#they’re already selfish and greedy so let’s just keep going on that trend

[vapaus-ystavyys-tasaarvo]

Revenge Sandwich Week 1

Okay I’m here to attempt to participate with actual words rather than just maps. I can do this. By the way I haven’t read any other posts yet because I wanted to make mine first! (Because I’m worried that if I do read other people’s posts they’ve already said everything I was going to say and then I don’t have anything. x) I mean, literary analysis really isn’t my strong suit.)

Turns out this book is still such a page-turner for me. :p It’s really reminding me why I loved Dumas books as a kid. I’m already a bit ahead of schedule because I just couldn’t stop reading. But I’ll just talk about this week’s part now.

So yeah, I did vaguely remember some of what happened here but there were a lot of details I’d forgotten. And even things that don’t count as “details”: SOMEHOW I managed to COMPLETELY forget that this was all about politics and Napoleon. I literally read the part about them stopping on Elba and went “hey wait is this a Napoleon thing?” and yes, turns out it was a Napoleon thing.

Anyway.

This story... or at least the beginning is kind of hilariously unsubtle, isn’t it? The book doesn’t exactly make you wonder who are the good guys and the bad guys. (At this point at least. I have the impression that this is going to change.) And Edmond is kind of boringly perfect and like EVERYBODY LOVES HIM except the couple of guys who’re jealous. Although he IS at least kind of charmingly naïve, the poor guy, so he does have at least one fault...

Well also he has a bit of a temper because of course he does, he’s a Dumas protagonist isn’t he? And btw that bit where he’s all like “yeah Danglars and me once had a row so bad that we almost had a duel over it (on Monte Cristo no less, that sure isn’t foreshadowing anything at all) but I’m sure we’ll get along fine from now on and he definitely would never betray me” rhat is EXACTLY the kind of thought process Dumas himself would have. Like I’m 99% sure he’s just outright calling himself out here.

I mean some of the characters do get some complexity already. M. Morrel is introduced as kind of a greedy bastard who just cares about his cargo rather than that his captain died, but then turns out that he genuinely cares about Edmond and is ready to even risk his own reputation to help him. Caderousse is an envious, selfish bastard but he’s also somewhat sympathetic. (Again, because he defends Edmond... this seems to be a bit of a trend here. Liking Edmond makes you more sympathetic. xD) And then there’s Villefort who’s... well he’s a really compelling character and I find him fascinating and I want to read more about him but I also hhhhate him as a person. :p Yuck, prosecutors. I feel like washing my hands. And I just see red when his only motivation to do the right thing seems to be just to please his fiancée and he like fantasizes about telling Renée about how nice he was. Ewww dude, you are the worst.

Renée is interesting because I kinda genuinely do like her but on the other hand she’s way too happy to marry Villefort which makes me side-eye her a bit. I mean yeah she’s an upper-class woman and probably doesn’t have endless choices about matters of love but still. (Also she doesn’t mind the death penalty apparently unless it’s for political prisoners. >__<) Well, we’ll see how things turn out. I hope she’ll keep showing up.

I do really like all the political stuff, even if it seems to be more about the intrigue and the plot than the kind of manifesto masquerading as a novel that Les Mis is. But I enjoy both kinds. :p It’s a fun contrast too, given that these are novels set approximately in the same era. (And Dumas still finds time to make fun of the Royalists which I appreciate.)

Oh but there seems to be quite a lot of class discussion too, right? Which is interesting. I’d really like to see where it goes.

Uh... that’s pretty much all the at least somewhat structured thoughts I had for now? Like I said, this isn’t really my strong suit.

Some random reactions and comments that I wrote down:

‘-- if it were known that you gave a packet to the marshal and spoke to the emperor, you might be compromised.’

‘How could it compromise me, Monsieur?’

Oh you sweet summer child...

‘I shall always have the highest regard for those who enjoy the confidence of my owners.’

That’s an interesting way to translate “mes armateurs”. (I had to check what it was in the original text, it felt so weird.)

- I love the bit about Les Catalans. It just appeals to me a lot, that kind of sense of a tiny community with an interesting history. I just appreciate it in a story (although I don’t really know how accurately they’re portrayed here and of course we only seem to get to meet two people from there.)

- Another thing is the strong sense of the era, it’s just very very 1815. I like it.

- Mercédès’s speech to Fernand is probably the most blatant kind of exposition dialogue ever lol

- Also at points it feels like maybe you don’t need to remind us that they’re Catalan like literally every time you talk about them? Especially with Fernand, omg. (And who says “with your Catalan knife” when they’re also Catalan themself?)

- So far I like Mercédès though, I don’t really have much to say about her otherwise. Fernand creeps me out, like he’s obviously meant to. He seriously doesn’t seem to care about Mercédès’s feelings AT ALL as long as she doesn’t kill herself. >___< 

- All the talk about it being bad luck to call a woman her fiancés name before they’re married and a man captain before he’s been formally appointed... there’s SO MUCH FORESHADOWING HERE OMG. I get it, everything is going to go horribly wrong! Stop reminding me!

- Danglars, why did you even talk in front of Caderousse? I don’t get it at allll. I mean at first I thought the novel was going to have Caderousse, Danglars and Fernand all conspire together against Edmond and I was so confused about Caderousse being there because he seriously didn’t have a good enough reason to hate Edmond... I’m glad it didn’t go that way but now I’m just baffled by Danglars.

- I don’t have much to say about Danglars in general, he’s probably the most one dimensional character so far. I mean I appreciate his twisted mind because it makes him a scarier villain but otherwise... I don’t know, we’ll see.

-  Btw isn’t it a bit weird how even though we get told that Edmond has all these friends and how all these people really love and respect him but they don’t really get named or introduced at all? Instead all the focus is on the three people who actually aren’t great friends. Just a thought. It’s weird.

‘a commissioner wearing his sash is no longer a man but a statue of the law, cold, deaf and dumb.’

Hah. :D

‘but, dammit, though he’s a Royalist and the crown prosecutor, he is also a man and not, I believe, a wicked one.’

‘No’, said Danglars. ‘Though I have heard it said that he is ambitious, which is much the same.’

Oh snap. Okay I really like that line even though it’s Danglars saying it.

- All the coincidences, like the foreshadowing and the character introductions, ARE NOT SUBTLE AT ALL. Buuuut then again what are you even reading 19th C. lit for if you don’t appreciate Poignant Coincidences....

- Uggghhh all the talk about trials is disgusting. Yuck yuck yuck. Hhhhate. The sheer lack of empathy in everybody except Renée. Also Villefort, HOW IS IT ANYTHING LIKE A DUEL WTF. Let’s make a list: a) duels are supposed to be agreed upon by both parties, b) it’s supposed to be balanced, not favouring one of the parties, c) both should be facing the same risks. YOU LITERALLY HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE, YOUR OPPONENT HAS EVERYTHING ON THE LINE. ARGH.

- did I mention that I hhhate him?

‘Nowadays, the sword has been put aside and the gown is supreme: there is a wise Latin tag to that effect.’

‘Cedant arma togae,’ Villefort said, with a bow.

‘I did not dare to attempt it in Latin,’ the marquise replied.

Okay, relatable. x) (obviously I don’t like her either but)

‘So the guilty man has been arrested,’ said the marquise.

‘You mean, the accused man,’ said Renée.

Thank you, Renée, the only half decent human being in this party.

This restore to us had a revolutionary ring to the ears of the crown prosecutor’s deputy.

Fucking royalists, omg. (I do appreciate Dumas snarking about them.)

settled his features in front of the mirror into their grandest expression and sat down, dark and threatening, behind his desk.

Omg Villefort you dork.

- Also: interrogating a suspect while also thinking ahead to how cleverly you can tell people about it later: like this guy is simultaneously so relatable and so disgusting. It’s both hilarious and enraging. (Idk, it probably hits me particularly hard because he feels like such a real person.)

happiness makes even wicked men good.

Another good line.

‘To whom was it addressed?’

‘To Monsieur Noirtier, Rue Coq-Héron, in Paris.’

Oh shit... Suddenly it makes sense that Edmond ends up in prison. >_______<

- Aaaa poor Edmond has all the power here and he just doesn’t KNOW.

- I don’t have anything to say about the next chapter, just AAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa

- This part has gotten so much harder to read as an adult tbh.

Villefort ran out but, on reaching the door, realized that the sight of a deputy crown prosecutor in such a hurry could upset the tranquility of an entire town, so he slowed to his normal pace, which was quite magisterial.

Omg this guy. I swear.

- Villefort is having his Storm Inside A Skull moment except he put HIMSELF into this situation and of course he turns out to be an Anti-Valjean if anything. It really feels like an echo of the same scene though, even to the point of being interrupted and pushed towards the final decision by someone coming to tell them that the carriage is ready.

- I don’t have much in terms of thoughts about the chapters with Louis XVIII. Mostly I just kept wondering how historically accurate this was. xD

Okay, that’s all I had. Time to read everybody else’s things!