We start learning more about the convent school here. Given that Hugo handwaves Cosette's actual childhood, these descriptions are the only things we're going to get about her upbringing. And it's... not dreadful? I mean, it's pretty strict, but it sounds like the girls are allowed to be children. The nuns definitely recognize that those who have not taken vows cannot be held to the same standards as those who have, and you have to really mean it to become a nun here. Hugo talks briefly about the process of taking your vows, and it's a long-term, intensive commitment.
(I'm super intrigued by the 'novices taking their vows are dressed in finery and made up to look beautiful' thing. Where are they getting these nice clothes? Does the novice get to keep her own stuff until she takes her vows? Is there a convent-wide supply of hair products? What happens to the nice clothes once she takes her vows? Are you allowed to brush your teeth while you're still a novice? I have so many questions here, and Hugo answers none of them because Hugo thinks that women just sort of... happen.)
It's interesting that the girls raised in the convent are raised, "with a horror of the world and the century." I expect this is something Cosette and Marius will have in common -- both of them were raised in places that really, really did not like the world as it was and tried their damndest to pretend it didn't exist. Sure, Cosette's post-Thenardiers childhood was way more benign than Marius', but she was still isolated and taught to regard things like progress and revolution with wariness, if not outright horror. It's something that, if I recall correctly, Hugo doesn't really dwell on, but I have to think it's something they bond over, at least a little. Especially since Cosette went from the convent to Valjean's house, and Marius... is Marius. It's not like either of them had the opportunity to really dive into the world when they emerged from their restrictive upbringings. There's cultural references they're missing and historical events that passed them by and novels everyone else has read and they've never heard of. They have stuff in common, is what I'm saying.
But regardless of that, the point is made pretty clearly that the convent school is... I don't know that happy is quite the right word, but it is not a miserable place. The girls are allowed to play and to enjoy themselves and, within some admittedly quite restrictive limitations, to see their families. It's definitely not the worst way to grow up.
(Sidenote: I love Hugo's conceit that part of how he's getting this information is from interviewing at least one of the former students.)
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This is a convent with a physical appearance full of contradictions. The entrance is smiling, the courtyard is pleasant, yet the building itself is somber and tomb like. There is both a feeling that treasure might be found here, as well as the feeling that this place is too gloomy for existence.
I feel like this chapter conveys a lot of Hugoās feelings about convents. It conveys a very cloistered feeling, itās a prison/tomb like structure and even this chapter has a very somber mood to it, despite the fact that the people inside are illuminated by the light symbolism. The nuns are good and kind, according to Hugo, but this convent has strict and harsh rules, perhaps what most bothers Hugo, is that this place seems to be devoid of personal love and the nuns are devoting themselves to Jesus and as much as that is a noble quality (though Hugoās views on Catholicism arenāt favourable), this is still an incomplete love, which is why this dichotomy, in my opinion exists in this chapter. Hugo says there was life in the death, but for him, I feel, without laughter, without cheerfulness, without love/kindness for other people (Bishop Myriel and sassiness comes to mind), this devotion feels like being buried inside a tomb, albeit a tomb with treasure.
2.6.2
Iām not sure what the difference is between the different orders and the nuns? Iām not familiar with Catholicism, so if anyone has already said something about it or knows something about the differences, please let me know.
What I do get from the chapter is that the nuns voluntarily undergo all these hardships, even wearing the woolen chemise that causes fevers to break out and their rule is extremely harsh. Forgive my ignorance once again, Iām not sure why they have to pray like this? They are undergoing deprivations for the love for Christ, I guess, but this order seems so much harsher than the others and Iām not clear why they have to be specifically harsh. They do have democracy in place and get to elect the prioress, but their devotion to the prioress is absolute, and once again this becomes something wrong, maybe?
The reparation too is very strict with no rest in between, why do these nuns and this place give a very living in the prison vibe- from the prison in Toulon where Valjean was- except theirs is for the sins of the world instead of personal sins/crimes and is voluntary, but you get the feeling that it is much too strict, stricter perhaps than love/dedication to God should be? They live in open cells, are not allowed to communicate with family and can only see friends through the gate. How can they live cloistered in such a place, without showing any friendship/love/kindness for each other, even some kind of attachment to a thing or a book is frowned upon, whereas they have devoted themselves to God/Christ and to sacrifice? Is their good doing more harm, according to Hugo? You know it is not good when three nuns have gone mad in such a short span of time, itās also not healthy, because they are always punishing themselves, humans arenāt meant to live like that. I have no answers and only questions for this chapter.
Sidenote: I love the line, āBrushing your teeth is the top rung of a ladder, at the bottom of which is the perdition of the soul.āĀ
2.6.3
The nuns have to face all the strict rules, but it does not seem so harsh for the young girls who live in the boarding school attached to the convent, although they still have to abide by all the rules of the convent. It is still pretty strict that even pupils who have left still remember the habits drilled into them. What breaks my heart is that even the little children are not allowed to say goodbye to their mothers or sisters. This seems to cause a moral outrage since the nuns actively discourage love and kindness among themselves and the young girls. Their intentions might be good, but I shudder to think what psychological damage living in a boarding house without the kindness and comfort that the children need to grow up, might be doing to them, especially for the ones who spend years here. Ā
Itās also as @akallabeth-joie noticed that it takes such a long time for the nuns to take their final vows and they donāt accept widows into their order, which is also surprising. Not to mention that mostly wealthy families are sending their girls to convent ---from my limited search, there appears to be a revival of Catholicism after the French Revolution during Napoleon Iās time and then during the Restoration from 1814 to 1830, which may explain why the wealthy are so connected to Catholicism or at least want to be. Ā Ā
Sidenote: This is not related, but throughout these chapters, I wonder if this is also Hugo contrasting the bishop with his love and kindness and being vaguely Christian, with the Catholic nuns, who while they mean well and dedicate themselves to the love of Christ, are too strict in everything. Ā
2.6.4
I really like the chapters with the details of the young girlsā lives that we are invited to share in. The girls fill the rooms with brightness and sweetness, the sound of laughter and birds singing, whereas the nuns stay in shadows, is that a direct light/dark symbolism? Ā
The gloomy walls are filled with laughter again and the characters and writers from the epics merge with the fairy tales, there is something to amuse everyone, a childās innocent laughter and play. I also love the little remarks and the stories that the girls make, they are so funny and very childlike, Hugo is really good at writing the little children and understanding that their manner of experiencing the world is different from adults. Ā I also love the children using a pun for the nun who carries the keys.
My favourite part is the whole sorting of the children into the different houses, (itās my personal headcanon that Cosette is a caterpillar because she transforms later and also because Hugo never gave us this very important detail). Everything in this chapter is so refreshing from the doom and gloom of the previous chapters. The childrensā laughter and joy, transforms this place. I think it is not a coincidence that Hugo lists laughter as an important point in the revolution and assigns it to Bahorel, here too, laughter completely transformed this place.
āOn the day when a novice makes her profession, she is dressed in her handsomest attire, she is crowned with white roses, her hair is brushed until it shines, and curled. Then she prostrates herself; a great black veil is thrown over her, and the office for the dead is sung. Then the nuns separate into two files; one file passes close to her, saying in plaintive accents, āOur sister is deadā; and the other file responds in a voice of ecstasy, āOur sister is alive in Jesus Christ!āā
There is also a boarding school for girls attached to the convent, and the students used to dress up as nuns on holidays. They are also not allowed to leave the convent or to see their loved ones except through the shutter.
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Hugo: "Here's the process for joining this convent. Btw, there's a school here, too. It's just as severe, but the students like imitating the nuns (as a treat), and are only a little ill-prepared for secular life as a result."
I maybe shouldn't keep tagging this portion as digression (the 2.7s are), because this is really where Hugo shows us Cosette's laterĀ childhood and schooldays. He does something similar for Marius, describing the Gillenormand household and the family's royalist salon friends, and leaving us to imagine growing up in that environment rather than showing specific incidents in young Marius's life; also for Gavroche with the gamin chapters. Again, it feels like this technique should have a name...
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More convent practices. Weāre already established that these are very serious nuns, but somehow reading these first few paragraphs really reinforced how isolated their cloister is (despite the presence of school children). The 6-8 years postulancy/novitiate makes perfect sense to ensure that a potential nun knows what sheās getting into and that she fits into the group--but it also suggests that most of these nuns entered the convent in their late teens, and never leave it alive. [Or ever, if they had their way about keeping corpses in the basement--thank you for that turn of phrase @coelenterata]. We donāt have hard numbers for how old the pupils are (it seems to be ages 7-16 or so?),Reading ahead to the next chapter, the students seem to be age 5-16; itās really easy to image someone entering the convent as a student before taking vows, and functionally never seeing the outside world after the age of 85.Ā Talk about buried alive.
There also isnāt a maximum age given for new nuns, but the wholeĀ āno widowsā thing would appear to limit the number of older women entering the convent. I suppose one could be single for a while before choosing to join this particular convent, but Iām getting the feeling thatās not common. So, theyāre really choosing to further isolate themselves from the outside world by excluding anyone with experience of it. This raises some interesting implications for what all these noble families are looking for in their daughtersā education.Ā
[Fun fact: the nuns of Fontevrault not only accepted widows, but required that their abbess be a noble widow.]
