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okay so i know i missed barricade day by several days but please accept this belated les miserables offering anyways.

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Feuilly and Rousseau and adopting the people(s)

Reviving a subject I've been thinking about for a while in light of hitting volume 3 book 4 in the read along in case anyone else has insight or has also spoken about it before!

So, first... Feuilly's intro:

Feuilly had a generous heart. The range of his embrace was immense. This orphan had adopted the peoples. As his mother had failed him, he meditated on his country.

Original French:

Cet orphelin avait adopté les peuples.

Emphasis placed on Feuilly being an orphan, and because he is an orphan he 'adopted the peoples'.

Now, a few chapters later we get THIS infamous interaction between Enjolras and Courfeyrac:

“Pay attention. This is the Rue Plâtrière, now called Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, on account of a singular household which lived in it sixty years ago. This consisted of Jean-Jacques and Thérèse. From time to time, little beings were born there. Thérèse gave birth to them, Jean-Jacques represented them as foundlings.” And Enjolras addressed Courfeyrac roughly:— “Silence in the presence of Jean-Jacques! I admire that man. He denied his own children, that may be; but he adopted the people.”

Original French:

Silence devant Jean-Jacques! Cet homme, je l'admire. Il a renié ses enfants, soit; mais il a adopté le peuple.

A very interesting use of (almost) the same phrase! Here being used by Enjolras to refer to Rousseau in almost an opposing use to how we see it applied to Feuilly - in defence of a man who made orphans of his children rather than as praise for a man who is an orphan himself.

Of course, this is 1828 at this point so what we see of Enjolras here is meant to be a less nuanced version of who he is at the barricades. The similarities between Hugo's narration when describing Feuilly and the way he has Enjolras defend Rousseau seems intentional; it's almost as if Hugo is contradicting Enjolras - or at least, definitely making a Point about how Enjolras views familial/personal relationships as unimportant at this stage.

BECAUSE!!! Flash forward to the barricades and we have ANOTHER line from Enjolras, during his speech from atop the barricade (yes, that part, the part where he gushes about Feuilly because Feuilly's Great guys, listen, you have to understand how Great this guy is) AND HE SAYS:

Listen to me, you, Feuilly, valiant artisan, man of the people. I revere you. Yes, you clearly behold the future, yes, you are right. You had neither father nor mother, Feuilly; you adopted humanity for your mother and right for your father.

Original French:

Écoute-moi, toi Feuilly, vaillant ouvrier, homme du peuple, hommes des peuples. Je te vénère. Oui, tu vois nettement les temps futurs, oui, tu as raison. Tu n'avais ni père ni mère, Feuilly; tu as adopté pour mère l'humanité et pour père le droit. 

Now Enjolras is talking about Feuilly adopting humanity and right, respectively, in a very similar way to how he earlier defended Rousseau. Hugo has him discuss Feuilly in the same way that Feuilly was introduced in his intro - if nothing else, he is at least bringing Enjolras' thoughts in line with his own.

This is especially important as this section of Enjolras' speech comes right before he starts referencing Rousseau's ideas - he talks about sovereignty of people and states and the social contract in a way that is very History of Political Thought 101. But he praises Feuilly before launching into that - borrowing the same structure from how he spoke of Rousseau four years earlier - in a way that feels very deliberate. The importance of Rousseau's ideas remains but where Enjolras previously professed admiration for the man himself, here he chooses to revere Feuilly instead.

I've always loved this bit of Enjolras' speech because a) moment of all time for Enjolras/Feuilly enjoyers and b) it's just a really fun bit of characterisation from them both. But now I feel like I understand a little more of what Hugo was actually trying to do in having Enjolras bring up Feuilly here, in this way. It highlights how he's changed in those four years, and highlights the importance of familial/personal connections in building the future. We see this elsewhere with Enjolras (mostly through Combeferre) and it's also pretty central to the entire story of Les Mis as a whole. The personal is important!! And whilst the Enjolras of 1828 may not have seen that, the Enjolras of 1832 is a little closer towards that ideal.

On the difference between peuple and peuples:

This is the part where I wish I had better French skills BUT as far as I understand it, 'peuple' is specifically a term used to denote people of a nation, akin to saying 'the population' or 'the people of X country'. The difference between people and peoples then becomes actually really interesting! Obviously Feuilly's whole Thing is internationalism and seeing the struggle beyond France, so of course he gets the plural. I'm thinking the use of the singular when Enjolras is talking about Rousseau is more of a reflection of Enjolras' politics at this point than anything else, which is also relevant when we get to the barricades later on because Enjolras refers to Feuilly as 'man of the people, man of the peoples', using both the singular and plural, right before he makes that comment about Feuilly having 'adopted humanity'.

It's a nice reflection of the influence Feuilly has had on Enjolras' politics AND it's also just a really nice reflection of Feuilly as a character, as a guy who had nothing and no one and yet came to care for everything and everyone. Ah, Feuilly <3

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ok les mis adaptation oc bracket is happening.

i need some help clarifying some of the submissions though. Also submissions are still open just reply with the oc and what adaptation they are from! ok questions:

the lesbian poet -musical : who is she?? what production? please i need her lore

glitternormand -??? : what

Gymont (a horse?) -? : what adaptation?

The rest of the characters already submitted are below but if you have a picture of any, especially of the more obscure, i would appreciate it <3 and again more submissions welcome!

ROBOJEAN -Arm Joe

ENJORLAS -Arm Joe

Ponpon -Arm Joe

Judgement -Arm Joe

Alain -Shoujo Cosette

Chou chou -Shoujo Cosette

Mireille -Shoujo Cosette

Toron -Shoujo Cosette

Richard -Shoujo Cosette

Rosalie -Shoujo Cosette

Paulette -Shoujo Cosette

Isadore -1992 French

Ernestine -1992 French

Teacher Armand -1992 French

Admiral the dog -1992 French

Jules -1992 French

Marco -1992 French

Robert -1952

Genflou -1952

Rivette -2018 BBC

The Man in the Yellow Hat -Bedtime Stories

Legless wife -2000

Santa -2012

Turning woman #3 -2012

Vernon -I Mis 1964

Waterloo theater troupe -I Mis 1964

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MY BOY COURFEYRAC 💗

This took me ages and yet i still hate how basic it looks

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Jehan again, (and a bit of Enjolras) inspired by the painting under the cut

(the amis in the back from left to right: Grantaire, Joly, Combeferre, Feuilly, Bahorel)

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Éponine drawings I did while the bus was broken down for four hours.

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sorry for only ever drawing Enjolras and Grantaire I swear I care about the other guys too...take this as my apology

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bday commission for my friend @xiao-hudie🌟!

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Jehan, Jehan, Jehan!

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Enjolras était un jeune homme charmant, capable d’être terrible.

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courf's love language is teasing

—

doodle i made for @/l832 for Barricadescon!

ref pic below

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Ivy was seen as a symbol of true friendship due to the persistence of its attachment. Further, the plant clings even to dead trees and all the while remains green. Thus the plant became seen as a symbol of eternal life and the eternal nature of the soul after death. 🪽❤️🌿

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éponine thenardier <3 i love making these pixel drawings

the colours came out a lot more duller than they were on my ipad as well??? i’m so annoyed about it 😭 why is my ipad like 10x more saturated than other devices

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Boyy if you don’t stop yearning and get to the barricades rn….

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sketchy little e&r pygmalion.