----The barricade.
----Law students, thirty or forty of them. All running confusedly through the filthy portion of city street about twice the size of the school gym they've barricaded off with heaps of garbage, chairs, old mattresses.
----Most of them have never held a gun before, and now here they are, brandishing borrowed (read: stolen) muskets and sabres with the bravado they think they should have. This is war; they're rebelling against authority, monarchy, the economic system, poverty... every single person in this world is sick and tired of their misery. Something's gotta give, change will come.
----The tension has boiled over. It's ten at night, the stars are bright, and each man, left to his own devices, trapped in this death chamber he himself constructed, is moodily swinging between patriotic passion and selfish regret. But they don't fear death. I don't blame them. We're going to die anyway; if it comes down to furthering a cause I love or moaning about it at home, I know the choice I'll make.
----But it's hard to remember that choice here. Musket balls fly in an impenetrable horizontal plane, explosions rock the ground, cough on the smoke, food ran out 24 hours ago, got no sleep last night. Gun jams under enemy fire, paving stones piled in a heap next to the bodies, hands crusted in someone else's blood, no leadership, our flag is the ragged coat of the first man to die, can't hear myself think, no functional weapons left, attack with broken glass bottles, lost an arm, hurts so bad, whack my head on a falling beam, window shatters, duck for cover, can't find my friends, dirt smeared on his face, curled up in a cellar, don't know anyone's name, a child is singing somewhere, Paris is indifferent to us... me... my family, who won't be able to find me, identify the body, no hope... locked in to the barricade, no escape, they'll breach the wall sooner or later, only a matter of time, two a.m., no sleep, battle still raging, screaming, yelling, running, can't run anymore, lungs crushed...
----That, my friends, is the barricade where Marius is fighting.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Next Generation
----Right. I'm going to skim over vast portions of my book, so jump in and try to keep up.
----Marius has become friends with a group called Les Amis de L'ABC, which means Friends of the ABC, or, a bilingual pun, Friends of the Abased, oppressed. They're a group of law students who are ready for a Revolution.
----Marius falls in love with a beautiful girl, Cosette. Due to her father's vigilance Cosette is forced to move away. Marius (and I'm not sure if this is scary or sweet) follows her around, snooping and asking questions until finally he finds out where she lives. However, he only gets this information with the help of Eponine, the Thernardiers' daughter, who is now grown up and has a crush on Marius. He and Cosette eventually meet up and realize they're soulmates. They sit in the twilight garden, laughing and murmuring to one another. Aaaawww...
----But then we leave their Eden and watch as, little by little, the Paris underworld is revealed. Here live the wretched creatures who once were human but now are filthy misshapen writhing beings who roll in squalor. And there are things more sinister- the worst of the gangs is the Patron-Minette, an unstoppable, famous, infamous group of the most evil beings who are as far from human as you can get. Their leader is... come on, you knew you'd be seeing him again... Thernardier. He tried to attack Valjean, who is operating under a different name now. Unfortunately for him, Thernardier and the rest of his gang go to prison but soon easily escape.
----The last character we've recently met is Gavroche, a street urchin around twelve years old. He's actually the abandoned child of Madame Thenardier who was kicked out when he was young. Anyway, he's out in the pouring rain when he sees two little boys, aged eight and five, who are whining and crying. They got separated from their wealthy mother (a relative of Marius') and have no idea what to do. So Gavroche takes the two boys into his care and they sleep in the hollow belly of an elephant statue. Sleep tight, little boys.
----Marius has become friends with a group called Les Amis de L'ABC, which means Friends of the ABC, or, a bilingual pun, Friends of the Abased, oppressed. They're a group of law students who are ready for a Revolution.
----Marius falls in love with a beautiful girl, Cosette. Due to her father's vigilance Cosette is forced to move away. Marius (and I'm not sure if this is scary or sweet) follows her around, snooping and asking questions until finally he finds out where she lives. However, he only gets this information with the help of Eponine, the Thernardiers' daughter, who is now grown up and has a crush on Marius. He and Cosette eventually meet up and realize they're soulmates. They sit in the twilight garden, laughing and murmuring to one another. Aaaawww...
----But then we leave their Eden and watch as, little by little, the Paris underworld is revealed. Here live the wretched creatures who once were human but now are filthy misshapen writhing beings who roll in squalor. And there are things more sinister- the worst of the gangs is the Patron-Minette, an unstoppable, famous, infamous group of the most evil beings who are as far from human as you can get. Their leader is... come on, you knew you'd be seeing him again... Thernardier. He tried to attack Valjean, who is operating under a different name now. Unfortunately for him, Thernardier and the rest of his gang go to prison but soon easily escape.
----The last character we've recently met is Gavroche, a street urchin around twelve years old. He's actually the abandoned child of Madame Thenardier who was kicked out when he was young. Anyway, he's out in the pouring rain when he sees two little boys, aged eight and five, who are whining and crying. They got separated from their wealthy mother (a relative of Marius') and have no idea what to do. So Gavroche takes the two boys into his care and they sleep in the hollow belly of an elephant statue. Sleep tight, little boys.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
The Part Where We Stop Hating Marius
----So Marius, being a jerk at this point, goes through the motions of mourning and life. Then, finally, he meets the man who saw his father spying on him. He is completely moved, and, having never known anything about his father before, starts reading the chronicles of what happened in the war. With growing pride and adoration for his father, his patriotism grows. Over about a month, Marius becomes a passionate radicalist Republican. He loves his country dearly, and his father even more. But he misses him now.
----Soon Guillenormand, the grandfather, finds out about Marius's conversion. He is outraged because he hates the father and thinks the monarchy was a lot better than this Napoleon zealot. He and Marius end up in a huge screaming confrontation where people's faces turn red, purple, and black, but that's not important. The best part of the whole scene, in my opinion, is Marius's line, which made me stop hating him and bumped him into being my new favorite character. The grandfather says:
--"...What does this mean?"
--Marius coloured slightly, and answered:
--"It means I am my father's son."
--M. Gillenormand checked his laugh, and said harshly:
--"Your father; I am your father."
--[Focus, this is my favorite part!] "My father," resumed Marius with downcast eyes and stern manner, "was a humble and heroic man, who served the republic and France gloriously, who was great in the greatest history that men have ever made, who lived a quarter of a century in the camp, by day under grape and under balls [artillary fire], by night in the snow, in the mud, and in the rain, who captured colours, who received twenty wounds, and who had but one fault; that was in losing too dearly two ingrates, his country and me."
----Aaaawwww! How sweet! But M. Gillenormand is deeply insulted and tells his grandson to "be off." He will send money every so often but never speak of him again.
----Poor Marius hits the road with some money, a few clothes in a bag, and his watch. He doesn't even have his father's note anymore; Gillenormand burned it. Then comes perhaps the most hopeless, accurate line in the book-
--"What was Marius to do?"
----Soon Guillenormand, the grandfather, finds out about Marius's conversion. He is outraged because he hates the father and thinks the monarchy was a lot better than this Napoleon zealot. He and Marius end up in a huge screaming confrontation where people's faces turn red, purple, and black, but that's not important. The best part of the whole scene, in my opinion, is Marius's line, which made me stop hating him and bumped him into being my new favorite character. The grandfather says:
--"...What does this mean?"
--Marius coloured slightly, and answered:
--"It means I am my father's son."
--M. Gillenormand checked his laugh, and said harshly:
--"Your father; I am your father."
--[Focus, this is my favorite part!] "My father," resumed Marius with downcast eyes and stern manner, "was a humble and heroic man, who served the republic and France gloriously, who was great in the greatest history that men have ever made, who lived a quarter of a century in the camp, by day under grape and under balls [artillary fire], by night in the snow, in the mud, and in the rain, who captured colours, who received twenty wounds, and who had but one fault; that was in losing too dearly two ingrates, his country and me."
----Aaaawwww! How sweet! But M. Gillenormand is deeply insulted and tells his grandson to "be off." He will send money every so often but never speak of him again.
----Poor Marius hits the road with some money, a few clothes in a bag, and his watch. He doesn't even have his father's note anymore; Gillenormand burned it. Then comes perhaps the most hopeless, accurate line in the book-
--"What was Marius to do?"
Marius Pontmercy
----I may have already mentioned that time in my book doesn't proceed in a nice linear fashion. It's more of a tangled bowl of spaghetti where you double back within people's flashbacks and are never quite sure what year, generation, or even century we are talking about. That said, don't blame me for the out of chronological order posts; I am merely summarizing in the order the author has written.
----Now, after Baron Colonel Pontmercy gave up his baby son to M. Guillenormand, life didn't go so well. The son, Marius, was educated as an apathetic aristocrat. He was nice enough, but snobby, knew nothing of the real world and was rather a spoiled lapdog in his grandfather's home. A decent person.
----One day, he gets a message: his father is dying. Having heard his grandfather's version of the dad, Marius only goes because it is expected. He doesn't care for his dad, has never met him, and thinks he's a scumbag for abandoning him. But when he reaches the house, Colonel Pontmercy is already dead! The son receives a note from his father, written in the last day:
----"For my son.- The emperor made me a baron upon the battlefield of Waterloo. Since the Restoration contests this title which I have bought with my blood, my son will take it and bear it. I need not say that he will be worthy of it. At this same battle of Waterloo, a sergeant saved my life. This man's name is Thenardier. Not long ago, I believe he was keeping a little tavern in a village in the suburbs of Paris, at Chelles or at Montfermeil. If my son meets him, he will do Thenardier all the service he can."
----Marius is completely unmoved by the request of a man he's never seen before who's dead now anyway. He tucks the note into his pocket, but only out of respect for the dead. He forgets his father and goes back to his grandfather.
----Now, after Baron Colonel Pontmercy gave up his baby son to M. Guillenormand, life didn't go so well. The son, Marius, was educated as an apathetic aristocrat. He was nice enough, but snobby, knew nothing of the real world and was rather a spoiled lapdog in his grandfather's home. A decent person.
----One day, he gets a message: his father is dying. Having heard his grandfather's version of the dad, Marius only goes because it is expected. He doesn't care for his dad, has never met him, and thinks he's a scumbag for abandoning him. But when he reaches the house, Colonel Pontmercy is already dead! The son receives a note from his father, written in the last day:
----"For my son.- The emperor made me a baron upon the battlefield of Waterloo. Since the Restoration contests this title which I have bought with my blood, my son will take it and bear it. I need not say that he will be worthy of it. At this same battle of Waterloo, a sergeant saved my life. This man's name is Thenardier. Not long ago, I believe he was keeping a little tavern in a village in the suburbs of Paris, at Chelles or at Montfermeil. If my son meets him, he will do Thenardier all the service he can."
----Marius is completely unmoved by the request of a man he's never seen before who's dead now anyway. He tucks the note into his pocket, but only out of respect for the dead. He forgets his father and goes back to his grandfather.
The Pontmercys
----Scratch the "happy ending" bit. I'm not even halfway through, so we'll be seeing those two again. But until then, we've met a whole new family.
----Monsieur Guillenormand is a grumpy, crotchety, frivolous old man. He manages to be crude and off-color while still having a penchant for fine things. In short, he's a repulsive ninety year old who's filthy rich and always gets his way.
----He has two daughters. The eldest, his favorite, never married and still lives with him. His younger daughter married Monsieur Pontmercy, a soldier. Pontmercy is a war hero general who fought, under the guidance of Emporer Napoleon, to overthrow the crushing monarchy (Marie Antoinette, Reign of Terror, guillotines, all that fun stuff). Anyway, he is so good he was promoted to Baron and Colonel on the same night.
----However, he is hit in the grid of cannon fire and falls unconcious on the ground, buried beneath the other cadavers (yuck!). But in the dead of night, a lone figure crouches on the ground in front of him and gingerly slips his hand in Baron Pontmercy's pocket, looking for valuables. In doing so, he brings Pontmercy back to conciousness, when he surely would have died. Pontmercy, ever the gentleman, is extremely grateful and asks for his accidental rescuer's name. The answer? Thernardier. THAT Thernardier!
----Baron Colonel Pontmercy recovers and returns home, wishing to use his rightfully earned titles, but since he fought on the unpopular team, no one else will acknowledge them. He has a son and names him Marius, but because of a stupid inheritance matter, M. Guillenormand takes the son and excommunicates the father. The Baron's wife, M. Guillenormand's least favorite daughter, dies shortly after having Marius.
----Alone, angry, and confused, Baron Pontmercy retires to a house in the country and spends his days tending the flowers while shutting out flashbacks of heroism long gone on the battlefield. But he has one comfort- sometimes he sneaks out to watch his son at church. No one sees him except for an old man in the balcony. He grows old and sickly. His hair is white, the end is near, and he still has never met his own son!
----Monsieur Guillenormand is a grumpy, crotchety, frivolous old man. He manages to be crude and off-color while still having a penchant for fine things. In short, he's a repulsive ninety year old who's filthy rich and always gets his way.
----He has two daughters. The eldest, his favorite, never married and still lives with him. His younger daughter married Monsieur Pontmercy, a soldier. Pontmercy is a war hero general who fought, under the guidance of Emporer Napoleon, to overthrow the crushing monarchy (Marie Antoinette, Reign of Terror, guillotines, all that fun stuff). Anyway, he is so good he was promoted to Baron and Colonel on the same night.
----However, he is hit in the grid of cannon fire and falls unconcious on the ground, buried beneath the other cadavers (yuck!). But in the dead of night, a lone figure crouches on the ground in front of him and gingerly slips his hand in Baron Pontmercy's pocket, looking for valuables. In doing so, he brings Pontmercy back to conciousness, when he surely would have died. Pontmercy, ever the gentleman, is extremely grateful and asks for his accidental rescuer's name. The answer? Thernardier. THAT Thernardier!
----Baron Colonel Pontmercy recovers and returns home, wishing to use his rightfully earned titles, but since he fought on the unpopular team, no one else will acknowledge them. He has a son and names him Marius, but because of a stupid inheritance matter, M. Guillenormand takes the son and excommunicates the father. The Baron's wife, M. Guillenormand's least favorite daughter, dies shortly after having Marius.
----Alone, angry, and confused, Baron Pontmercy retires to a house in the country and spends his days tending the flowers while shutting out flashbacks of heroism long gone on the battlefield. But he has one comfort- sometimes he sneaks out to watch his son at church. No one sees him except for an old man in the balcony. He grows old and sickly. His hair is white, the end is near, and he still has never met his own son!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)