[Discussion] Les Misérables by Victor Hugo 5.3.9 – 5.6.4

By Lake_Frog

Thénardier is still just the worst, honestly. Characters and readers both have to put up with him. And of course he’s not being noble here, he’s just being a sneaky bastard like always. He lets Jean and Marius out of the sewer because he knows the police are waiting at that exit, so Jean Valjean gets tagged and not him. And then, surprise, Javert is there too. He helps get Marius back to his grandfather, lets Jean Valjean go home for a minute, and then just leaves. He doesn’t arrest him. Marius’s grandfather thinks Marius is dead and goes on this big speech about how stupid his death is and how much he loved him and missed him. Javert’s whole world breaks. He let Jean Valjean go. He let a man go who saved his life, but who is still a criminal. For what seems like the first time he realizes the law isn’t clean enough for all the exceptions. So he goes back to the station and writes this appeal for changes to the prison system. Then he goes to the Seine, looks out, takes off his hat, and jumps. Jean Valjean goes back to where he hid his money and gets it all. Marius is sick for months from the wounds, with his grandfather always there. When the doctor says he’s finally out of danger, the grandfather starts singing. Marius heals slowly and starts piecing together everything, and who he is, and realizes he has to find Cosette. He’s still suspicious of his grandfather, thinking the old man will turn on him once Cosette comes up. And he does remember how his grandfather treated his father too. So he figures there’ll be another fight. But instead the grandfather says Marius should marry Cosette. He got to know her and loves her too. He even honestly thinks if Marius had died, all three of them would’ve ended up buried together, and the other two from heartbreak. They hug and cry and make up. And the grandfather seems to stop making such a big deal out of the revolution, because it’s not the hill he wants to die on anymore. Better to just let it go and live. Cosette and Marius finally reunite, with Jean Valjean/M. Fauchelevent there too. The grandfather asks Jean Valjean, for Marius, for Cosette’s hand, and they get engaged. Everything around the house gets all happy. Then Jean Valjean says Cosette’s fortune is six hundred thousand francs. While they get ready for the wedding, Jean Valjean ties up the loose ends from their old lives. He makes up a backstory that can’t really be checked but also isn’t not true. She’s the daughter of one of the convent gardeners, and Jean Valjean was her official guardian, with M. Gillenormand supervising over him. During all this, the grandfather makes sure every tiny wedding detail is handled. His whole thing is basically no restraint at all. Around then Aunt Gillenormand starts feeling left out by her father and decides Marius won’t get any of her money. She gets bitter. Then Jean Valjean’s identity comes up again. Marius is confused about whether the man who brought him home is the same one Cosette calls father. He wants to track down that man and Thénardier, the man who saved his father. But Thénardier can’t be found. The only clue about the man who saved him is some coachman story that people think is only half true. Since Javert never brought anyone in, there were no arrests, and Jean Valjean never admitted anything. The night before the wedding, the money is handed over to Marius and the papers are ready. But Jean Valjean has smashed his thumb, so he can’t sign. The wedding happens on Shrove Tuesday, so the streets are packed with carnival people. The wedding party has to push through all that to get to church. A Spaniard driving a cart for the day recognizes Jean Valjean. Marius and Cosette get married. At dinner Jean Valjean says he needs to leave, blaming his hurt hand, and asks to come by tomorrow. He goes back to the now-empty house and takes out the first dress he ever gave her and just cries. Then he spends the next 12 hours awake, trying to figure out if he should tell the couple the truth about who he is or even was.