The women of the Patron-Minette
I thought I’d make a list of all of the women in Les Misérables who are associated in some way (or in a few cases, are directly involved) with the Patron-Minette, even if they are mostly minor characters and we don’t get much information about them!
Éponine Thénardier - informal (but extended) association; lookout at Gorbeau ambush. Scout for rue Plumet.
The fact that Éponine knows all of the names of the Patron-Minette leaders, as well as Brujon, indicates that her association with the group must be frequent enough for her to have knowledge of who the gang members are, even right down to the minor affiliates.
Éponine is deemed reliable enough by Brujon to scout out rue Plumet whilst her father and the Patron-Minette were in prison, but the gang is evidently still not entirely trusting of her, as they check out the Plumet house for themselves after escaping La Force.
Hugo’s insinuation that Montparnasse and Éponine are sleeping together, and the fact she doesn’t address him as ‘Monsieur’ when greeting him at the beginning of the rue Plumet sequence, also indicates that Éponine likely knows him specifically on a more personal level than the other Patron-Minette heads.
Azelma Thénardier - informal association; lookout at Gorbeau ambush. No indication given of how familiar she is with the Patron-Minette on a personal level.
Mme Thénardier - informal association; participant in the Gorbeau ambush. She seems comfortable enough around the Patron-Minette, allowing three of the gang’s affiliates to sit next to her on the bed whilst Thénardier talks to Monsieur Leblanc, and is happy to go off with Gueulemer to try and find Cosette during the latter half of the ambush sequence.
Magnon - fleeting association; seems to know Babet’s mistress and is happy to pass on Brujon’s note to Éponine about scouting out rue Plumet, therefore indicating she has at least some brief history with the Patron-Minette.
Babet’s mistress - association; letter smuggler for the Patron-Minette whilst they are imprisoned at La Force. Mistress of Babet, and seemingly a friend of Magnon.
*Fauntleroy - direct association; prostitute, explicitly stated to be a Patron-Minette affiliate.
*Les-pieds-en-l’air - direct association; prostitute (implied), explicitly stated to be a Patron-Minette affiliate.
*Laveuve - direct association; also known as ‘the Widow’, is explicitly stated to be a Patron-Minette affiliate.
*No explicit confirmation is given to prove that these characters are women, but it seems fairly obvious to me that they would have been expected to be read as such. In the case of Fauntleroy and Les-pieds-en-l’air, prostitution was almost exclusively understood only in relation to women at the time, so it seems natural that Hugo would have written their characters as women. In the case of Laveuve, widows can only be women (a man whose spouse died would be called a widower rather than a widow)— although I acknowledge that ‘widow’ is used as a slang term for rope by Babet during the escape from La Force, so perhaps there is more to this character than actually being a widow.
