#we're setting the scene we're delving into the social the political the economic!!!!

[thelawsofdaylight]

There’s so much to enjoy about 1.1.2 but here are some of my favourite things:

The immediate contrast we get between the lavish, detail-ridden, paragraphs-long description of the palace versus barely even a sentence about the hospital. I know we mock Hugo a lot for his digressions but the man DOES know how to be concise! He uses short sentences for effect all the time and this is one of my fave examples because it’s also just very funny in its bluntness.

The Bishop questioning the director of the hospital and saying some variation of ‘I know’ after every response. We saw it in the last chapter as well with how he addresses Napoleon but again, the sheer confidence!! The boldness!! Bishop M does not fuck around!!

“There is some mistake, I tell you; you have my house, and I have yours. Give me back my house” ICONIC ENERGY, ABSOLUTELY UNMATCHED

The Bishop filing absolutely everything under household expenses to the chagrin of Mme Magloire. On that note, the extent to which that house would fall apart without her and Mlle Baptistine because the Bishop is determined to give absolutely everything away (’and still I am cramped with it all!’)

’Expenses of carriage and circuit’ *goes on to list things that have nothing to do with carriage and circuit to the value of 3000 livres* this part always cracks me up there’s just something about the way Hugo writes which is almost tongue-in-cheek during these chapters, especially with the set up beforehand where the rich senator rants about how Bishop M is swindling money he doesn’t need for his own selfish gain. Once again, Les Mis is a comedy!!!!!!

“As there is always more wretchedness below than there is brotherhood above” what a raw line. And we’re only in the second chapter!

Also, whilst we’re here: this is the point!!!! I know we all joke about the ‘the following has no direct bearing on the story’ thing but these first few chapters do such a good job establishing the thesis of the novel. Bishop M is literally the most altruistic guy ever to the point where it borders on parody and there is still more ‘wretchedness’ than he can ever possibly solve as an individual, even just in the small town of Digne, even with donating the majority of his income to the poor and taking the principle of abnegation to the extreme. It feels like Hugo is anticipating criticism to the tune of ‘we don’t need structural change we just need more charity/inidividual change/philanthropy/etc!’ and immediately rejecting that as a solution before the novel even gets properly underway by showing how no amount of selflessness will ever overcome the power of systemic violence. (Also for more on this here is a really good post by @secretmellowblog​ about Bishop M but do be aware it has small spoilers for future chapters if you’re doing a first-time read and want to avoid those!)

In summary: