2.5.10 Chapter Discussion and Week 17 Summary (Spoilers up to 2.5.10)
Summary of chapters 2.5.4-2.5.10:
Valjean decides he needs to climb a wall to escape Javert and his soldiers. As the soldiers close in to Valjean's position, he realizes he has to account for Cosette in his plan to escape them. He tells her the Thénardiess is coming to catch her, so she needs to be perfectly silent. Valjean cuts a rope from a nearby lamp, ties it to Cosette, climbs the wall, hoists her up, and they both hide on the roof of the building as the soldiers pass them. The two of them enter a garden that is overrun and gloomy, although they begin to hear some kind of angelic singing which makes them fall to their knees in reverence. Valjean goes for a look around and hears a bell coming from somewhere and sees it is attached to a man. When he returns to Cosette, she has fallen asleep and is unresponsive from the cold. Needing to save Cosette's life, Valjean goes to the man with the bell, offering him money for shelter. The man recognizes Valjean as Monsieur Madeleine, and Valjean sees it is Fauchelevent, the man he saved from his fall under the cart back in M-- sur M--. Valjean, as Madeleine, had secured Fauchelevent a place at the Convent of the Petit Picpus after his fall left him crippled, so he does not know of the former mayor's downfall or true identity. He agrees to help Valjean and Cosette is saved in front of the fire in his home. Hugo takes his readers through Javert's mind. Javert had read an announcement of Valjean's death and taken it as fact. He later reads, however, of an apparent kidnapping of a young girl named Cosette, the daughter a Fantine. Recognizing the names and remembering Valjean's connection to them, Javert goes to investigate. M. Thénardier informs him that in fact, Cosette's grandfather was the man who left with her, so Javert again thinks Valjean really is dead. But, he hears of a "beggar who gives alms," and goes to investigate that suspicious person. He disguises himself as another beggar, thinks he recognizes Valjean, rents a room in the Gorbeau House, watches the man he thinks is Valjean and follows that man after he leaves in the night. Javert follows the man through the night but doesn't arrest him immediately on the chance he is not really Valjean. He knows it is him in one street and advances to capture him, but finds Valjean has escaped when he closes in. Javert leaves two soldiers to watch the area and returns to the Prefecture of Police empty-handed.
Questions for 2.5.10:
- Did you have a favorite line or passage from this chapter? If so, what made it stand out to you?
- Do you have any sympathy for Javert's plight as the policeman who is trying to work for justice?
- Was there any figurative language you found interesting in this chapter?
- Do you have any other comments or questions about this chapter?
- What did you think about Hugo's choice to have us look into Javert's mind and process?
Final line:
At daybreak, he left two intelligent men on the watch, and returned to the Prefecture of Police, crestfallen as a spy who has been caught by a thief.
[ New spoiler thread for the upcoming week should be up tonight. ]
Posted Apr 28, 2019, 12:40 AM UTC