#lm 5.3.4

[dolphin1812]

“On disarranging Marius’ garments, he had found two things in his pockets, the roll which had been forgotten there on the preceding evening, and Marius’ pocketbook. He ate the roll and opened the pocketbook.”

I can’t believe Javert was right, Valjean will always be a bread thief

[lmchaptertitlebracket]

Round 2, Matchup 59: II.vi.9 vs V.iii.4

[cliozaur]

In this chapter, two things unfold: Hugo continues to flaunt his impeccable, nearly native knowledge of the sewers, and Jean Valjean carries on with his cross – Marius.

There’s really A LOT of infodumping about the sewers: detailed topography, street names, measurements, dead-ends, and exit information. Yes, Victor, it's impressive, but it's becoming somewhat redundant. Additionally, Hugo heightens the pressure in Valjean’s predicament by describing the dangers he would have faced if he had chosen an alternative route.

Once again, I'm moved and surprised by the way Valjean treats Marius. Hugo employs straightforward religious symbolism, comparing Valjean to Jesus, sacrificing himself for the good of others. However, Jesus wasn't expected to be gentle with his cross; he could have simply hated it. Valjean, though still harbouring hatred toward Marius (here: “in that half light, he gazed at him with inexpressible hatred”), paradoxically, handles him with care and tenderness, as if Marius were some precious and delicate being. Valjean ensures Marius isn't hurt further, holds him in such a way that “his chest was not oppressed,” checks his heartbeat, and uses his torn shirt to bandage Marius’ wound. Poor Valjean.

It now makes sense why Marius bought a roll and didn't eat it, allowing Valjean to find it in his pocket and consume it, so that “his strength had returned to him” and he could carry on his way to the Calvary (oh! Isn’t it an amazing coincidence that Marius’ grandfather’s address is Rue des Filles-du-Calvaire!) And let’s not even mention what this roll’s been through before it was eaten by Valjean. Both he and Marius seem miraculously immune to infections thriving in the filth of the sewers.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Les Mis 5.3.4 - He Also Bears His Cross

The big thing that stands about about today’s chapter s the contrast between how Valjean treats Marius and how he feels about him. He’s risking his life - and risking an indescribably unpleasant death - to save Marius, and he treats him with the care and gentleness of beloved family:

Jean Valjean, with the gentleness of movement of a brother for his wounded brother, laid Marius upon the side bank of the sewer…Jean Valjean, removing the garments with the ends of his fingers, laid his hand upon his breast; the heart still beat. Jean Valjean tore up his shirts, bandaged the wounds as well as he could, and staunched the flowing blood; then, bending in the twlight over Marius, who was still unconscious and almost lifeless,

and then, in an abrupt and deliberate contrast:

he looked at him with an almost inexpressible hatred.

Valjean’s great virtue is the determination to do, with incredible drive, persistence, and courage, things that he overwhelmingly does not want to do. When we are doing what we would rather not, whether great or small, there is always a temptation to realize, with great relief, that in fact we cannot - that it is inpracticable, that it is too late, that obstacles beyond our control have been laid in our path and it turns out we must give up.

The first moment of Valjean utterly rejecting this impulse at every turn is when he fights his way with intelligence, creativity, and speed, through a range of obstacles holding him back from getting to the courthouse in time to turn himself in and save Champmathieu. Indeed, he begins even before he has decided to turn himself in, first ordering for a coach for the early morning almost as reflex, and then making the long and agonizing decision; and then dealing with all the problems that arise on the journey. He does not want to do it - he feels joy in a moment when he has exhausted every possibility and it seems impossible to be there on time, and he is angry when a way is found - but he does everything he can, with great urgency, to be there on time.

This journey through the sewers is the mirror of that moment - persevering through every obstacle not in order to gain something he wants, but to sacrifice all that he has. He and Cosette have been the only people of importance in each others’ lives; he cannot imagine giving her up to another without losing her; he hates the man who is taking her from him and leaving his life wholly empty. It is likely that he gives his address to Javert upon freeing him because he will have nothing to live for without Cosette, and does not care what happens to him

The moment when Jean Valjean reads the imprint of Cosette’s letter to Marius:

The he heard his soul, again become terrible, give a sullen roar in the darkness. Go, then, and take from the lion the dog which he has in his cage.

When he learns that Marius is at the barricade, and will likely die, and may be dead already, he feels joy; and then he becomes gloomy, and goes out to find and save him. That’s at the heart of Valjean: he will do heroic things while hating to do them them, because they are right.

This is why, in the musical, the song “Bring Him Home” (he’s like the son I might have known / if God had granted me a son) only works for me when I take it as Valjean trying to convince himself, trying to awake in himself some kind of love for Marius, trying to create some kind of emotional connection with the act of self-sacrifice he has already decided to take; and at the last, at least making the choice that he will die and Marius will live.

[everyonewasabird]

Brickclub 5.3.4 “He also bears his cross”

I don’t have much to say about this one, except for that chapter title.

We’re invoking the imagery of Jesus laboriously and painfully carrying the cross up to Calvary where he was going to be crucified. Valjean is carrying a person he’s trying to save, which, while also a difficult activity of carrying something heavy a long way, really seems like it should be a totally different metaphor. But it isn’t.

Mostly, I think, because he knows that if he reaches the end of this successfully, he’s going to crucify himself on Marius.

And it’s just pointlessly sad? He’s staring at Marius in hatred in this chapter even as he saves his life (and eats his bloody pocket sewer bread), but God didn’t decree any of the narrative Valjean thinks he’s acting out? Valjean doesn’t need to die to give other people life, and he doesn’t need to regard the burden he’s dragging through the sewer as an implement of torture he’s going to be personally nailed to.

This really could just be some dumb kid he’s saving for his daughter’s sake, come what may?

But, unfortunately, that’s not how Valjean sees it.

In case we missed the metaphor, Marius’s destination, and therefore Valjean’s destination, is the Rue des Filles du Calvaire--the street of the daughters of Calvary. Marius is the cross, and Calvary is the place he needs to be carried, and after Javert finds them and leaves them he’s going to be accusing himself of being Pontius Pilate.

Maybe there really is no escape from this metaphor for Valjean after all. :(

[lmchaptertitlebracket]

V.iii.4 Lui aussi porte sa croix

He Also Bears His Cross: Wilbour, Hapgood, Gray, FMA

He Too Bears His Cross: Wraxall, Denny

He, Too, Bears His Cross: Rose

He Too Has His Cross to Bear: Donougher

[dolphin1812]

“the average height is about five feet, six inches, and has been calculated for the stature of a man; Jean Valjean was forced to bend over, in order not to strike Marius against the vault;”

If he only had to bend over because of Marius, then he’s likely under 5’6” (random Valjean trivia).

Knowing that he reaches the belt sewer three hours past midday underscores just how long he’s been carrying Marius for (roughly an hour according to @akallabeth-joie’s wonderful timeline!). On the one hand, an hour doesn’t seem that long, but it’s certainly long with a man on one’s back. On the other, for an hour to be this exhausting to Valjean highlights how strenuous movement in the sewer is (both because of the sewer itself and Marius).

I love that Hugo gives us what the most knowledgeable sewer traveler would have done and then tells us immediately that that’s not Jean Valjean, who has next to no sewer knowledge. Hugo still has sewer facts to share and he wants to make sure we learn them.

I also adore the paragraph where Jean Valjean bandages Marius’ wounds. It starts out so sweet (with the “gentleness” of a brother) and ends with “inexpressible hatred.” It’s incredible. 

(I might just find Valjean’s hatred of Marius funny).

(I can’t believe he ate the sewer bread).