#and cosette is a lark!

[extraplanetarysabotage]

im like, yes, tell me more about the animal symbolism in victor hugos 1862 novel les miserables

[lesmisscraper]

Tumblr now got the Cat Boop o Meter but almost 12 years ago, Les Mis already had one.

[thepiecesofcait]

Blue Cast Cosette, courtesy of my recent desire to draw every cast member in my favourite costume of theirs from our production of Les Mis

[meet-the-thenardiers]

Although Cosette and Éponine didn't have a "proper reunion" in the book, that is, with them as teenagers, I like to imagine that a relationship between them would be like that of Gerda and the Little Robber Girl from the The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen.

[...] The old woman howled. At just that moment her own little daughter had bitten her ear. The little girl, whom she carried on her back, was a wild and reckless creature. "You beasty brat!" her mother exclaimed, but it kept her from using that knife on Gerda.

"She shall play with me," said the little robber girl. "She must give me her muff and that pretty dress she wears, and sleep with me in my bed." And she again gave her mother such a bite that the woman hopped and whirled around in pain. All the robbers laughed, and shouted:

[...] "They shan't kill you unless I get angry with you. I think you must be a Princess.

"No, I'm not," said little Gerda

[the-lark-not-the-dove]

The Lark

[lalarose216]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @cossiefauchelevant

!!!!!! 🤩💫💕❤️🦋🌹

Have a great day!!! Know you’re so loved here!!!! 💕❤️🦋🌹

[cumbercookiebatchs]

A ghost you say? A ghost may be.

Darling Cosette ❤️

[gavroche-le-moineau]

L’Alouette

Being a total bird nerd, I had to do a little dive into this somewhat bird-themed chapter of Les Mis.

What is an “alouette”? Many have heard this bird’s name through the children’s song “Alouette, gentille alouette” which is popular even in non-French speaking countries. An “alouette” is a “lark”, the common name for the avian family Alaudidae (which contains 100 species).

What type of lark is Hugo referring to in 1.4.3? It is almost certainly the Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis) or “Alouette des champs” in French.

[Image ID: A small brown and white bird (Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis)) on a wooden fence post.] [Credit: Natural England/Allan Drewitt, 2015. https://flic.kr/p/vDvojm]

This species has been referenced in literature throughout history, likely due to its proximity to humans and its distinctive song. The Eurasian Skylark lives in open habitats such as fields and pastures and has an incredibly long song which it sings persistently while in flight.

So why did the townspeople choose to call Cosette an alouette? The text tells us that Cosette is a:

“...trembling, frightened, and shivering little creature, no bigger than a bird, who was awake every morning before any one else in the house or the village, and was always in the street or the fields before daybreak.” (Hapgood translation)

The Eurasian Skylark is a relatively small bird around the size of a sparrow (17.5-19.0 cm). They forage on the ground where their plumage can make them nearly invisible. They are also said to be the first bird to sing in the morning. I couldn’t find any scientific evidence that this is true, besides learning that their “ground song” (sung by both males and females from the ground) is mostly sung in the morning. However, I did find some cultural allusions to this idea.

“Au chant de l’alouette” (literally translated as “at the singing of the lark”) means “very early in the morning” or “at the crack of dawn” [wiktionnaire]. (Though I don’t know anything about the usage of this phrase, i.e. how much it’s used or when it’s from.) From wikipedia: “Ethnomusicologist Conrad LaForte points out that, in song, the lark (l'alouette) is the bird of the morning, and that it is the first bird to sing in the morning, hence waking up lovers and causing them to part, and waking up others as well, something that is not always appreciated.”

My guess is that since the skylark is a small, drab bird that is often found flittering on the ground and is generally considered to be the first bird to sing in the morning, Cosette was dubbed “l’alouette” by the neighbors.

[Image ID: A color drawing of a small brown and white bird (Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis)) on a background of yellowed paper.] [Plate XCIV Skylark Alauda arvensis. Coloured illustrations of British birds, and their eggs. London: G.W. Nickisson,1842-1850. biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40246756]

[dolphin1812]

This chapter is absolutely heartbreaking. Knowing that Fantine’s situation has gotten worse because she stops sending money as regularly? That she’s still trying to because she thinks Cosette is doing well, even though she’s suffering? Seeing the actual abuse Cosette endures? It’s horrible.

Like we saw with Valjean upon his arrival in Digne, Cosette’s dehumanization is highlighted by comparisons to domesticated animals. She is fed “a little better than the dog, a little worse than the cat,” but whereas Valjean resisted his subhuman treatment to an extent (he cried out upon seeing that a dog had a place to stay for the night while he didn’t), to Cosette, this is just how things are. We see that she eats with the cat and the dog, and from a bowl like theirs, without complaint. She’s obviously not happy, and she has the comparison to Éponine and Azelma to show that this is not the only way for children to live, but can she understand why she’s being treated this way? Does she know that she wasn’t abandoned, or does she think she deserves this somehow? Or is she so worn down that she doesn’t think about this at all? She is only five, and she’s already been made to work.

Cosette isn’t even addressed as a person in letters to her mother. She’s consistently referred to as a “creature” in writing and in speech by the Thénardiers, and over the course of the chapter, Hugo goes from saying “child” to “creature” (”shivering little creature”) as well. It gives the sense that she internalizes this to an extent? Or that this dehumanizing language is so commonplace that no one thinks anything of it anymore.

 Another point that infuriates me is the attitude of the populace. To some extent, it’s possible that they don’t know the full extent of the abuse Cosette’s enduring, but given that she’s always wearing rags and is sent to work before daybreak - which they know because they call her “the Lark” - they know that her treatment is far from ideal. And yet they praise the Thénardiers for their charity simply because to them, it would be more natural for no one to care for Cosette at all. She’s an object of pity to them, but not of true sympathy; they don’t see her as a person.

The last line is particularly sad. I hope we’ll see Cosette sing at some point.

[annachum]

Some people seem to forget that Cosette is a goth, like :

. Traumatic backstory ( with her 2 horrid years at Thenardier Inn )

. Lives in a convent for 9 years as a student ( the Petit Picpus Convent actually looks kinda like a gothic boarding school/church hybrid in dark academia genre btw )

. Black dresses, floral accessories, her Catholic Shawl and her rosary are her iconic style pieces

. Loves reading, writing AND making artworks of gothic related stuff

. Seems to think she can sense spirits floating around her at times

. Candles, a Catholic Cross and Lacy curtains in her room in Valjean and Cosette's house in Rue Plumet ( post Convent era and during 1830s French Rebellion era )

. Likes to sneak out to the house garden and even the Rue Plumet public gardens at times in the 1830s French Rebellion Era

. Tries her best to find the bright side in dark situations and things

🤯🤯🤯🥺🥺🥺🤯🤯🤯🤯

[arofili]

The Wolf and the Lark

Éponine has nowhere to turn on the night of the full moon—so naturally, she turns to Cosette.

happy belated Barricade Day! have my one (1) yearly allotted Les Mis fic, this time featuring werewolf!Éponine!

Rating: M | No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Cosette/Éponine Characters: Cosette, Éponine Word count: 1.2k

READ IT ON AO3!

[lesmisscraper]

The Day when Valjean and Cosette saw the convicts was probably the 15th October, 1831.

In the Brick, there were only the month and the year of the day when Cosette and Valjean saw the chained convicts in a row(October of 1831) but I found out the interesting fact.

According to the French Wikipedia, there was a mention that on the 16th of October in 1831, Louis Philippe moved out of the Palais-Royal and moved in Palais des Tuileries. And, in the Brick, on the next day of that 'tragic' day, there was some official solemnity apropos like fetes in Paris, a review in the Champ de Mars, jousts on the Seine, theatrical performances in the Champs-Elysees, fireworks at the Arc de l'Etoile. And you probably know what does this mean; to celebrate the king moving to new palace, the events would follow.

So, the day when Valjean wore the National Guards uniform and joined the festival with Cosette(And the day when Marius saw him in uniform.) was the 16th of the October, and the day they saw the convicts would be the 15th October, 1831. And, have you any other ideas about this or the actual recording of those events?

[le-loup-et-lion]

The patrons of the Sergeant de Waterloo inn after watching a half-starved, threadbare, anxiety-riddled little girl who is clearly the equivalent of a child slave get repeatedly abused right in front them by her obviously neglectful caretakers on Christmas eve:

[caitlin-snow-leopard]

Musicals as Birds, Part 3/?- Les Miserables

or Les Miserabirds, if you will

Jean Valjean: Harpy Eagle

Javert: Great horned owl

Bishop Myriel: European goldfinch

Fantine: Killdeer

Cosette: Dune lark

The Thenardiers: Eurasian Magpies

Eponine: Luzon bleeding-heart dove

Marius: Blue-footed booby (in the words of Victor Hugo himself, “this booby is madly in love with Cosette”)

Enjolras: Bald eagle (he may not be American but come on. FREEDOM.)

Grantaire: Bohemian waxwing

Gavroche: Ruby-throated hummingbird

[the-lark-not-the-dove]

3RD ONE!!!!!!! I'VE NEVER FELT SO PRODUCTIVE IN MY LIFE. THIS JUST PROVES THAT SCHOOL ACTUALLY LIMITS PEOPLE'S PRODUCTIVITY!!!!

[agog-and-aghast-rn]

happy mother's day :)