#system bad

There are two ways this turns out. Forming a community with others in the same position (collective action) or utilizing the same tactics used to exploit you to exploit those further below. Valjean was saved from making this decision and Thenardier, not so lucky, has chosen the latter. And why shouldn’t he? “And what then are they, and what have they been in their time? Thieves! they would not have got rich without that!” Thenardier displays a clearer understanding of class conflict than maybe any other character in this book, even Valjean. The problem is, he wants what they have, without really understanding what comprises membership in a social class.

Notably, Thenardier hates the very thing he so desperately wants to become: “Oh! how I hate them, and how I would strangle then with joy and rejoicing, enthusiasm and satisfaction, these rich men!” Even in attaining their status, he wouldn’t be satisfied, he won’t ever fit with them. This goes beyond pure financial comfort and delves into a clash of cultures. And this is what Thenardier doesn’t get (because partial penetration) because social capital is just as if not more important than money.

This is actually expressed very nicely in Beggars at the Feast. The Thenardiers show up to Marius and Cosette’s wedding, obviously out of place, with no knowledge of the behaviors of the upper class. They viciously brag about how they’ve managed to game the system, to make it by casting aside the morals that keep everyone else trapped. In the 2012 film, they end up being forcibly thrown out, indicative of their lack of social capital. In the book, Thenardier continues his practice of punching down, becoming a slaver in America. In both, there is an indictment of the persistent cycle of exploitation, all due to the maintenance of class structures which create and enable ‘Thenardiers.’ The revolution is not over.

This is why Thenardier can only ever concretely conceptualize changing his individual circumstances. He says, “somebody ought to take society by the four corners of the sheet and toss it all into the air!” but he just doesn’t know how. He’s talking more along the lines of utter anarchy than a genuine proletariat uprising because he knows he wants them to change, but he doesn’t have a clue how that could happen. But you know who does? Les Amis, a group of (mostly) rich, well-educated students. They are the people the system was designed for, they understand the system because they were taught from birth how to move through it successfully. Luckily, they decided to use their privilege to (there’s no good way to say this) totally penetrate the workings of their society, but, ultimately, nothing but a collective sense of social welfare prompted them to do so.