Hugo is amazing! If several previous chapters were about visual perception, this one almost entirely refers to audio perception. We hear Saint-Merry striking ten o’clock (it’s so early!) We hear Gavroche singing on the motif of Au clair de la lune. And then there is the sound of numerous footsteps: “This sound, faint at first, then precise, then heavy and sonorous, approached slowly, without halt, without intermission, with a tranquil and terrible continuity. Nothing was to be heard but this.” Voices exchanging “Qui vive?” – “Révolution française.” And then a shower of bullets and “a fearful detonation burst forth on the barricade.” These are all sounds we hear in darkness or half-darkness.
With the red flag fallen, Enjolras thinks that this symbol should be planted back on the barricade. The first obviously suicidal mission defined, and everyone is chilled, even the leader himself.
