade thing. It's frustratingly close to an idiot plot, but Marius does at least try to subtly confirm his impressions. Is there a trope name for 'we're too stoic and reserved for the 5 minute conversation that would resolve mulitple plot points? It's certainly JVJ's jam, but it's frustrating to read. [Goes back to re-read the conclusion to "Some Friendlier Sky", because I need Courf just shutting down JVJ's unnecessary self-martyrdom.]
Brick!Club 5.5.7: The Effects of Dream Mingled with Happiness
Okay, I know I've said this a hundred times, but
MARIUS DIED AND WAS REBORN. HE WENT INTO THE SEWERS AND CAME BACK UP. HE FELL INTO THE TOMB WITH HIS FRIENDS AND WAS THE ONLY ONE TO EMERGE. THIS IS CLEARLY SUPPOSED TO BE SYMBOLIC.
BUT PEOPLE WHO DIE AND RISE AGAIN ALWAYS COME BACK DIFFERENT. HOW HAS MARIUS COME BACK DIFFERENT?
The only way I can make sense of this is that Marius represents hope for the future, and that hope seemed dead when the revolution failed, but he struggled and fought and survived, and he'll live again and he'll love.
And I don't know, there has to be a reason that Marius's life isn't all about the revolutioning, but about Cosette and the family they'll have. And certainly that's something worth living for. The revolution was fought so that people could live in peace and love their families. So it has to mean something that the last survivor from the barricade went on to have that. He was hope for life as it was meant to be lived, not as the soldiers were compelled to live it. So in that sense, I guess it's appropriate that Marius put the barricade behind him. Maybe he understands now that they died so that he could live, and love, and he's going to pay them back in the very best way he can.
Brick!club 3/13/14,3/14/14 Les Miserables 5.5.7,5.5.8
Gonna try to keep these short, because I'd much rather be answering everyone else's posts on these last several chapters!
...It helps that most of my reaction here is screaming frustration at the leads. But wow, there is a lot of that! RAMBLING SUBJECTIVITY BENEATH THE CUT.
5.5.7 - The Effects of Dream Mingled With Happiness
I am not gonna give Marius the slightest bit of flack for not recognizing Valjean despite having seen him daily for months and all, I'm honestly not, because alongside Hugo's decent-for-the-time attempt to describe emotional shock Marius is also dealing with head trauma and months of fever and semi consciousness and I know A LITTLE about he hijinks that can ensue with actual brain trauma, and frankly I'm amazed Marius recognizes COSETTE.
On that note, I'm really very glad the recovery is taking so long-- I hate hate hate the way physical damage gets handwaved in so many stories. Part of the reason violence is Bad and To be Avoided is because recovering from it even for survivors takes a LONG FRIGGING TIME.
(I'll grit my teeth about Marius' view of his Past Self here, since Septembriseur deals with it well in another post and I want to talk about it there, and just say AUGH MARIUS and leave it at that for now.)
So really, solid marks to Marius for even being able to connect Cosette's dad with the barricades (I mean he's been actually delirious for months, he's probably had the impression of everyone he's ever SEEN having been at the barricade). And yeah, okay, I can see how just going "SO HOW ABOUT THAT FAILED REVOLT" is an awkward conversation and beyond the capacities of even Marius at full strength (he knew some guys who might have done just that, but, funny story, FAILED REVOLT, oh gad WHEN WILL THIS STOP BEING SO UPSETTING) much less now, so actually WELL DONE MARIUS for even trying to broach the conversation
which means I am saving all my WHYYYYYY for Valjean here. I mean, I get that Valjean is used to lying and throwing away versions of himself, but GEEEZ, Valjean, what were you going to do if Marius HAD definitely remembered you? Run away (and now all I can think of is The Most Pointless Valjean Escape Ever in Shoujo Cosette) ? Serious question, why even keep quiet about this? Fear Marius will turn him in? For WHAT?!? being at the barricade where Marius also was? VALJEAN I DO NOT UNDERSTAND YOU HERE, Marius GAVE you an opening and you didn't take it, whyyyy.
Also: wow, isn't that just super bitter after them connecting over THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION. Education for all! People need information, enlightnment, the chance for informed judgement! They are in unison about this! ...And there's Valjean purposely keeping Marius in the dark.
...Darn it, Valjean, I don't like being angry with you, but I THINK I AM BECOMING ANGRY WITH YOU.
5.5.8- Two Men Impossible To Find
...OKAY I'M OFFICIALLY ANGRY WITH BOTH OF THEM.
Marius goes right back to getting his Zuko on and trying to meet the demands of HONORRRRR, and EVERY TIME he does that he seems to forget that he has duties to the people who are involved in his life on a daily basis. Friends who took him in while he was broke? People took care of him while he was unconscious? Cosette, who's supposed to be the center of his everything and whatnot right now, and who he's explicitly preparing to have a legal and social obligation to? SORRY EVERYONE, YOU DID NOT EXPLICITLY SAVE HIS OR HIS DAD's LIFE ON THE FIELD OF COMBAT AND THUS DON'T COUNT.
And Marius just lays it right out-- he'd give everything he has to find the guy who took him from the barricade! Which, good enough, to a point, but he'd expressly give all COSETTE'S money for that-- just to FIND the guy-- and Valjean's only reaction is to say that Cosette's money IS his and
And just
just
ALL OF THIS IS BEING DISCUSSED WHILE COSETTE IS RIGHT THERE
And it doesn't seem to occur to either of them to wonder what would happen to Cosette if Marius did this, and I mean, for another man, that would be just a bit of hyperbole, but then another man saying "I WILL DIE WITHOUT YOU " would just be acting dramatic, not making a formal declaration of intent. Marius is many things! But he's not hyperbolic. Unfortunately. He would really give EVERYTHING in this quest. And then...??
I know I KNOW everything on this blog is about my Amis Feelings, but this obsession of Marius' with Duty and Honor at the expense of domestic responsibilities really does seem to echo the Five Less One More scene. It's all men wanting to make a grand gesture in the name of high ideals without thinking about who else their grand gesture will effect; men working, in effect, according to their acculturation AS men, thinking of themselves as independent and free to serve their sense of Whatever above all. Combeferre called the fighters at the barricade out on this, and he was TOTALLY RIGHT-- the obligation, the RIGHT to sacrifice for honor and ideals crosses right over when it touches on the obligation to care for others who are socially forced to be reliant on you. At least at the barricade there was some of that between the fighters themselves, some conflict of immediate needs; here, Marius is unthinkingly ready to put his future wife's security below THENARDIER (and a moment to consider the many layer of horror there) and PUBLICLY STATING his willingness to give away her economic security for some random guy
which by the way, since Marius does not know who Barricade Hero is, ANY man could step up and claim that thanks and probable reward and THERE IS A LOT OF REASON to do that
And Valjean, who is already planning to abandon Cosette (yeah, he's got his ideas and his reasons, but: HE IS PLANNING TO ABANDON COSETTE), just goes Yeah, OKAY, and leaves that gaping hole in their future security WIDE open
and no one steps in to say HEY BUT WHAT ABOUT COSETTE HERE, AHEM, because why would they, after all? She's just a part of whatever man currently owns her! They can do whatever they want with her! And she's been trained not to question about her own future (Valjean may not have MEANT to do that, but...yeah), and there's no man with enough awareness of the patterns in their society to argue with the other FRIGGING MEN here, in fact there's no arguing at all anymore, no ideas getting tested and tried and brought out into the light, just screwed up secrets and this headlong rush back to the status quo and I AM SO UPSET, SO VERY UPSET BY ALL OF IT.
*pause for breath*
Uh, other things--
Hugo's still rocking the Drowning Metaphors with Thenardier and Azelma (sunk without a ripple!)
I miss the Amis. I mean, OBVIOUSLY. But I also miss, like...everything that came with that portion of the book? Like from Parvulus on through the barricades, there was this enormous sense of the world opening up-- not a perfect world, a really screwed up world, actually, as the world so often is, but still, it was there, the entire city in detail and the country around it and it all felt so huge. And now we're walled into Marius' convalescence, which, as someone largely homebound myself, I find both WAY relatable and NOT AT ALL WHAT I WANT TO FOCUS ON IN STORIES. I am fine with people BEING stuck at home in their story, but there are ways of opening up the world there without even leaving the house, and that..is not happening.
I get that this is probably meant to be The Hero's Return (although I don't think that metanarrative scans onto Les Mis at all,l and don't even let me get going on Hero's Journey and the way it gets slapped on everything, Opinions I Has Them) but right now at least it feels less like coming home and more like getting shoved back in a cage and I am way uncomfortable about it.
