#3.5.5

3.5.5

Marius continues to meet with Mabeuf, even though it is rare, and Mabeuf continues to decline in fortunes and Marius probably would never ask him about it/or notice it himself.

He finds Gorbeau house and takes up residence there, he still has his pride and vanity which means that he won’t go anywhere unless his shoes are polished to perfection, so he only goes out in the cold or at night. He cares what people think of him, he cares about appearances so much, despite being in poverty as we were told.

We also learn that Marius is not as passionate about Bonapartism as he used to be, did he start believing in constitutional monarchy and think Louis-Phillippe is great? Marius’ political opinions are so vague. Maybe this is a sign that he would be moving in a forward direction in his opinions. 

But I would have still liked to know what he thought of the July Revolution, because it seems that for him it was just a passing note. July Revolution happened but did not affect Marius in any great detail except to cool down his passions for Bonaparte. Considering that Marius does not care for the battle of Marengo, which Wikipedia tells me Napoleon won decisively but instead cares about the book of Job (which again good ol’ Wikipedia) tells me is about being patient in suffering during diseases, death, etc. without complaining. I had heard of Job and his story before though as this is part of other religious texts besides the Bible.

His opinions, however, are pretty vague, which sort of are mirrored by him preferring ideas to deeds and poets to heros. He resembles Prouvaire in many ways here- in his preference of infinite reaches, obscurity and pondering over the mystery of the skies- except Prouvaire combines both deeds and dreaminess, whereas Marius is only dreaminess which does not lead to anything concrete in this chapter.

The idea of Marius thinking about women is pretty strange at this junction, since Marius has shown no thoughts towards women, not even towards his mother or his aunt, it seems that once again, Hugo wants us to think of the amis intentionally here, through Prouvaire’s occupation with women and even Combeferre’s larger philosophy about women, it shows that Marius’ philosophy will eventually lead to something resembling the amis’ thoughts perhaps.  

I’m not sure I’m impressed by Marius turning into a philosopher as Hugo mentions, once again this feels like Hugo is making Marius out to be someone he’s not yet. It’s the framing of this chapter that like the previous chapters frustrates me, we get little insight into what Marius is thinking except what Hugo tells us from the outside and his views about Marius were pretty skewed in the previous chapters, where he turned Marius into a ‘noble hero enduring poverty’. Honestly I would endure these chapters so much better, without Hugo being weird about poverty in the narrative.   

The dazzling of the soul comparison here means that Hugo has all the hope of Marius becoming a very promising young man for his soul is pure and we get the example of Marius making a spontaneous kindness after being told about his neighbours’ poverty by the serving woman. This kindness and Hugo insisting that Marius is good and innocent, is the only indication I have of Hugo setting Marius up for progress and change.  

3.5.6

Theodule continues to be so much fun and so much more likeable than Gillenormand, although Gillenormand is good for comic relief. The aunt is trying to lighten the mood in the house by trying to find a Marius replacement and it is obvious that the chapter wants to show us how Theodule is really not that and for us to laugh at him (we don’t care about authorial intent in this chapter :P). He is pretty silly but at least he knows how to flatter people and try and get on their right side.  

Gillenormand gives no thought to Theodule and continues to think about Marius. Theodule still has hopes of an inheritance and so is willing to be as agreeable as possible, it makes the whole situation much more hilarious with Theodule agreeing with everything Gillenormand says. 

Gillenormand’s speech in this chapter is a whole load of grand nonsense, maybe more coherent nonsense than Grantaire but definitely nonsense like Tholomyes’ big boasts. 

I find the references that Gillenormand peppers in his speech hilarious especially Gillenormand thinking that Marius would be at Hernani. I also loved Gillenormand taking a shot at Republicans and Romantics in a single sentence, Bahorel would be so pleased that he could terrify Gillenormand since he is both and I am pleased on his behalf. Gillenormand also describes the hairstyle that was popular with the Romantics/Republicans during that time with a horror, which is pretty amusing.

Hugo through Gillenormand is slyly getting back at his critics by making fun of his own play through Gillenormand. Gillenormand also accuses the Romantics of being badly dressed, Gautier describes his friends’ fashions in his History of Romanticism and Gillenormand would definitely be outraged. It also feels very much like an old grandfather horrified by the fashions of the young generation who are trying new things.  

The more he goes on with his over the top complaints, the more the people he complains about seem better and better, to me at least: they have political opinions, are having debates, working to throw out the monarchy and reorder the system, they are actively rebuilding the world; instead of like Gillenormand, only complaining about it.  

Gillenormand wants the young people to stop reading the newspapers and having ideas of their own and even for making puns he’s becoming increasingly irrational in his arguments against progress, because he does not want anyone else to move forward in the nineteenth. And perhaps that is one more reason why Gillenormand and Marius had to go their separate ways, so that Marius could grow out of his upbringing in some ways to move towards progress. 

Gillenormand calls Theodule an idiot, and it feels that we are meant to cheer when that happens, but I can only think that Theodule is much better in every aspect than Gillenormand, granted it was a low bar but still.

Marius is growing up and, in the process, growing less sharp. Almost too much so, in some ways, and not enough in others. He’s still painfully aware of his dignity, values his pride above pretty much everything else. (Also: as someone who has been in freezing temperatures for... some time now, I have to wonder how hard a freeze we’re talking that it doesn’t get mud on your boots. I know they probably didn’t salt back then, but even still. It takes a lot for mud and slush to harden completely. How often does it actually get that cold in Paris?)

This is very much the ‘Marius and Jehan should be friends’ chapter. Marius spends his time contemplating nature and the Infinite, feels himself to have transcended his humanity and seen more clearly that which others cannot. You get the sense that if he could just leave the physical plane, he would.

To Mabeuf (not Maboeuf, dear lord), “all political opinions were indifferent to to him, and he approved them all without distinction, provided they left him quiet.” He could learn a lesson from Jehan on how to both care about plants and your fellow man.

“Though poor, he had succeeded in gathering together...a valuable collection of rare copies on every subject. He never went out without a book under his arm, and he often came back with two.” Dare I say...same hat.

“None of her dreams went as far as man. She had never got beyond her cat.” DARE I SAY...SAME HAT.

Hugo seems to have a lot to say about eccentric old men and their dim but obedient female companions. Is it constant callback to Bienvenu or is he just part of the pattern?

This is where Marius becomes fully ensconced in his own alienation, to the point that he seeks it out without second thought. “He now preferred an idea to a fact.”

“There is will in the thought, there is none in the dream...Nothing springs more directly and more sincerely from the very bottom of our souls than our unreflected and indefinite aspirations towards the splendours of destiny.” This is a fair observation. But, while I may be able to more surely judge a man by his dreams, I am only able to commend him for his actions. Dreams are fine, but they only exist on a metaphysical level and, being a sociologist and not a philosopher, I don’t care much for metaphysics. Marius may have a pure soul and grand dreams of the future, but that’s simply all they are since he isn’t willing to engage with anything on a real world level! You know who else has all these things? Les Amis!

Everytime we get to this sequence, I want a fixfic where Marius and Mabeuf become roommates.

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Marius enjoys Courfeyrac and Mabeuf’s company, but he doesn’t seek it out very often. He prefers taking long walks alone in the Luxembourg. 

Some of Marius’s father’s old companions reach out to them, and so Marius goes occasionally to meet with them and talk about his father. He has to be careful about when he goes because he can’t afford a carriage and he doesn’t want to show up with dirty shoes if the streets are muddy.

Marius’s political opinions don’t really change, but they are tempered over time.

In which Marius has chilled out a ton, and wanders around Paris dreaming (with Hugo’s approval). It’s now mid-1831; Marius occasionally sees Mabeuf or Courfeyrac, but prefers Mabeuf*. And he just paid his neighbors’ rent because it’s a nice thing to do.**

*But when the situation gets weird next February, it’s Courf’s doorstep that he shows up on. I think things would go rather differently if he went to Mabeuf instead...

**Family debt to Thénardier = discharged. Not that it’ll stop him from also 1) not signalling Javert during the sting, 2) sending Thénardier money in prison, 3) saving Gavroche’s life at the barricade, 4) trying to save Gavroche’s life at the barricade (again), 5) retrieving Gavroche’s body at the barricade, 6) giving  Thénardier 500 francs the last time they meet. Marius’s accounting seems to constantly under-rate his own actions.