HOT TAKE: Javert should be considered one of Marius’s Questionable Father Figures!!!!
I admit I haven’t reread Marius’s parts of the Brick in a while so I might be forgetting things, but here’s why:
Isn’t Marius addicted to collecting father figures? Off the top of my head he has Baron Pontmercy, Jean Valjean, Gillenormand, and Monsieur Mabeuf? Marius wants dads!!! Too many dads!!
In the Brick, Marius and Javert have that buddy-cop subplot together. Javert even gives Marius some Fatherly Life Advice like “courage does not fear crime, and honesty does not fear adversity.” At the barricades, Marius cares enough about Javert to *try* to stand between him and Valjean, even if he’s too late.
Javert helps Valjean (a known Dad) take Marius home.
But the NUMBER ONE PROOF: there’s a clear parallel between the deaths of Baron Pontmercy, Valjean, and Javert. Marius refuses to see Baron Pontmercy-- and by the time he visits him it’s Too Late because the Baron is already dead. Marius distances himself from Valjean-- and by the time he visits him it’s Too Late and Valjean is already dying. Marius also distances himself from Javert, literally moving houses to avoid speaking to him (iconic.) Then at the barricade he hears that the spy they’re executing is Javert....but at the moment he decides to intercede for him, he hears Valjean’s gunshot, and believes it’s Too Late and Javert is already dead.
Like yes, Marius ghosted Javert. But Marius ghosts all of his father figures. That’s what Marius does to you, if your his dad. He ghosted Javert-- but he ghosted Baron Pontmercy, he ghosted Valjean, he ghosted Gillenormand and ghosted Mabeuf too right? Gillenormand is just the only father figure who didn’t die before Marius came back
even though we all wish he did smh
Yes, Javert is shitty at being Marius’s dad, but Gillenormand is also very shitty at being Marius’s dad. And Javert gave Marius two pistols, which is two more pistols than Gillenormand gave him
Anyway now I can’t stop thinking about Javert and Valjean bonding over how much they are frustrated by Marius and don’t WANT to be Marius’s stupid father figure
Valjean: (drags Marius’s body out of the sewers)
Javert: i can’t believe we adopted the same idiot
