#mlle baptistine

[lesmisshippingshowdown]

Les Mis Shipping Showdown: Round of 16

Valjean/Javert vs. Mlle. Baptistine/Mme. Magloire

Valjean/Javert

Mlle. Baptistine/Mme. Magloire

Voting ended onApr 6

Learn how to steal this poll here!

Valvert art by @jadenvargen Baptistine/Magloire art by @piierogis

[lizardrosen]

11/14/19 BrickClub 1.5.4

(Originally 11/12/19)

Chapter IV. Monsieur Madeleine In Mourning

Bishop Myriel dies in 1821 “in the odor of sanctity at the age of eighty-two” which seems to be a Catholic concept that subtly marks him as a saint, if we weren’t convinced already.

He’d been blind for a few years before his death, and Mademoiselle Baptistine took care of him, which is very sweet and loving, but then Hugo just has to make it weird with things like “a wonderful person who is there because you need her and because she can’t do without you” and “since she devotes all her time to me, that means I have her whole heart”. So yeah, being blind is great for the soul, especially if you have a woman by your side to take care of all your needs.

Madeleine wears mourning for the bishop and everyone speculates about how they must have been connected somehow. It’s a potentially ruinous connection to his past, but completely understandable that he would risk discovery to pay honor to someone who changed his life so completely. And at this point he’s respected enough in the town that everyone is merely curious, but not malicious about it.

I always love his explanation that “I was one of his family’s lackeys when I was young.” because he’s still treating Myriel as his employer in a way, by honoring his instructions so  closely.

He also keeps a connection with his past when he stops all the Savoyards who pass through, trying to find some information about Petit Gervais. It’s been six years since he stole that coin, meaning the boy would be around seventeen or eighteen by now, but it may be more Symbolic for him, and now every young Savoyard is a stand-in for the one he stole from.

[potatoobsessed999]

Brickclub 1.1.1

A few days behind, but here I am!

I love the Bishop. This chapter is really just his backstory, and there’s not as much that interests me there, but I’m very fond of the character, so it’s nice to read about him anyway. 

We do get one line from him that I like quite a bit, from when he meets Napoleon - “Sire, you are looking at a plain man and I am looking at a great man. Each of us may benefit.” 

Myriel’s being humble and complimentary there (”I am looking at a great man”) and that, presumably, is what makes Napoleon calm down about Myriel’s staring at him, which he had been stern about when he first addressed Myriel. But Myriel is couching an admonishment in his humility, by telling Napoleon that he might benefit from looking at a plain man - i.e., presumably, that he’s too proud.

I have vague memories of saint stories, or homilies, or something of that nature, where this is done. It takes the other person off-balance - sets them up with a feeling of appreciation at being flattered, and sneaks in the reprimand along with it. The unexpectedness of it is almost funny, and I think that probably makes it go down easier - would for me, anyway. And apparently it does for Napoleon, because he gets Myriel a bishopric soon afterwards.

Myriel arrives in Digne with his sister, Mlle Baptistine, and their servant, Mme Magloire. We get a lot of description of Mlle Baptistine, and here we go with Hugo’s ideas about women. I’ve seen a lot of people cover that. What sticks out to me is how annoyingly beautiful a large part of this passage is. I mean, “a quality of transparency through which her saintly nature could be seen to shine.” “[Her being] was a shred of matter harboring a light.” That is lovely! It evokes the image of a soul like a bird, made of light, almost too large and strong for the body to hold it. If only the whole description weren’t so aggressively gendered! Let Myriel’s body be a shred of matter harboring a light too, for gosh sakes.

Mme Magloire gets a single sentence, contrasting her sharply to Baptistine. She’s “always busy and always breathless.” I get a strong Mary and Martha vibe here - that is, the sisters of Lazarus in the New Testament. The implication from that parallel is that Magloire (the Martha) would be better, more saintly, if she were more like Baptistine (the Mary). Except that doesn’t work - with Mary and Martha, both sisters were on equal social footing, and their workload was shared, they just prioritized differently. Magloire is a servant. It’s her actual job to be busy. Baptistine has more freedom to spend her time on religious pursuits.

I don’t know, maybe I’m reading too far into it and it’s not actually an allusion to Mary and Martha, but two women in the same household, one focused on spiritual matters, the other on earthly tasks? I can’t write the parallel off as coincidental. Anyway, I think this is more of Hugo being Weird About Women, because he tends to take class more into consideration than that.

And that’s pretty much the chapter! Good heavens, I’ve written a lot. It’s probably because I had the chance to infodump a bit about saints.

[lesmisshippingshowdown]

Les Mis Shipping Showdown: Round of 32

Mlle. Baptistine/Mme. Magloire vs. Courfeyrac/Grantaire

Mlle. Baptistine/Mme. Magloire

Courfeyrac/Grantaire

Voting ended onMar 27

Please note that Poll Stealing is NOT active in this round!

Baptistine/Magloire art by @piierogis Courfeyrac/Grantaire art by @weisbrot

[lizardrosen]

10/19/19 BrickClub 1.2.4 and 1.2.5

honestly it’s a relief to see that pretty much everyone just sort of took yesterday off, so I don’t have to feel bad :D

Chapter IV. The Cheesemakers of Pontarlier

“But I must tell you the cart drivers who didn’t want me to eat with them live better than you do.” Jean Valjean is still rough around the edges at this point, but he has a good heart, and he can see when things like this are unjust. Possibly he’s even more sensitive to that kind of discrepancy, as he’s fresh from prison.

Myriel gently and subtly giving Valjean employment advice, oh my heart! And the idea that he’s also showing him a way to break parole without stigma makes that whole discussion even better.

I like that we get Mademoiselle Baptistine’s perspective on this, because she gets to reason through Myriel’s approach to charity. She’s confused that he’s not taking the opportunity to give a sermon and “feed the man’s soul at the same time as his body” but then she decides that he was trying to “make him believe, if only for a moment, that he was a man like any other, by being perfectly normal with him.” I don’t know, it’s neat that we get to see how it looked to her at first, and then what she decided later on, instead of just laying out the exact facts of that night.

The detail of Mother Gerbaud showing up with her child and the bishop offering her some money (that he takes from Baptistine, but we’ve had that discussion already) shows that his door truly is always open and he’s never off duty.

Has everyone read this fic that’s Madame Magloire’s perspective as she brings the deerskin to Jean Valjean? It’s really good!

Chapter V. Tranquility

Madame Magloire conspicuously locks the silver in its cupboard. It’s just her last task of the day, and the narration isn’t really making a big deal of it, but it makes of point of letting Valjean see where she put them.

Even now it is hard for us to grasp what was driving him at that moment. Was he trying to issue a warning or to launch a threat. Was he simply obeying some sort of instinctive impulse obscure even to himself?

I suspect that even Valjean doesn’t know what his intentions are here. He’s got a lot of feelings, and he’s probably overwhelmed by all the kindness he’s been shown, so he’s trying to be like five different people at once (the convict, the guest, the violent criminal, the person who just wanted to feed his family) and he can’t reconcile all the parts of himself.

Also of note is the fact that he’s never referred to by name in this chapter; he’s just “his guest” or “the man” or does something “the way convicts do” and I suspect that comes from the same confusion of identity that drives him to make that violent motion at the bishop. It’s also a good contrast to the sentence that begins the next chapter.

[lizardrosen]

10/6/19 BrickClub 1.1.6

How He Protected His House

I like how Hugo keeps using little details that might be nothing more than set dressing in another book as a further opportunity to illustrate Myriel’s personality!

He gives away half the milk from the cows to the hospital, and then when it’s too cold to heat his room he shares half the cows’ space, and I don’t know, it just makes me smile.

I get Myriel’s perspective that “the finest altar is the soul of some poor wretch who finds comfort and gives thanks to G-d.” and I appreciate how that applies to Valjean, and how so many important ideas are seeded throughout this whole section. Still, I wonder how the “devout women” feel about donating money for him to get a nice altar and then it’s given to the poor. This has happened more than once! And they wouldn’t know exactly what happened to the money, they’d just think he didn’t think their efforts weren’t important enough to honor them.

“Sometimes there were twelve [guests] and the bishop would cover up the embarrassment...” Okay we get it, he’s Jesus and the disciples!

GIVE BAPTISTINE HER VELVET LOUNGE! It’s such a small thing to want, relatively speaking, and she never gets to save up any kind of money, even if it weren’t for a nice chair, because he doesn’t think about these things or how much it costs to run a household. And! This is in the same chapter as “the beautiful is as useful as the useful. Perhaps more so.” Please, Myriel! Let your sister have this one beautiful thing!

Translation difference! Rose says “Well, anyway, who ever manages to attain their ideal” while Fahnestock/MacAfee say “But who ever attains the ideal” and I really prefer the latter. It just feels like an important difference between “their ideal” and “the ideal”. One refers to more of a personal goal and the other seems like commentary on life and the world in general and how Trying Is Enough.

“For the rest, the place, being kept by two women, was always in a state of exquisite cleanliness from top to bottom. This was the sole luxury the bishop allowed.” *hits him repeatedly with a newspaper* It’s not a luxury if it makes more work for the people who do all the work anyway!

Those candlesticks and silverware will surely never show up again.

I’m always So Conflicted about Myriel leaving all his doors unlocked, because a church should be a sanctuary, but I don’t think the two women are overreacting to be worried. At least Hugo acknowledges it as a legitimate concern even if he resolves it with “Madame Magloire alone had the odd fright.” And for the purpose of, you know, the story, it’s very good and important that he has this practice.

Elsewhere he had written “Do not ask the name of the person who asks you for a bed for the night. He whose name is a burden to him needs shelter more than anyone.”

Excuse me now while I go cry about Jean Valjean.

[lizardrosen]

BrickClub 1.7.1-1.7.2

Book Seven: The Champmathieu Affair

11/24/19 Chapter I. Sister Simplice

Sister Simplice and Sister Perpetua are visual and spiritual foils in the same way Baptistine and Magloire are, and I love the candle comparison.

I don’t think Hugo’s looking down on Perpetua for being “an ordinary village lass.” Rather, the people who serve G-d because it’s a job are just as important and valuable as those who do it because it’s a calling.

Simplice Never Lies, and this will be important later. her rigidity in this makes her comparable to Javert, and is also the reason he trusts and respects her.

“She had a sweet tooth and she loved getting letters.” Really, Hugo? you want to agree with Tholomyes about what is or isn’t a fault? On the other hand, this might be Simplice’s view of herself, and not something Hugo’s imposing from the outside. “She did not understand Latin but she understood the book,” is a really good line.

Fantine’s health is declining fast, but his is only half the reason Valjean stays with her for longer than usual.

11/25/19 Chapter II. The Perspicacity of Master Scaufflaire

Valjean passes the priest’s place, retraces his steps, and hesitates on using the door knocker. It reminds me both of his return to Myriel’s home after he steals from Petit Gervais and his pendulum swing when he’s retreating from Cosette at the end of the book.

“He has no intention of being a saddle horse. To each his ambition.” awww, I legitimately love how thoughtful Scaufflaire is about his horse.

Scaufflaire tries to nonchalantly get information from Valjean the same way Valjean did with Javert, but Valjean’s a lot better at this, so he has to put the pieces together himself.

[lizardrosen]

Motifs and Themes in 1.1, An Upright Man

Hi everyone! I’ve been tracking a few motifs on this read through, mostly Significant materials, and also Fall to the Knees and people compared to stone and statues. Hope this is interesting or useful to someone. I might end up doing this just after the end of every section instead of every single book (or not at all), so let me know what would be best.

Fall to the Knees 1.1.4 (Bishop Myriel) “Man is made of flesh and that flesh is both a burden and a temptation to him. He drags it around with him and he yields to it. “He should keep a close eye on it, put the lid on it, repress it, and only give into it at the last extremity. There may still be some sin in giving in to it even then; but such sin is venial. It is a slip, but a slip onto one’s knees, which may well end in prayer”

1.1.10 “Now I am eighty-six years old; I am about to die. What have you come to ask of me?” “Your blessing,” said the bishop. And he went down on his knees.

Marble/People Turning into Statues 1.1.2 (In the dining room of the episcopal palace) The portraits of these seven reverend fathers embellished the dining room and the memorable date of July 29, 1714, was engraved there in gold lettering on a white marble panel.

1.1.6 …the fireplace, its wooden surround painted to look like marble, usually without a fire…

1.1.10 His agony smacked of freedom. His legs alone were immobile. The dark had him by the lower limbs. His feet were already dead and cold but his head was alive with all life’s potency and seemed powerfully illuminated. At this solemn moment G--- was like the king in the oriental tale, flesh above, marble below.

Under the cut: gold, silver, and mahogany. Some quotes are repeated across sections, especially in 1.1.6 and that glut of information about their house.

Gold/Gilt/Gilded 1.1.2 (In the dining room of the episcopal palace) The portraits of these seven reverend fathers embellished the dining room and the memorable date of July 29, 1714, was engraved there in gold lettering on a white marble panel.

1.1.5 … his head capped by his flat tricorn hat with three golden “spinach seed” tassels dangling off the corners

1.1.6 Mademoiselle Baptistine also had a huge bergere in her room made of wood that had once been gilt and covered in a soft floral Pekin silk…

1.1.6 above, where the mirror would normally go, a copper crucifix that had lost its silver paint was attached to a threadbare piece of black velvet in a wooden frame that had lost its gilt

1.1.7 When the chest was opened it was found to contain a cope of gold cloth, a miter studded with diamonds, an archbishop’s cross, and a magnificent crosier, all the pontifical raiment stolen the previous month from the treasure of Our Lady of Embrun. In the chest, there was also a scrap of paper on which were written these words: “Cravatte to Monseigneur Bienvenu.”

1.1.9 (Baptistine’s letter to her friend) “She also found in a corner of the attic two wooden console tables, antique style. They were asking two ecus six livres to regild them, but it would be better to give the money to the poor. Anyway, they are as ugly as can be and I’d prefer a round table in mahogany.”

1.1.12 (success vs. merit) Apart from the five or six illustrious examples that are the glory of their age, contemporary admiration is as shortsighted as it is possible to be. All that glitters *is* gold. There’s nothing wrong with being an arriviste as long as you’ve arrived.

Silver 1.1.6 … in the fireplace, a pair of wrought-iron firedogs decorated with two vases garlanded with flowers, the fluting once plated in silver, which was something of an episcopal luxury; above, where the mirror would normally go, a copper crucifix that had lost its silver paint was attached to a threadbare piece of black velvet in a wooden frame that had lost its gilt

1.1.6 But we must confess that he still hung on to a few things left over from all he once possessed these were a set of six silver knives and forks and a big soup ladle that Madame Magloire loved to see sparkling gorgeously every day against the coarse white linen tablecloth. And since we’re painting the bishop of Digne here in his true colors, warts and all, we must add that he was heard to say more than once, “It would be very hard for me to give up eating with silver.” We should add to the list of silverware, two big solid silver candlesticks that had come down to him as part of his inheritance from a great aunt.

Mahogany 1.1.6 Mademoiselle Baptistine’s ambition was to be able to buy a lounge made of carved mahogany in a swan’s-neck design and with cushions covered in yellow rose-print Utrecht velvet.

1.1.9 (Baptistine’s letter to her friend) “She also found in a corner of the attic two wooden console tables, antique style. They were asking two ecus six livres to regild them, but it would be better to give the money to the poor. Anyway, they are as ugly as can be and I’d prefer a round table in mahogany.”