One of my favorite chapters of book 8! The entire situation of confusion and "even the grave-diggers die" is inherently funny. However, it also poses a serious trial for poor Fauchelevent (and brings new sufferings for Jean Valjean).
Fauchelevent is not a natural improviser! (And perhaps that's why he wouldn't make such a great spy, as we had hoped a few days ago.) It's evident that he needs time to adjust to new social situations and changing circumstances. He is slow in digesting the new reality. Nevertheless, he tries hard to push through his agenda (like persuading the new grave-digger to go and have a drink), just as he pushed through his agenda (the need to employ his "brother") in his conversation with Mother Innocente.
@dolphin1812 made excellent observations about Gribier! There's not much to add, except that Hugo made his best to make him rather disagreeable. His arrogance (constantly addressing Fauchelevent as "peasant" and "villager") is truly irritating.
I quite enjoyed the comparison of the two cemeteries: on one hand, the Vaugirard cemetery - "a faded cemetery" deserted even by flowers, abandoned by the bourgeois because it "hinted at poverty," and on the other hand, the fashionable and elegant Père-Lachaise (compared to "mahogany furniture"). It was only a few decades ago that it was difficult to persuade the bourgeois to bury their dead in Père-Lachaise!
Now I am haunted by the image of "a coffin, covered with a white cloth over which spreads a large black cross, like a huge corpse with drooping arms."
