“And he tore the charge from the nail. This conquered Gavroche. From that instant Gavroche set himself to study Bahorel.”
— Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
there is just not enough bahorel around here. especially bahorel and young grasshopper gavroche.
les miserables
I decided on a whim to look back over the ‘Corinth’ and ‘Darkness surrounds Grantaire’ bit of the brick (Penguin classics translation) to remind myself of his oddness. The following are some things I noticed about ‘good old Grantaire’ (please excuse my weak opinions):
– He seems to hates money and bankers despite the fact he doesn’t seem concerned with having a job or anything. He compares bankers who scoop up girls to eagles and girls preoccupied with money to cats. He also implies that money leads to ugliness, as is suggested in the Corinth chapter where he seems shocked that a woman he knew who had become involved with a banker was still beautiful despite this. Is that some vague anti-capitalist sentiment there, ‘taire?
-He seems to believe that Revolutions happen because God makes life vague and tragic due to tampering; he says that if he were God he wouldn’t string people about; he would make life straightforward so miracles and uncertainties wouldn’t need to happen. This could be argued to be that R doesn’t so much hate revolution as an action of man, but as a Godly reflex; he hates that it happens in the first place because God is so apparently shit at his job.
– He claims that drink is the only constant; whichever side of the divide you’re on, drink is the only truth in a fucked up world. Youch. Next up on Sick Sad World…
– He then goes on to complain that he isn’t rich and should have been born into luxury as a non-Parisian because he’s a big whiny baby. However, he mentions children and how those who ask don’t get and those who don’t, do. I think this is particularly striking: what’s a hedonistic drunk like R doing caring about the plight of needy children, especially in relation to himself? Does a certain Grantaire have a bit of childhood bitterness, or even… Sympathy for others!? Heaven forbid! (Also consider that he gives Bossuet 10 sous to give to Gavroche’s friend Navet and tells him to stay in and eat some breakfast as it’s dangerous and wet outside. He also seems to know about different kinds of Parisian urchins. I think R cares about kids, guys.)
– He then points out that he criticises as a means of venting rather than hurting anybody; he’s a self- absorbed lump, but it’s not out of badness or even playing Devil’s Advocate. He says the things he does because he feels he needs to, and his friends seem to be oddly cool with that. That being said, they don’t really pay attention to his whining. The point remains, though: R isn’t an asshole on purpose, apparently. He just kind of is one in certain respects.
– He mentions that he thinks it’s stupid that men should be sensely killing each other and playing out God’s illformed melodrama when they could go frollicking with a lady in a meadow. That’s pretty romantic there, R. Jehan would agree under different circumstances. He also states that he doesn’t hate the Government, but recognises it as being the same old royal shit as always while poking fun at Louis-Philippe. Now THERE’S some pathetic apathy right there.
– He then gets messed up drunk with Joly and Bossuet because he doesn’t have any hash or opium around to fog his mind. Oh R, drugs aren’t cool bro. Also, Joly is a fucking party animal.
– He then shouts about utter bollocks (and how he wishes good people were rich so they could make a difference) until Courfeyrac tells him to shut up. He then calls himself the olde schoole version of ‘MC Grand-R’ and sobers up when he gets told off by Enjolras only to fall asleep.
A+, 10/10 Grantaire. You sure know how to woo a man.
——
Thinking about all this, I personally I get serious ‘jaded idealist’ vibes from R as opposed to middle class whining all on its own (although that is a factor). I don’t think he’s even half as apathetic as he claims to be considering how passionate he is about being dispassionate. If he was so apathetic, he wouldn’t hang around and argue with anybody other than Enjolras (or at all), but he pretty much talks to whoever will listen. I honestly think he WANTS them to prove him wrong. That and the guys make him the happiest he seems capable of being. He really seems to treasure them.Tl;dr: R is a self-centred, whiney little git on one hand but he’s also a fundamentally good person who has a genuine problem regarding substance abuse and depression on the other. It’s not right to demonise OR idolise him; he’s just terribly human. He seems to wish for change, but doesn’t trust himself to be the one to make it until the very end where he does it instinctively. He finally listens to his gut and finds out he’s a hero, too.
He made a great man smile in his last moments, and in that way he made all the difference in the world.
Various takes on Orestes Fasting And Pylades Drunk throughout the years:
Les Miserables (1934)
Les Miserables (1957)
Shoujo Cosette (2007)
Les Miserables (2012)I admit it, the 1957 one fucking stings.
Props to Shoujo Cosette E and R being bafflingly calm about the whole thing, though. “Ah sure it’ll be grand, like! Somebody else will pick up where we left off.”
1957 though
I need to watch that some time.
Les Miserables fan: Oh, that looks heartreaking! I need to find it!
WHAT HAS THIS STORY DONE TO ME.Oh god the 1957 one! Now I want to watch it.
It can be found here on Youtube, the whole thing!
And yes it looks agonising. I’ve only watched that scene, I’m not sure I can bring myself to watch any more.
friendly reminder that when combeferre was philosophizing about the dead, about the remorse of murder, about the necessity of it, joly was thinking of cats
I FOUND IT
“Combeferre, surrounded by students and artisans, was speaking of the dead, of Jean Prouvaire, of Bahorel, or Mabeuf, and even of Cabuc, and of Enjolras’ sad severity.
‘Our hearts quiver so, and human life is such a mystery that, even in the case of a civic murder, even in a murder for liberation, if there be such a thing, the remorse for having struck a man surpasses the joy of having served the human race.’
Joly,�?perceiving�?a cat prowling on a gutter, extracted philosophy from it. ‘What is the cat?’ he exclaimed.”
In Which Joly Is Basically The Internet
Les Miserables- Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk
This. Took. Too. Long.
It’s finally heeeeerre! I can’t believe I completely skipped this chapter when I first read the Brick, and now…*cries*. This was supposed to be a “short” comic, but now, two months later, it’s finally done…the second page took forever because I kept changing it, and I did the inking and watercolor separate via lightbox and put them together in Photoshop.“Permets-tu?”
(posting to my regular blog because of all the work I put into it)
The Friends of the ABC
A Group Which Barely Missed Becoming Historic
- Feuilly
“Feuilly was a workingman, a fan-maker, orphaned both of father and mother, who earned with difficulty three francs a day, and had but one thought, to deliver the world. He had one other preoccupation, to educate himself; he called this also, delivering himself. He had taught himself to read and write; everything that he knew, he had learned by himself. Feuilly had a generous heart. The range of his embrace was immense. This orphan had adopted the peoples. As his mother had failed him, he meditated on his country.”
