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redraw of Marius and Cosette!

marius bruv why are you so LEG

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“Between 1825 and 1830 three of them [nuns] went mad.” I can imagine how Hugo was enjoying himself making up an order and its strict and bizarre rules. He claims that the Carmelites are the strictest, so I suppose the Carmelites were the model for his Bernardines-Benedictines of Martin Verga.

This completely isolated and extremely strict religious order feels like a relict in the nineteenth century. It was in the eighteenth century that some states (like the Habsburg Empire) demanded orders to become useful for society under the threat of dissolution. This example was followed by other Catholic countries. It seems that the only social function this order serves is educating girls. Those nuns we have already met in the narrative, like Sister Simplice, were more open to the world and helped the sick in the hospital. Later we’ll learn that these are the last decades of the convent’s existence.

Hugo occasionally drops important plot information, such as only the Prioress speaking to strangers, men not being permitted on the convent grounds except for a gardener, and most importantly, about burial under the grand altar as opposed to the burial in the Vaugirard cemetery.

This is the place and community Valjean will seriously consider leaving Cosette to join.

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The People of the Petit-Picpus Convent. Volume 2, Book 6, Chapter 2.

Clips from <Il cuore di Cosette>.

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Victor Hugo peppering in some foreshadowing in the convent digression:

The nuns of the Petit-Picpus had made a vault under their grand altar for the burial of their community. The Government, as they say, does not permit this vault to receive coffins so they leave the convent when they die. This is an affliction to them, and causes them consternation as an infraction of the rules.

They had obtained a mediocre consolation at best,—permission to be interred at a special hour and in a special corner in the ancient Vaugirard cemetery, which was made of land which had formerly belonged to their community.

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valjean playing with one of those toy ovens with cosette

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the amount of old men i draw are directly proportional to my stress levels so here’s a compilation of the most presentable old men i drew this year that i never posted, in no particular order

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How does Marius manage to become even more of a pathetic loser with every single decision he makes?

It’s genuinely impressive just how bad at life he is

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This chapter introduces the convent digression, which, while not my favourite, still intrigues me.

This convent serves as a refuge for the people seeking a second chance (Fauchelevent, Jean Valjean, and Cosette). Later, Hugo will explicitly compare the convent to galleys. But the contrast is also obvious. Galleys are a place of punishment, hard work, and violence. Convent is a place of silence; living there is akin to death for its inhabitants. Yet, in both the convent and the galleys, people rot away while still alive.

I remember how convent digression struck me with the way Hugo filled it with palpable materiality, which is something very opposite to what we expect from the description of a tomb or a highly spiritual place. Why is it important to know that the colour of the walls in the corridors is yellow and chocolate-hued, or the measurements of the chamber, or that the wallpapers have yellow flowers and cost 15 sous per roll? What are you trying to convey, Hugo?

However, the heart-wrenching scene of someone visiting a once-beloved who has become a nun conveys a clear message. The convent is portrayed as a gloomy, unnatural place, often likened to a tomb:

What you beheld was night, emptiness, shadows, a wintry mist mingled with a vapor from the tomb, a sort of terrible peace, a silence from which you could gather nothing, not even sighs, a gloom in which you could distinguish nothing, not even phantoms.

PS This is the book in the middle of which I joined les mis letters last year. So, quite soon I will stop writing daily reflections and switch to occasional ones when I have something new to add.

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Brick... with animation!

19. The Man with the Bell

"One hundred francs!" The man gave a start and raised his eyes. "You can earn a hundred francs," went on Jean Valjean, "if you will grant me shelter for this night." The moon shone full upon Jean Valjean's terrified countenance. "What! so it is you, Father Madeleine!" said the man. - Vol 5, book 5, chapter 9

If he left Cosette on the cold stone floor, she could die due to hypothermia, so Valjean asked that gardener for a place to sleep. But that gardener was Fauchelevent, that man Valjean saved from cart accident. This place was Convent of Petit-Picpus, where people from outside couldn't enter easily, especially for men. However, he was there because they needed a gardener, and Valjean as Madeleine gave that work for him because he broke his leg.

He said he had a daughter, and Cosette was laid in Fauchlevent's bed. He wanted to reward Valjean something, so they spent a night. Vealjean and Fauchelevent kept a talk, and Fauvent(Fauchelevent's name called by the nuns there) told he needed that bell because there were lots of students who were not allowed to meet men, even the fathers of the convent. However, that was great for Valjean, since at least Cosette didn't have to return that inn. He also asked Favent about working together as a gardener, since he had to hide somewhere. Since he was getting older, he needed another gardener to work with, so he agreed, and would introduce him as his brother, Ultime. But then, a bell rang, and he had to see the mother prioress.

Mother Innocente, the head of this convent told Fauvent that one of their nuns, Mother Crucifixion died. And her last wish was buried underneath this convent. That was a simple problem, but it was illegal. She had to be buried in a cemetery outside of the convent. So they had to think another plan.

Meanwhile, Valjean and Cosette also needed to get out, because they did not come from the door. And still, there were Javert's forces surrounding the Convent. Therefore, they need to be unseen. Since Cosette was a little child, Fauchlevent could carry her in a large basket, but Valjean was an adult. They need something to hide Valjean.

Valjean remembered Mother Crucifixion's problem, and he would get inside of 'fake' coffin and get out of the wall. Fauvent told him it was very dangerous for him to do that thing, but Valjean had no other options to get out of that convent without being noticed by everyone. And Fauvent told he knew Father Mestienne, who was a gravedigger and hard drunkard, and he would give Mestienne some wine and when he was drunk, he promised to take him out.

First, Fachlevent took Cosette inside of the basket and got outside of the convent. Gendarmerie soldiers didn't care about him because he was the man inside of the convent.

And Mother Crucifixion's coffin was finally laid under the convent. Everything was ready.