#Lm 5.9.5

[gavroche-le-moineau]

I'm feeling SUPER NORMAL about Jean Valjean using the exact phrase Éponine does in the Original French Concept Album's version of her death scene: Ce n'est rien (translation: It's Nothing)

— Mourir ! s’écria Marius. — Oui, mais ce n’est rien, dit Jean Valjean. “To die!” exclaimed Marius. “Yes, but that is nothing,” said Jean Valjean.

— Ce n’est rien de mourir ; c’est affreux de ne pas vivre. “It is nothing to die; it is dreadful not to live.”

Some chosen lyrics from Ce n'est rien, which has the same tune as A Little Fall of Rain:

Ce n’est rien, Monsieur Marius / It's nothing, Monsieur Marius Ce n’est rien, non ce n’est rien / It's nothing, no, it's nothing qu’un peu de sang qui pleure / more than a little blood that cries

If you're interested in listening:

[cliozaur]

This is Hugo’s version of a happy ending: Valjean’s death perfectly illustrates ars moriendi, a peaceful departure with loved ones gathered, bidding farewell and contemplating God and infinity. Yet, this doesn't diminish the emotional pain of reading it, especially with the hope lingering for a reunion with Cosette and a quiet life, making this chapter hard to read with dry eyes.

Despite the overwhelming sadness, it has some parts that are amusing, and some that are adorable. I find it amusing how Valjean praises Marius for his beauty and taste in women’s clothing: “Dost thou know, Cosette, thy husband is very handsome? Ah! what a pretty embroidered collar thou hast on, luckily. I am fond of that pattern. It was thy husband who chose it, was it not?” And this time Valjean claims he is sincere. Valjean’s long monologue contains some of the most adorable memories of young Cosette: making Valjean laugh, throwing straw on the gutter during the rain and watching it flow, playing with a bright shuttlecock, and my favourite: wearing cherries on her ears (I need someone to draw Cosette with those cherries!)

It’s heartening that Valjean paid respect to Bishop Myriel and Fantine. At least Cosette knows the name of her mother and something about her martyrdom. Towards the end, Valjean was willing to talk. And it amazes me how concerned he was about Cosette’s material well-being and her reliance on her dowry. Valjean (and Hugo) seems to believe that money can eventually solve all the Misérables’ problems. That’s a strange conclusion.

Another peculiar aspect of this chapter is the trivialization of the notion of Republic, as Cosette, referring to her household, says, “we are living under a Republic, everybody says thou, don’t they, Marius?” A triumph of the Republic in an isolated household—I wouldn’t call it a satisfying result.

[spinosacha]

Jean Valjean, you really were the man ever. I’m sorry that society failed you, i’m sorry you felt you deserved it. Your death was too soon, i hope you at least get to find some peace in death. You are gone but not forgotten.

[marjorierose]

Et plus de madame, et plus de monsieur Jean, nous sommes en république, tout le monde se dit tu, n'est-ce pas, Marius? Le programme est changé.

(we are in a republic, everyone calls each other tu...the program has changed)

I maybe should have expected to have this many feelings about reaching the end of this novel but I still feel blindsided

[dolphin1812]

Valjean’s joy and confusion is so sweet and so sad. His rambling speech is clearly that of a misérable as he dies, but he’s also just so disoriented in a way that he hasn’t been since the bishop at the beginning of the book? It’s like he once again grew so unaccustomed to kindness that he struggles to process it even as a gift from God.

He sees it as a “pardon,” too, framing Cosette and Marius’ presence as a legal decision for a criminal.

For once, thanks to Marius for pointing out that “embarrassment” is a very strange reason for withholding important information!

The bishop being present is so moving!!

At least he tells Cosette her mother’s name? His silence on his past and hers remains frustrating, but learning about her happier parts of childhood – like how she would put cherries behind her ears – is cute.

His death is still so tragic, as it feels so preventable. The angel imagery calls to mind Fantine, who similarly died of despair even more than of disease.

[nickywrites]

Jean Valjean in Les Misérables 5.9.5/The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry/Saturn, by Sleeping At Last

[everyonewasabird]

Brickclub 5.9.5 “Night Behind Which is Dawn”

How has anyone ever written this chapter up. I’m just sitting here crying. What the hell. How am I supposed to write this.

I don’t have any kind of essay here, because HOW.

Some points I noticed:

- This is of course the fixit for Georges’s and Fantine’s deaths: Marius and Cosette didn’t make it to the deathbeds of their other parents, but they made it to this one. It’s devastating, but it’s also the resolution to the worse tragedies in this book.

- At the same time, Valjean and Marius’s flaws are still very much present: Marius is berating himself for being an ingrate and focusing on his personal debts. Valjean still argues at points that he doesn’t deserve to live with them, and one of his last acts is to take down the crucifix from the wall and focus on Jesus’s martyrdom. I’m not Christian, so I know that’s weirder to me than it is if you’re Christian.... but I do think the unhealthiness of Valjean’s focus on martyrdom instead of anything else about his faith is a particular characteristic of his.

- Valjean is also very focused on the money and making sure Cosette gets it--which isn’t a flaw, but it feels very, very informed by his history of poverty, as does the amount of time he spends on his deathbed defending the provenance of that money.

- The portress is there. I’m so glad.<3

- Valjean’s dialogue to Cosette when he first sees her, oh my god. He does things like

Cosette ! elle ! vous, madame ! c’est toi ! Ah mon Dieu !

Mercifully, his next sentence switches fully to tu.

Devastatingly, that sentence is:

"It is you, Cosette? You are here? You forgive me then !"

Just. The idea that he’s been waiting all this time to be forgiven by her. It makes perfect sense--emotionally, not so much rationally--but also my heart is broken.

- Marius, when he isn’t stuck in his ingrate nonsense, says a few smart things: he admonishes Valjean for how No, in fact, spinning the story to make himself look Worse was not truth-telling, it was slander, and “truth” means the whole truth.

- Which is fodder for my secret not-at-all-thought-out not-quite-headcanon that in-world Marius is the author of this book.

- He also hits upon the symbolic Ecce Homo thing, saying “There is the man,” (”Voilà l’homme”) which is the same Jesus reference Valjean’s name is echoing. “There is the man”also came up explicitly in the text during the Champmathieu trial.

- Maybe unfair, but I feel like the description of Cosette

Cosette, who had only a very confused understanding of all this, redoubled her caresses, as if she wanted to pay Marius's debt.

is kinda-almost poking fun at her ignorance instead of honoring how well she’s rocking the absolutely impossible situation she’s in? She has got to have SO MANY QUESTIONS, and she’s clearly devastated, but she’s bringing the sweetness and cheer that her papa needs her to be right now, in keeping with what their relationship has been for a  long time. She’s doing what the situation needs, in spite of all of this making zero sense or less, and I’ve still heard people (maybe taking a cue from Hugo) calling her shallow for talking about birds and gardens.

She’s incredible, and this is awful, and it’s so awful that there’s no evidence of any later reckoning where she finds out anything more.

- Valjean identifies himself with night several times here--which fits with what we saw after he got out of the sewer, too. The chapter title explains that this is not a bad thing in his case.

- I’ve obviously read it all before, I wasn’t sure it would get me... but it did.

It’s so SAD. :(