Laura Hughes (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lauraredcloud) wrote2011-08-04 01:22 pm
lauraredcloud) wrote2011-08-04 01:22 pm
Lingering questions about Les Miserables
I dragged my friends to see Les Miserables with me! People who have not met my mom's cousin Linda might call me the world's foremost expert on Les Mis (the musical, not the book), but here are some things I have never understood.
- "and to make the matter certain, there's the brand upon his chest"
How come at this point, Javert doesn't, you know, look at the brand to make sure he actually has the right guy? And how come Valjean doesn't just go, "Oh, phew, they'll look at the brand and realize it's the wrong guy." The theory has been floated that it's a general prison brand, not a specific number, but later Thenardier describes Valjean, "Got a number on his chest," and also there's the bit of stage business where Valjean rips his shirt open at the trial while singing "24601" which is at least suggestive even if you are not close enough to the stage to see what is made up there.
- "But M'sieur Mayor!"
Why does Valjean hire Javert to serve as chief of police in his town? As the mayor, doesn't he have any control over that? You'd think they'd have to work together, and it would be too risky. Come to think of it, why is Javert constantly stationed in towns where Valjean happens to live? Does he track Valjean until the trail goes cold, then just take a job wherever he is? (Anna suggested that he is so hard to work with that he's always bouncing from precinct to precinct, and we just see him when he is in Valjean's town because that's when the interesting things happen.) Does France actually have any other police officers?
- "they ran away when they heard my cry"
Valjean thinks the woman screaming outside his window (which is actually part of a different plotline) signifies Javert coming to arrest him. Because (as Dave pointed out) running away when they hear a screaming woman sounds like something the police would do.
- "Jean Valjean was my savior that night"
Okay so why is it this big turning plot point that Marius finds out Valjean saved his life at the barricade? I mean, it's weird enough that he didn't put two and two together ("Oh, Cosette's dad is that guy I spent hours with in the barricade... in other news, I blacked out there and woke up at his house. Wonder what happened???") but even if there's some plausible extratextual explanation for that (e.g. Valjean left Marius at the hospital and Marius sought out Cosette later; Valjean, a master of disguise, also having inexplicably aged 10 years between every scene of the play, is unrecognizable), I'm not sure why it makes any difference. Yeah, sure, Marius is in Valjean's debt, but isn't he already in Valjean's debt "for granting me Cosette," and doesn't he already like Valjean plenty?
It would make emotional sense if Marius disliked or feared Valjean, or felt that Valjean disliked or feared him, up until that moment, but they've already bonded and had this big heart-to-heart where Valjean tells Marius his true identity.
It would also make emotional sense if that revelation weirded Marius out, if he was like, yeah, you TOTALLY need to go off and never show your dishonorable face to my pure sweet Cosette again, but Marius would never do that! Marius has no particular respect for the law. He mistrusts the police, ESPECIALLY Javert. He's totally pro-poor downtrodden people. Like, Marius would totally eat up a story about a Valjean-like character, screwed over by the system, without even knowing that he was a good guy who had your back in the barricades and had raised a wonderful daughter.
It's just weird, these plot points have the cadence of twists and turns, but they're not; Marius is totally pro-Valjean every step of the way.
- "alone at the end of my days"
I'm not even going to ask why Valjean thinks he needs to slink off and be alone and never see Cosette again because he is a CRIMINAL after being fine with raising her in spite of that for 11 years. (Although "Make her believe I have gone on a journey a long way away" is NOT a good answer to "Whatever I tell my beloved Cosette she will never believe." That's a goal, Valjean, not a plan.) I guess you can come up with some flimsy reason for that, like that Cosette being alone would have been worse than Cosette being alone with a jailbird, but now that she has Marius she'll be okay (although you'd think he'd be aware that she is not super cool with being abandoned by parental figures). Or that he doesn't know that Javert is dead, and now he's agreed to allow himself to be captured, and he doesn't want Cosette to see that. (Although it is a little weird that he gave Javert his address and now he's taking off under cover of night anyway--what happened to that agreement? Where is your honor Valjean?? Also won't Cosette figure it out when the police show up at her doorstep with a warrant for Valjean's arrest? Come to think of it, does Cosette know Valjean's real name? Will she just be like, "What a droll mistake, who is this Valjean person?")
Anyway, I'm all right with all of that, but why is Valjean suddenly weak and dying when we see him in the final scene? It's the same day as the wedding--Cosette and Marius show up straight from there--so it's what, maybe like a few weeks after the previous scene, tops? And Valjean is not that old. I think he stole the bread when he was 19, which puts him in his early 50s by the end of the story. Did he suddenly contract TB, Fantine-style? Has he taken a slow-acting poison? Is he dying of boredom? The story actually reads like he is one of those ghosts who just needed to complete "one more task" on this plane, so I guess that.
- "and to make the matter certain, there's the brand upon his chest"
How come at this point, Javert doesn't, you know, look at the brand to make sure he actually has the right guy? And how come Valjean doesn't just go, "Oh, phew, they'll look at the brand and realize it's the wrong guy." The theory has been floated that it's a general prison brand, not a specific number, but later Thenardier describes Valjean, "Got a number on his chest," and also there's the bit of stage business where Valjean rips his shirt open at the trial while singing "24601" which is at least suggestive even if you are not close enough to the stage to see what is made up there.
- "But M'sieur Mayor!"
Why does Valjean hire Javert to serve as chief of police in his town? As the mayor, doesn't he have any control over that? You'd think they'd have to work together, and it would be too risky. Come to think of it, why is Javert constantly stationed in towns where Valjean happens to live? Does he track Valjean until the trail goes cold, then just take a job wherever he is? (Anna suggested that he is so hard to work with that he's always bouncing from precinct to precinct, and we just see him when he is in Valjean's town because that's when the interesting things happen.) Does France actually have any other police officers?
- "they ran away when they heard my cry"
Valjean thinks the woman screaming outside his window (which is actually part of a different plotline) signifies Javert coming to arrest him. Because (as Dave pointed out) running away when they hear a screaming woman sounds like something the police would do.
- "Jean Valjean was my savior that night"
Okay so why is it this big turning plot point that Marius finds out Valjean saved his life at the barricade? I mean, it's weird enough that he didn't put two and two together ("Oh, Cosette's dad is that guy I spent hours with in the barricade... in other news, I blacked out there and woke up at his house. Wonder what happened???") but even if there's some plausible extratextual explanation for that (e.g. Valjean left Marius at the hospital and Marius sought out Cosette later; Valjean, a master of disguise, also having inexplicably aged 10 years between every scene of the play, is unrecognizable), I'm not sure why it makes any difference. Yeah, sure, Marius is in Valjean's debt, but isn't he already in Valjean's debt "for granting me Cosette," and doesn't he already like Valjean plenty?
It would make emotional sense if Marius disliked or feared Valjean, or felt that Valjean disliked or feared him, up until that moment, but they've already bonded and had this big heart-to-heart where Valjean tells Marius his true identity.
It would also make emotional sense if that revelation weirded Marius out, if he was like, yeah, you TOTALLY need to go off and never show your dishonorable face to my pure sweet Cosette again, but Marius would never do that! Marius has no particular respect for the law. He mistrusts the police, ESPECIALLY Javert. He's totally pro-poor downtrodden people. Like, Marius would totally eat up a story about a Valjean-like character, screwed over by the system, without even knowing that he was a good guy who had your back in the barricades and had raised a wonderful daughter.
It's just weird, these plot points have the cadence of twists and turns, but they're not; Marius is totally pro-Valjean every step of the way.
- "alone at the end of my days"
I'm not even going to ask why Valjean thinks he needs to slink off and be alone and never see Cosette again because he is a CRIMINAL after being fine with raising her in spite of that for 11 years. (Although "Make her believe I have gone on a journey a long way away" is NOT a good answer to "Whatever I tell my beloved Cosette she will never believe." That's a goal, Valjean, not a plan.) I guess you can come up with some flimsy reason for that, like that Cosette being alone would have been worse than Cosette being alone with a jailbird, but now that she has Marius she'll be okay (although you'd think he'd be aware that she is not super cool with being abandoned by parental figures). Or that he doesn't know that Javert is dead, and now he's agreed to allow himself to be captured, and he doesn't want Cosette to see that. (Although it is a little weird that he gave Javert his address and now he's taking off under cover of night anyway--what happened to that agreement? Where is your honor Valjean?? Also won't Cosette figure it out when the police show up at her doorstep with a warrant for Valjean's arrest? Come to think of it, does Cosette know Valjean's real name? Will she just be like, "What a droll mistake, who is this Valjean person?")
Anyway, I'm all right with all of that, but why is Valjean suddenly weak and dying when we see him in the final scene? It's the same day as the wedding--Cosette and Marius show up straight from there--so it's what, maybe like a few weeks after the previous scene, tops? And Valjean is not that old. I think he stole the bread when he was 19, which puts him in his early 50s by the end of the story. Did he suddenly contract TB, Fantine-style? Has he taken a slow-acting poison? Is he dying of boredom? The story actually reads like he is one of those ghosts who just needed to complete "one more task" on this plane, so I guess that.
from Caolan
(Anonymous) 2011-08-18 03:53 pm (UTC)(link)I think they never go to class because they are French students and French students don't ever have to go to class. I mean maybe no 19th-century student ever had to go to class, but the French don't even have to go to class now. Class is just something that may or may not help you study for your big terrifying exams or write a thesis or something. So if you want to be a student you just go to a university town and _maybe_ enroll in a university, and at some point maybe you take the test to become a lawyer or whatevs, and it's up to you whether you actually study or whether you just have a revolution.