#les mis 3.1.2

[persefoneshalott]

So true vicky hugo

[amelancholycharm]

LesMis365 3.1.2

I like the idea of the gamin having his own Paris within (below?) the city that the ordinary “respectable” citizen knows: the earwigs at Les Ursulines, the millipedes at the Pantheon, etc. (not to mention Hugo’s pun about the pont des arts).  For me, this links back to Hugo’s commentary about seeing the old Paris where the new city stands in 2.5.1 (A Zigzag Strategy), although this could just be my own obsession with that section. 

I’m a little ambivalent about the idea of the gamin preferring the street because he has freedom there (although, having checked the French, the idea that he finds “la liberte” is interesting.)  I guess Hugo’s claims about the gamin’s cheerfulness make me a little sad, somehow?  Although observing modern French children of around this age, made to sit so still in school, has me thinking maybe he’s on to something :)