#and ultimately i really do think that they could be happy together as 'poorer' rich people

[tomwambsgans]

everyone talks about the fear of a legit tomgreg betrayal in s4 but like. greg's got a pretty solid track record of needing the promise of someone who could love him (in whatever way) on the other side anytime he's ever "left" tom. kendall, comfry, the duchess, etc.

only way i see it happening is if tom winds up taking several steps back into the deep part of his closet AND if directly after, greg faces the promise of someone playing sugar daddy to him more overtly than tom ever has. even then i'm sure they'll fix it in the next episode

[quiescentem-puella]

Altered Carbon finale: why I hated it and why it felt wrong

This rant is mostly a translation on my chat with a friend, when I was frantically writing all the reason the finale of this wonderful series felt wrong to me. It was 4 am, I was sleep deprived and angry, so do not expect it to be a particularly cohesive rant. Also, it’s almost 2000 words long.

Disclaimers: of course, I can’t talk about the finale without spoiling everything, so read it only if you have seen ALL the episodes of Altered Carbon.

That said, let’s proceed.

Let’s start with two facts: I loved this show and I loved the chemistry between Ortega and Kovacs.

From their first interaction I was aware of the sexual tension and the potential of these two, but without really expecting anything (especially with the whole Quellcrest Falconer romance weighting on Kovacs). They had a good dynamic and they were extremely attractive: I was interested.

Surprisingly enough, the fact that they turned out not to be endgame was not the main reason why I hated the finale (even if it was certainly one of them).

This is gonna get long, so buckle up.

Ortega: same face, two lovers

I’m gonna start from something somewhat personal (but I hope it’s a sentiment shared by a lot of other people): I am fucking pissed off with how it all ended for Ortega.

When we discovered that Kovacs’ sleeve was actually her previous boyfriend’s I was a bit down because it meant that all the longing gazes, all the forlorn faces were directed to a ghost and not to Kovacs. But as the story progressed one thing became obvious: Ortega cared more about Takeshi than his sleeve.

I think it was pretty clear in general, especially after the fifth episode, but one instance that I can think of where Ortega is undoubtedly thinking more about Kovacs than Elias is when in the car rushing to the hospital she says, “He wasn’t dumb and you’re not that pretty”.

You. Even if when she wakes up she calls for Elias (and can we blame her? She has been partner with Ryker for we don’t know how many years; it’s a matter of habit, not love), here she is clearly associating that sleeve with Kovacs, not Ryker. I watched the show in English but I checked the scene in Italian to be sure: she’s not referring to a plural “you”, she’s talking to Kovacs. While it’s true that her initial interest was prompted by her love for Elias, it’s just as clear that by the end of the tenth episode she’s in love with Takeshi, no matter the sleeve.

This is why the ending enrages me so much.

I could have lived with Tak and Kristin parting ways (even if I would have been extremely saddened by it) but I can’t fucking accept that Ortega is going to go back with Elias wearing what she now recognises as Takeshi’s sleeve. I am not able to believe that after everything they went through together she is just gonna forget about Takeshi and go back to her lover like nothing changed, like she didn’t fell in love with someone else who was wearing that sleeve.

She sacrificed so much for Kovacs. She lost her friend, her whole family and her arm. Sure, she didn’t do it willingly, but she was ready to put everything at risk because she thought Kovacs was in danger. She was kidnapped, beaten and tortured and she was willing to go on for Kovacs.

She unquestionably, tragically loves him.

And that brings me to my second point.

Kovacs: past lover, present lover

Let’s go on with something that’s fucking obvious: Kovacs fucking loves Ortega.

I’m not even gonna discuss the whole “but he was in love with Quell first!!!!!” because love isn’t something you have a limited amount of and the whole I’m-dead-but-not-really thing makes it all a bit tricky. Kovacs can love two women and his love for Quell in the past isn’t diminished by his love for Kristin in the present.

But that’s the thing. Quell is in the past. She’s part of an era that is no more, an era Tak misses and he thinks he’s still a part of. Like it’s frequently remarked in the show, Kovacs is almost a relic of an ancient past and that weights on him immensely. It’s his burden.

This is clear by his visions, both of Quell and his sister.

Vision!Quell in particular is his tie to the past: she’s constantly telling him she’s just a fragment of his imagination but that doesn’t stop her from guiding him and influencing him. She’s the representation of his idolatry of her, something that Quell herself tells him it’s wrong (in the flashback episode she reveals herself for what she is: another human with all its flaws, who made mistakes and should not be put on a pedestal. Tak still doesn’t understand this, in my opinion).

In the moments before the crash of Head in the Clouds, it looks like he’s finally letting go of that past (on this point I’ll come back later). It looks like he’s finally free.

What the writers tricked me into thinking was that Kovacs was putting his ghosts to rest to start anew, with someone he loves equally deeply.

The fact that Kovacs loves Ortega is even more obvious than the other way around. He’s protective of her in a way that makes sense for a sister or a lover, not a simple friend. Even his own subconscious, in the disguise of vision!Quell, tells him he loves her. He is incredibly hurt by her calling him Elias, he continuously tries to save his sleeve for her, he runs to her rescue every time she’s in danger. While at first, he can’t seem to let go of his past love, he slowly falls in love with Kristin and Quell becomes a memory more than anything.

Choosing Ortega over her wouldn’t had meant sullying her memory or anything, but simply going on with his life like Vision!Quell suggest him to do multiple times.

Kovacs: betraying the “Envoy code”

Something I really liked was that, while the Envoys were clearly the “good ones”, they weren’t saints. They were soldiers fighting for a losing battle and they weren’t afraid to do what was necessary for their purposes. It’s the whole “the ends justify the means” spiel, but the fact that it is perpetuated both by the good guys and the evil ones makes it realistic instead of boring.

Quell is the leader of the Envoys, so it’s natural that it’s her voice that brings their “code” to life. I’m talking about the “befriend the locals” speech, of course, words that Kovacs tries to live by.

Key word: tries.

The best thing about these set of rules set by Quell is that Kovacs isn’t able to follow all of them, in particular this one. He initially uses the Elliot family and Ortega as means to an end but he gets attached to them in the process and they in return start to care for him.

He has, in a way, betrayed Quell’s teachings. He has evolved. He became something different.

By the end of the series Kovacs isn’t an Envoy anymore, no more than Rei is.

But now let’s talk about his homicidal little sister a bit.

Reileen: “I would do anything to get you back”

Something that really bugs me is: how do we know Rei was telling the truth?

It’s abundantly clear that she’s ready to do everything to have her brother back: I don’t think lying would be crossing any boundary. She has killed and betrayed her friends. She is gonna try everything.

When she tells Kovacs that Quell is alive it doesn’t feel like a big secret coming out, but more like a desperate last attempt to achieve her ultimate goal, namely having Tak by her side. She constantly uses his loved ones (like Ortega!!!!!) as a way to manipulate him and convince him to do her bidding. We don’t know if she’s telling the truth: frankly, I thought it was just another cheap trick.

(On a second note, what reason could have pushed her to save Quell? She was her primary enemy, the one that stole her brother from her. It makes no sense for her to aid her in any way)

But let’s say she’s actually telling the truth.

The other thing that bothers me is the following: would Quell be happy to be brought back?

Quell: the future she feared and hated

I must admit that I like Quell quite a lot: she was a fearless leader, with firm ideals and strong opinions. The fact that she was the one who invented stacks doesn’t deduct anything from her character; on the contrary it adds to it. It shows us that she was ready to right her wrongdoings, because that was what the stacks ultimately became in her eyes. She was ready to die to bring the real death back: she didn’t want to live forever. Not anymore.

That really clashes with Tak’s frantic search that starts at the end of the last episode. What is he gonna do when he finds her? Spun her back like nothing happened? Like he didn’t kill his sister, like his sister isn’t responsible for her death, like the world didn’t exactly become what she feared it would?

When Kovacs was ready to kill his sister and lose Quell forever, I was overjoyed. It was the final step in leaving his past behind, symbolised both by Rei and his lost lover. I saw it as Tak finally saying, “no, no more”.

He was finally accepting that the world he knew and the people that lived in it were dead. He was realizing that Quell was right: death was what ultimately made us all equals and it is a natural part of our existence. We cannot call ourselves human beings if we don’t have the possibility to die.

Quell was ready to die to bring real death back. She would have hated how the world turned out to be, because she was right and the rich are now immortal, the poor only poorer and more miserable.

It was such a big moment for Takeshi in the way I interpreted it. It was his turning point. It was his absolution.

And then it turns out it wasn’t anything. In the end it didn’t represent anything, not anymore. It wasn’t Kovacs letting go of his past. It was just him killing his sister. Nothing more.

 To sum it up

I think the main reason I was so pissed at the ending was that it ultimately represented a step back for everyone involved. For Ortega it was going back to a man that had left her thinking she betrayed him, a man I don’t think she loves anymore. For Kovacs it was clinging to the past so fiercely he leaves his new lover, his friends, for a quest that will probably bring him only more despair.

The reason I hated the ending so fiercely was that I watched these characters grow and develop, only to ultimately regress to how they started out in the first episode.

[ilumanate]

I am trying to find out who I was in the past and figure out the person I am to be in the future. I think I’ve been punishing myself and, running hard and fast, trying to escape the person I was and what I had been a part of — so much so that I forget who I am and what I stand for. There are times when I feel like an aimless ghost, chasing the shades of my own regrets.

And I don’t know this to be true, but I think I have to accept my past, it’s triumphs and losses together. I need to be me again, and I can’t stand without the foundation of who I was. I cannot stand thinking I can be somebody chasing a certain uncertain future without my past.

I did love, and I did lose. I was in grief, but more happiness came before and much more will come after. I messed up, lost my way, but I ultimately did triumph. People hated me, but more people loved me and gave me my second chance. I did poorly but I wasn’t stupid. I wasn’t the best racer, but I became someone more than I could be in the struggle. I was alone, but I prevailed. I believed in myself.

…

I grew up in a poor family, McDonald’s was a celebration. I spent much time in my grandparents house and it wasn’t the best experience. Come P4, I went to the US, happy at first but spent many nights home alone with my sister. Always judged because I was poorly dressed, didn’t have my projects done, couldn’t go on school trips - it wasn’t enough that I was the odd one out with the weird English, my mum being a busy nurse made it worse. I felt for the first time what it meant to be a minority, to not matter. I lost all my confidence and charisma, and hid behind computer games. Lost our visa, went back to face PSLE with one year to go. Got transferred from second best class to the second worst class in KHS because I tested low. Was advised to retain. Got bullied in class because again, I was the odd one out - coming from America and not having been a part of a rowdy class. Right after PSLE just as I had made some friends, got moved to China. International school, a bunch of rich kids. Raised by my father only, couldn’t afford to go out with friends. Never felt poorer in my life. Once I walked away crying having been punched unprovoked, because I was afraid. I knew I was poor and didn’t want trouble. Dad lost his job, I lost my tuition. Applied to local school in China and dean said I was a useless child. Went back alone to Singapore, family behind China. Again, advised to retain, failed tests. No friends, people thought I was a foreigner and made fun of me. Never felt stranger to feel like a stranger at home. Worked hard in basketball, benched and put down in basketball. Failed exams in JC, left alone at home for months. Never felt more lost and defeated, felt like the whole world was against me. UTI. Charged in army, almost went DB. Went through hell and back in Brunei. Watched as all my friends went to uni, wasted a year wandering. Left for US, learnt that the family I dreamed of wasn’t there anymore, lost a girl and for the past 3 years, I lost myself too.

I did grow up in a poor family, but my parents used to be around a lot more. Things changed when I was 7, and I tallied back in JC that I only saw my Dad 1/3 of my lifetime. I spent much time in my grandparents house and it was pretty terrible, but I has friends in school and I was outgoing and even did some business selling bookshop items to classmates. I went to US at P4, had to leave behind my CO competition and many other things but I was happy to leave my solitude in my grandparents house. I was made fun of in school and never really got to do much. Did poorly in many subjects and of course projects, but hey I was pretty much on my own. What’s the point trying. Nonetheless I did get elected to be class council (even though I never made it to meetings because mum could never be on time because of her midnight schedule), and I even got into gifted math club. I did get bullied a lot and lost my confidence but it also humbled me. Hey PSLE wasn’t too bad given I picked myself up in a year, even got to win essay competition for both languages in the class. Got into a good secondary school. Though it kinda sucked to get pulled away right while I was getting to know people, I did finally get to spend some time with dad even though I hated it at the time. China was pretty amazing, so was international school. I was poor alright, but that didn’t defeat the experience of being in a truly international community. “We all smile in the same language” was on that banner on the field. Dad did get sacked for giving the middle and saying the F to boss, but he also did later become a boss and retired early with mum. I did have to go back to Singapore leaving my family and dog behind but I went back to visit often. I took my first flight alone at 13. It was nice that I got time to catch up with secondary school and got streamed to a pretty good class (probably wouldn’t have happened if I came back later). Did pretty well in school and got to know a girl in an overseas trip. Made lifelong friends there too. Failed in JC but guess what, at least it was HCJC. Didn’t do too well for As but at least way above the ‘80’ rank points that was so desirable by others that came before me. And all that when the first tuition I ever got was in JC. I think HC assumed everyone had tuition and the teachers fucking slacked. At least most that I had did. 4 teachers - at least - came and go. Oh yes, and I got to meet the most amazing girl I have yet to know so far and spent 5 good years with, even though LDR took most of it from us, and eventually took it from us. Army was tough but I did get the bars. Shocking experience but getting over it showed the trust the commanders had in me, “You are an officer because you are, even if you don’t commission” - the best badge of honor I could wear coming from the most fearsome SM in the corp. Somehow I got past the PCB, the most successful interview I ever had in my life because everything came from my heart and I wasn’t afraid to show it, knowing I had nothing to lose. I did the GCC. I didn’t get the sword, I wasn’t the most decorated but I believed in something and I got somewhere when my circumstances seemed to always take me down. One gap year but I travelled much and got to know many amazing people at work, even attempted startup. Left for US, not great with family but at least I got into a respectable school and am about to graduate with a pretty respectable GPA.

Feeling pretty lost right now, and that I’m not good enough. What’s next? I need to remember the person I’ve become. I’m much more than who I think I am. I have a rich history. I’m not who people think I am. It feels like losing her meant losing a part of me but that’s not really true, I own my own history and I am my own person. My past, led to my present, and will guide my future. Son. Athlete. Soldier. Scholar. Officer. Adventurer. Lover. Leader.

[lawsonalfred94]

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[mikemortgage]

Material things don’t define happiness, so why are we obsessed with money?

Book excerpt: In Melissa Leong’s latest book, Happy Go Money, the former Financial Post reporter challenges everyone to revamp their relationship with money. Here’s where to start.

“If I only had a little more money, I’d be happier.”

When was the last time that you had this thought? Every day, we make choices based on the idea that joy can be bought and that more money makes everything better. We take the new job with the extra hour in traffic because it pays more. We put a coat on credit because it’s designer. We buy the big house because it has a yard for our future kids and a kitchen island that’s “an entertainer’s dream.”

To be fair, scientifically speaking, when we see something we want, a new pair of shoes or a gadget, we do feel joy; it triggers a patch of tissue in the brain, the nucleus accumbens, the so-called sex and money area. It gets activated when humans receive a reward, whether drugs, money or food. Then when we buy something, we get a delicious burst of dopamine in the brain.

That sounds sexy and yummy and all, but the euphoria doesn’t last. Then we just need more stuff. All that crap we buy loses its lustre. When the novelty wears off and the shopping high from the endorphin and dopamine dump dissipates, we’re left with a void and possibly regret.

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“Why did I spend money on this?!?” we ask. Because I need it. Because I deserve it. Because I had a rough day. Because I have no willpower. Because it was on sale. Because it’s a habit. Because it was a whim, a knee-jerk reaction. But when you get down to it? Because I want to be happy.

So, what do we actually need to be happy? Let’s break down our thoughts on the subject and rebuild. This is me swinging on a wrecking ball (fully clothed) to help.

The magic number

We all need a certain amount of money to be happy. But how much?

For those of us who are on the verge of losing our homes, who fret about feeding our children, who cringe when the phone rings because debt collectors may be calling, without question, more money will make us happier. But for the rest of us, before connecting cash with joy, we need to talk about what we mean by “happy.”

Scientists in neuroeconomics (the study of how we make economic decisions) break happiness into two types:

1. Life satisfaction: an evaluation of your well-being as a whole (the kind of happy where you’re pleased with life in general). 2. Day-to-day mood: the highs and lows; the joy, stress, sadness, anger and affection that you experience from one moment to the next — how you feel today, how you felt yesterday. (The kind of happy that most of us relate to — the right now happiness.)

With life satisfaction, the richer people got, the more satisfied they were with their lives. In worldwide studies, people in richer countries reported higher life satisfaction than those in poorer countries. (We should also consider that wealthier countries are more politically stable, more peaceful and less oppressive — which affects well-being.) But according to a 2018 Purdue University study, there was a limit: $95,000 U.S. (pre-tax, per single-family household). Above that, more money didn’t mean that you were more satisfied. With day-to-day happiness, the threshold is $60,000 to $75,000 per household, according to various studies. The 2018 study showed that after these salaries are met, life satisfaction and day-to-day happiness actually slightly decrease with more money.

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What the what?

Well, apparently, when all of our basic needs are met, we become driven by other desires such as chasing after more material stuff and comparing ourselves to others, which make us unhappy. Also, high incomes can come with high demands (more working hours, more stress and less time with family and for leisure).

This doesn’t mean that we should all go out and try to make exactly $75,000 a year — our so-called feel-good financial sweet spot. The studies are averages, and we all need different things to be happy. But all of us find joy in some simple things — kisses, laughter, getting ID’d over the age of 25.

Marketing professor Hal Hershfield once told me, “Even if I have an amazing car in my driveway, a huge house and a big fat income, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ll be happier on a day-by-day basis, because the types of things that influence happiness are who I interact with, how I spend my time and the things that I do.”

Think of some of your happiest times in the past week. Were you spending it with people? Were you taking time to enjoy an activity, going for a run or catching up with a good friend? Would a wad of cash have made those moments that much better?

Probably not. If you answered “yes” to the latter question, how much more do you need to be happy? Read on.

Your magic number is probably wrong

Let’s do an exercise together.

How happy are you on a scale of one to ten?

Now think about how much money you have in the bank, your salary. How much more money would you need to be a perfect 10?

Michael Norton, who teaches at Harvard Business School and co-authored Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending, surveyed average-income earners and high-net-worth Britons (with a net worth of more than $1 million), and he asked them those questions. “Everybody said two to three times as much money,” Norton told me.

“Why is that a problem?” I asked, estimating the same for myself.

“That’s a problem because people at $1 million said, ‘If I had $3 million, I’d be a perfect 10. Except that people who had $3 million said, ‘If I had $9 million, I’d be a perfect 10.’”

Basically, happiness is on a sliding scale. Think about how much this sucks. No matter what you have, you’ll always want more. Even if you have millions. When you find the gold at the end of the rainbow, the pot is just too damn small, and then you’re off again, chasing more rainbows.

It’s like a curse really. It also takes the fun out of my childhood dream of winning a million-dollar lottery. That was the very first fantasy I ever had: winning a jackpot and marrying one of the New Kids on the Block (anyone but Danny). I’d have fancy clothes and we’d eat at Red Lobster every weekend. (Still my idea of a hot date today.)

But despite what we may think, winning the lottery doesn’t buy you a one-way ticket to Euphoria Town. Take this famous study from 1978 where researchers asked two very different groups about their happiness: recent Illinois State Lottery winners who scored $50,000 to $1 million and recent victims of catastrophic accidents who were now paraplegic or quadriplegic. They asked the lottery winners and the accident victims to rate how happy they were at that stage of their lives, how happy they were before the life-altering event and how happy they expected to be in a few years. They asked them to rate how pleasant they found simple activities (talking with a friend, watching TV, eating breakfast, buying clothes, getting a compliment, etc.).

Seriously? Who’s happier, the person cruising in the wheelchair or in the Lamborghini?

Yes, the lottery winners were happier in the moment. The winners reported feeling more present happiness. But the people with disabilities rated their future happiness higher. They also enjoyed the simple things in life more: they had more appreciation for the mundane pleasures of things such as hearing a joke or reading a magazine. Actually, research shows a link between high income and a reduced ability to savour small pleasures. Experts blame it on hedonic adaptation — our tendency to just get used to whatever we have. Even a dramatic life improvement eventually becomes the new normal. You don’t smell the roses because they’re everywhere, any time of the day. And research has shown that our inner thermostats are set some-where between happiness and sadness: they can rise and fall depending on circumstance, but they generally return to that baseline. So, if you were a miserable moaner before hitting the jackpot, you’ll likely just be a rich miserable moaner.

In another real-life example, Markus Persson, who created Minecraft and sold it to Microsoft for $2.5 billion in 2014, reportedly bought a $70-million mansion, complete with a candy wall, vodka and tequila bars, designer fire extinguishers (because safety first, fashion second) and 15 bathrooms equipped with $5,000 remote-control operated toilets with air deodorizers and heated seats. But in 2015, he tweeted, “Hanging out in Ibiza with a bunch of friends and partying with famous people, able to do whatever I want, and I’ve never felt more isolated.” In another tweet, he said, “The problem with getting everything is you run out of reasons to keep trying, and human interaction becomes impossible due to imbalance.”

Now this could be super depressing to you. For me, it’s reassuring. It tells me that no single event or any material thing or external factor ultimately defines my happiness. Human beings are adaptable. A million dollars or a misfortune, over time, can become the new normal. Sure, with money, you’ll enjoy stylishly fighting fire with your Louis Vuitton extinguisher, but the riches may also make old pleasures seem less enjoyable.

So remember, there’s a better use of your money than playing the lottery. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot prize are 1 in 292 million — and odds are that more money won’t guarantee that your days will be happier anyway.

Your happy money to-do list

If you find yourself thinking, “If I only had [insert anything], I’d be happy,” challenge it. Ask your partner or co-worker or friend to poke you (lovingly) if they ever hear you say that phrase. It’ll be like that awful baby shower game where you can’t say “baby” — but for your life.

If you’re relying on something (or someone) to make you happy, you’re wasting your time and energy. If affirmations are your jam, write this down and stick it somewhere: “I control my own happiness.”

Name three big things that make you happy regardless of money (good health or a loving partner). Now name three very specific things (sleeping in on the weekend, your jam on repeat). Repeat the exercise every time you feel crappy about your financial situation — or any situation.

Stop playing the lottery. Now. Next time you want to play the lottery, buy someone a coffee or put the money into a donation box instead for a guaranteed happiness payoff.

Money talks

If you think more money would make you happier, how much more?

How would your life be better with more money?

Think of a time when you made less money. Were you unhappier then? How much?

Think of some of your happiest moments from the last week. Would more money have made those moments better?

Excerpted and adapted from Happy Go Money by Melissa Leong. © 2019 by Melissa Leong. All rights reserved. Published by ECW Press Ltd. http://www.ecwpress.com

  from Financial Post http://bit.ly/2ADhzza via IFTTT Blogger Mortgage Tumblr Mortgage Evernote Mortgage Wordpress Mortgage href="https://www.diigo.com/user/gelsi11">Diigo Mortgage

[readingraebow]

Les Misérables Section Six

Part Three: Books 6-8

1. What happens that brings about a great change in Marius? He sees a ~girl. So he used to go walking in this garden and he would see a father and daughter. And he didn't really pay attention to them but then he stopped going for a while and when he went back, the daughter literally ~blossomed. She had been a little girl when he'd seen her before but in the short time between when he stopped going and then when he went back, she grew into a woman. Even though he thinks she's only about fifteen. But apparently she hit puberty, haha. So he starts going back every day, wearing his nicest suit, and just walking close to them or sitting on a bench near them. And always staring. Like a stalker. So you can imagine that went over well.

2. What are the three blunders that Marius makes regarding “Ursula”? So the father starts to notice Marius (how could you not???) and starts changing their routine to try to shake him. But, uh, Marius is unshakable. So his blunders are: 1) continuing to haunt them after they changed benches, 2) leaving the garden when the father came by himself, leaving Ursula at home and 3) following "Ursula" home. He followed them and found out where they lived and then tried to talk to the porter about them. All of this did not go well and they literally just ended up moving because Marius was literally stalking them. So good job, Marius. *slow clap*

3. When discussing the lower strata of society, Hugo writes, “Destroy the cavern Ignorance and you destroy the lair Crime.” Do you agree with this statement? So Hugo is saying that the real threat to society is darkness because under the cover of darkness, crime is committed. But the original quote in question can be seen two different ways: either the criminals are ignorant or everyone else is. If he's saying that the criminals are ignorant and by getting rid of ignorance, we can discontinue their crimes, I don't agree with that. I think in his time criminals were the very lowest, poorest of the citizens. But that's not at all true today. Sometimes they're the smartest. So they are not committing crimes through ignorance today. Sometimes (ie, very, very often) they know exactly what they're doing and do it anyway for whatever reason. So if he's saying we need to abolish the ignorance of criminals, I don't really agree with that. But. If he's saying the rest of us are ignorant (particularly of the crimes of others), that I fully agree with. Because most crimes are committed and gotten away with because no one sees them committed. And people are usually pretty wrapped up in themselves and in their own lives and sometimes we don't want to know when crimes are being committed and don't want to help. (Ie, that story about that woman who was murdered in New York (??) below a building that was full of people, all of whom heard her scream and none of which called the cops or tried to help her.) So sometimes the real problem with crime is that no one reports it?? (Not saying that's the standard problem but it is a very large one.) And in that case, I would agree with Hugo. That by stopping us from being ignorant of crime or of looking the other way when we see it committed, we could maybe destroy it and change our society for the better.

4. What does Marius find in the package that the girls dropped? How does Marius discover the truth behind its contents? He finds four letters from four "different" people. They're all appealing to someone rich about some misfortune they're having and asking for monetary help from them. But, all of the letters have the same handwriting and they all have the same strong smell of tobacco. Seen separately, this might not be as noticeable. But since Marius finds them all together, he deduces that they were all written by the same person. The next day, a girl comes to see him and produces a new letter. This one is from the tenant who was about to be evicted but whose back rent Marius paid to stop the eviction. The letter thanks Marius for his kindness and appeals to him for help, again, because there are five of them and they don't have food and they're starving. It's written in the same handwriting as the other four and was delivered by one of the girls who dropped the package of other letters (who Marius didn't even recognized when she produced the new letter). This letter is signed Jondrette. So either this letter is real (and the neighbor's name really is Jondrette) and these are the real circumstances or "Jondrette" is a terrible swindler who is now also trying to get money from Marius since he was kind enough to help before.

5. Marius’ conversation with his young neighbor opens his eyes to his own blessings. Have you ever had a personal encounter that opened your eyes to your own privilege? Well, yes and no, I have met others who are less fortunate and who make me realize how fortunate I have been. But I have also had my own circumstances change and that is so completely eye opening. When you have been used to a certain standard of living and that changes so much that you can't always afford to eat, that completely changes your outlook. Because I never thought of myself as rich but I didn't realize that I was doing pretty well before. (Things are fine now because Dalton and I both switched jobs. But it was really, really bad there for a while.) So that's probably the best example I can come up with right now. Not having enough money to really live is super hard and talking to someone else about your fortunes versus theirs can be eye opening. But having your own circumstances change is reaaaaally eye opening.

6. Who comes to visit Jondrette? "Ursula" and her father come to visit Jondrette. The father was the recipient of one of the letters and when the daughter who visited Marius took the letter to him, he agreed to come visit Jondrette. It seems he's really rich and Jondrette is trying to get help from him. So he makes them look much poorer than they are by breaking things (including a cut on his youngest daughter's hand) and then hoping this will get money out of the rich gentleman. But then they just bring clothes (which they needed but Jondrette wanted money) so Jondrette starts telling loads of lies like how they're a year behind on their rent and have to have it that night or they'll be evicted. So the rich gentleman takes off his coat and leaves it four Jondrette then gives him five francs and says he'll be back with it that evening. All the while Marius is watching all of this from next door and is absolutely elated because he's found "Ursula" again and can finally be happy. Or so he thinks.

7. What internal crisis does Marius go through when he’s waiting to give the signal? How does he ultimately act? So "Jondrette" is setting the trap for his rich gentleman and finally, when it's laid, he asks "don't you know me?" and the rich gentleman says he does not. So Jondrette reveals that he's actually Thénardier and says that the rich gentleman took "the Lark" (as he calls her) from him and she was making him so much money and he could've lived off the money she made him for the rest of his life. So basically Thénardier accuses him of taking his livelihood and uses that as a justification for robbing him. And while revealing his name and backstory doesn't seem to have the desired affect on the rich gentleman, it absolutely shatters Marius. Because Thénardier is the man who saved his father and who is has been seeking to repay his father's debt. So now he can't decide if he should turn in Thénardier and save the rich gentleman (and go against his father's wishes) or if he should let whatever fate befall the rich gentleman and save Thénardier (and follow his father's wishes). Which, honestly, SHOULDN'T BE A DIFFICULT CHOICE. He is seeing and hearing for himself that Thénardier is a scoundrel and he even mentions Marius's father and shows that he really only saved him so he could get something out of it. But Marius ~can't decide who to save so he just waits and hopes everything will resolve itself without his interference. But, just when something awful is about to befall the rich gentleman, Marius sees what Thénardier's daughter had written for him earlier. He folds it and throws it into the Thénardier's apartment and they think it means the police are coming. So they decide to all escape and just leave the rich gentleman. But that's when Javert shows up and arrests them all. He'd been waiting outside for Marius's signal, got tired of waiting and showed up at ~exactly the right time. *slow claps*

8. What do you think of how this section wrapped up? So I basically wanted to jump in the book and yell at Marius for, like, this entire section. But at the end, I absolutely wanted him to alert the police. Though the other fear there is that Javert would recognize Jean Valjean and cart him off to prison as well. But wow. That worked out so much better than I ever expected???? Thénardier and all his goons are arrested and Jean Valjean just escapes through the window, Javert never really getting a good look at him or having the chance to recognize him. I was super impressed. Though I thought the Thénardier's had one more child??? And while I'm glad the parents were arrested, it's their children that concern me. Because none of them deserved the fate of having actually terrible parents. And their son didn't seem all that distressed by his entire family having been arrested??? So what even is the Thénardier family?????? I don't even know.

  Section Six Reading Journal

Okay so. Why is Marius a thing???? Because I kind of don’t find him interesting. Everyone else in this section I was super interested in. Especially that last bit with Jean Valjean, Thénardier and Javert all ending up in the same place. That was actually nerve-wracking and I’m super not okay (though it all ended up super well so yay).

I honestly would’ve rather had all of Les Amis in this section than just a whole lot of Marius being creepy. And Jean Valjean was super right to change his tactics at the beginning because of the random guy literally stalking his daughter. (Though forever laughing about Marius showing off the handkerchief that was actually Jean Valjean’s and Cosette being like ??????)

But, anyway, I’m glad we got a lot of characters back in this section so all of the stories can start ~intertwining and we can see how it all plays out. And I’m super hoping for all the Les Amis in the next section because I miss them. (Though the “I just saw Marius’s new coat and hat and with Marius in them” was the greatest thing and I’m still laughing.) Can’t wait to read the next section!!! All of them. I love this book so much.

Also, side note, Kara and I must have super different translations because the quote referenced in section 3 is worded pretty differently in my copy and I had such a hard time finding it. (Not that I needed to since it’s an opinion but I also wanted more context.) But I also read the first chunk of this section while I was donating plasma and they always play music and I was sitting riGHT UNDER THE SPEAKER so it was super loud (not great when you’re trying to concentrate on a Hugo tangent) so that could also be a factor in why I missed this. I felt you all needed all of this information. There you go.