#2.3.11

Today was the end of Vol 2; Book 3!

103 chapters read, 262 chapters left

At long last, this Thenardier section comes to an end, and does so with a bang. Valjean’s putdown of Thenardier is delightful, and so very cathartic after 10 chapters of Thenardier being such a slimy asshole. And it reinforces the theory that Jean Valjean is not being taken advantage of when he overpays, he’s making a choice to overpay as charity.

Anyway, so M shows Mme the money and she, for the first time in their relationship, stands up to him. And it’s effective, in the way that you’re always told picking your battles will be -- the fact that she has never stood up to him before adds weight to her criticism, and actually gets him to change his mind. Like I said before, at this point in their lives they are very much a team. A dreadful team, and one that pretty gleefully ruins lives, but a team nevertheless.

But when Thenardier catches up to Valjean and Cosette, he realizes that Jean Valjean is not actually any kind of pushover. He can be an immovable object, when he chooses to be, and Thenardier is no unstoppable force. He tries all his tricks and none of them work in the slightest, and in the end he’s left with nothing more than what he started with.

We are then treated to a condensed narrative of just how Valjean escaped from the ship and got to Montfermeil. I assume he’s using an alias, because Jean Valjean is a dead man’s name, but we’re not told here what it is. He is once again firmly Jean Valjean in the narration, which may mean that that’s how he’s thinking of himself again. I haven’t really been tracking the correlation between Hugo’s use of names and Jean Valjean’s self-identity.

And we end with Cosette asleep on his back, holding her doll. It’s an absolutely adorable image, and it’s such a stark change from Cosette of the day before. A few chapters back, we were told that fear is so much a part of her life that she’s adopted it into everything she does, and here we get stark proof that Cosette is not afraid. For the first time she can remember, Cosette feels safe.

2.3.11

Everyone has highlighted the plot hole of Valjean getting money immediately after escaping prison, and that is a very valid question. He buried his money in Montfermeil the last time, how is he able to get access to it so easily from Toulon? Also, how long did it take him to get to Paris from Toulon? Hugo, I need to know the details exactly. How did he know about the tunnels, through someone in prison? This chapter is very handwavey about the details and all I am thinking is that I need to know, because he doesn’t have these many superpowers, or maybe he does.  

Number 9430 is reported dead and so Valjean can resume his own life. He returns fairly quickly to Paris from Montfermeil, it’s a relatively short distance between the two but it always manages to catch me by surprise. Jean Valjean travels in his usual way, by taking too many safety precautions through the night and deserted streets but Cosette who no longer fears the unknown because it does not contain Madame Thenardier feels safe enough to sleep in Valjean’s arms clutching Catherine, which is such a lovely image. It is also several years since Fantine came with Cosette also sleeping on her mother’s shoulders, so this is really nice image.

2.4.1

I really love the descriptions of the outskirts of Paris with which this book opens. I feel that Hugo’s poetic language comes through in descriptions so very well. I can imagine the place Hugo is talking about very vividly. It’s something that I, living in a busy metropolitan city am familiar with, there are places on the outskirts of where I live that seem like what he is describing – ‘Inhabited place where there is nobody and the deserted place where there is somebody.’

The place in question is a run-down tenement, which looks small but is bigger on the inside. The dilapidated door gives an uncertain address, it says 50 above and 52 on the door and the postman calls it 50-52 Gorbeau House. Even the door and the window seem like they belong on two different buildings and have two different personalities.

Hugo also talks wistfully about the buildings no longer being the same and uses the history of the building as an extended pun at the expense of lawyers which is pretty amusing. And both the crow and fox are known for being cunning and sly animals, which is another way to say how lawyers are just pretty awful. It seems like Hugo is going to use any opportunity to make fun of lawyers and it’s pretty funny.

But this is how Corbeau became Gorbeau and ended up owning the house. The history of the area around the house, the toll gate that used to exist is murky and associated with murder and the long road towards the guillotine for those sentenced to death. The place, as described by Hugo is frightening, ‘By day it was ugly, in the evening it was gloomy and by nightfall it was sinister.’

It is this outskirt of society, that Valjean and Cosette are coming to live in. Valjean from his natural reticence in not wanting to be among society chose a frightening but secluded area for himself and his adopted daughter.  The description of the building too will give an idea of its occupants who are not that different. Valjean and Cosette are also on the outskirts of society. Cosette being the abused, traumatised child who no one cared about and Valjean being the former prisoner 9430 currently believed dead. They too are respectable but Valjean dresses like a beggar on the outside and their appearance is uncertain as well, like the building.

**MAJOR LES MIS SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT**

Surprise: the mysterious traveller is JVJ, who did not die. Hugo gives us some tantalizing hints about the winding route JVJ took after his escape (which, first, I love because Hugo just keeps running with the conceit that this all happened and he's researching it after the fact, and second because the sneaky travel pattern continues through this chapter with the pair changing modes and directions frequently, making a long day's journey out of a few miles).

I'm trying not to think too hard about how JVJ had money readily available at the beginning of his escape. We know his horde is buried in the woods outside Montfermil, but he had ready means of payment immediately after faking his own death in Toulon.

A short chapter, in which JVJ and Cosette make their (convoluted) way back to Paris, and we get a rough outline of how JVJ survived, and escaped prison. Agreed with @melle93 that VJV's access to money early in his escape is a plot-hole (it's buried in the woods near Montfermil, so having cash to throw around later works, but not right after he swam to freedom). The hints about his escape are tantalizing, but I think it's really effective here to give more details about just how complicated JVJ managed to make the Montfermeil-Paris trip (~18 km direct), and letting us extrapolate that to Toulon-Paris (~840 km, direct...which was not what he did).

First, Moriah, Maria, and I went to Dick's, because we had a half day. Then we went to Pacific Place and walked all the way to O'Dea, although they weren't even out of school yet. So we hung out at the cathedral (lolol) for awhile. Once O'Dea got out, we saw a buuunch of people and it was really funny, especially for Maria. We were gonna hang out with Phillip, but he had to swim. Moriah got to see JC and ugh they are SO cute. Then we went back to Capital Hill and hung out at Tully's, waiting for Kai and Nate. Then they told us to go to Broadway, and they'll be there soon. We ended up waiting for them for an hour longer than expected, on Broadway. I was sooo nervous but really excited to see them. Since they were late, we could only be with them for half an hour. When they came, all we did was walk on Broadway. I was REALLY happy to finally be with Kai. And Nate, too, haha. Kai "taught" me how to skateboard, and it was so nice because he put his arm around me and held on to me and ugh. He's really cute c: AND HE HAS PIERCINGS. But today actually wasn't as great as we hoped because of how late they were. They were kinda being weird, too, but oh well oh well. They said it was cool. Hopefully I can see Kai again soon. Then I watched The Woman In Black with Danielle. It wasn't as great as I hoped either.