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1* Why do the revolutionaries trust Valjean so quickly, besides the fact that they knew they were outgunned and desperate for any kind of help at all? This man shows up in an Army Uniform, claims to be a volunteer when the ''only'' previous volunteer (in the musical, at least) older than his 20s was shown to be a traitor, shoots a sniper in the confusion of the first attack (it’s unclear whether he even kills that sniper or not; if book canon is to be believed, he didn’t even kill the guy, just shot his hat until he ran away), and immediately asks for the custody of the traitor, whom he takes to the back and ‘finishes off' without anyone seeing the kill take place, or the body afterwards. It is incredibly easy to imagine the National Guard pulling the exact same trick for the express purpose of rescuing Javert after they realize he must’ve been found out and captured, so it strikes me as odd that the students didn’t even pause to think that maybe they should monitor Valjean’s activities more closely.
2** Marius was there at the barricades. The revolutionaries (Enjolras in particular) know Marius and trust him. Marius is in love with Cosette and trusts her. Valjean is Cosette's adoptive father and she trusts him. Long story short, Marius can vouch for Valjean. Don't forget that Javert was ''immediately'' identified and captured by the revolutionaries, and there haven't been any ''successful'' spies anywhere in their midst, so they're pretty confident in their ability to tell friend from foe.
3* In the musical, Valjean worries that his true identity has been discovered and intends to escape overseas with Cosette. But then he decides to go to the barricade instead. So what was Cosette doing when both her father and supposedly one true love were out fighting for their lives? Was she too much of a lady to go check on them or had she just been [[LockedOutOfTheLoop left out of the situation?]]
4** I could be mistaken, but if I recall correctly, she was unaware where her father had gone to. She never asks Marius about it, and that would have given away who carried Marius away and all sorts of other things.
5* In the musical, How did M. Thénardier recognise Valjean ''as a criminal'' when he tried to rob him? He remembers Valjean from the time he paid for Cosette, and during that exchange Valjean never said who he was, so to the Thénardiers he's just some rich man. Yet when ÉThénardier tries to rob Valjean in Paris, he says "You know me, I'm a con, just like you"; and knows Valjean has a brand on his chest. How?
6** Couldn't he have just opened Valjean's shirt (looking for a hidden necklace he could steal) or it had come open, revealing the brand?
7** In the musical, Thénardier opens up Valjean's shirt while robbing him, then mentions it to Javert in The Robbery.
8** The book also elaborates: Thenardier smells a rat when he notices that although Valjean is dressed in tattered, worn clothes, he drops a huge sum of money without thinking about it to pay for Cosette. He considers that Valjean might be a robber.
9* More of a Meta JBM than specifically about the musical itself (and possibly the book, but I don't think the book has this issue), but why is it considered such a huge thing for or amongst gay people? The HoYay? The [[MrFanservice Estrogen Bait Brigade]]? Or just that it's one of the most widely known musicals there are (and has a [[PronounTrouble feminine name]] for bonus points), and gay males stereotypically love musicals?
10** This gay troper has never heard of any particular stereotypes of gay men liking Les Mis specifically. Maybe it's just the general broadway fan stereotype. After all, it's a Big Damn Musical and most fans of musicals are also fans of Les Mis, the two go hand in hand with eachother.
11*** Well, there was that episode of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' where JD was arguing about [[FanNickname The Glums]] with all the gay OAPs who had started congregating on his decking. Apart from that, this troper can't think of any other examples.
12*** SmallReferencePools?
13*** There IS an AIDS research and recovery organization named Empty Chairs at Empty Tables after a song in the musical. Other than that, as a gay troper, I couldn't tell you about any other connections.
14** For this troper, the camaraderie of the Amis was pretty appealing to young people in my social circle who were still working out their identities, and as we all got older it stuck around. Idk how it is for other people, though.
15** Likely a combination of most of the above, as well as the fact that the theme of love triumphing over all is constant throughout the book and the musical - "to love another person is to see the face of God," anyone? Even more, there's equally priority given to fraternal love, romantic love, paternal love, etc, not just to the heterosexual romance.
16** If this is really a thing, it's the message of unilateral acceptance, courage for the oppressed, and ultimate success of social revolution. Though admittedly Enjolras and Grantaire don't hurt, with all the namedropping of our classical icons like Antinous, Orestes and Pylades, and Alexander and Hephaestion.
17* This one is more musical-specific as I have not, to date, read the entire book. Why has [[InspectorJavert Javert]] become shorthand for an obsessively dogged Determinator who always gets his man? I've heard the phrase "officer who pursued a man for more than twenty years for stealing a loaf of bread" numerous times, but in the show doesn't give us any such thing. Javert doesn't pursue Valjean as much as he just kind of randomly runs into him a couple of times over the years. Obviously he never forgot Valjean, and he's certainly quick to pounce whenever their paths cross, but Javert hasn't been tracking him for years, he's been doing his job and getting promoted. If Valjean had, I don't know, moved to Belgium or something when he had the chance (difficult, I know, just using this as an example), they'd never have seen each other again.
18** It's what happens when you watch the musical and then wait a bit. Javert does tend to say things ("At last we see each other plain") that can easily be interpreted as him tracking obsessively [[TethercatPrinciple whenever he's offscreen]]. Not so much in the book, but a lot more people are willing to see a two-act musical than read The Brick.
19*** The musical also includes the line "But he couldn't run forever / we have found his hideaway" which suggests that Javert spent lots of time looking for Valjean after he disappeared. (Granted he was apparently doing other things too in the meantime, but it leaves the impression that he had a personal obsession with Valjean).
20** Well, this Troper has read the book and can assure you that (even though Valjean and Javert to have odd habits of running into each other), Javert is looking for him. When Marius reports the Thénardiers as being scammers, Javert asks him if the man looks like he could be an ex-convict.
21*** Not sure about that one. Isn't Javert asking about members of Patron-Minette at that point? Guelemer at least looks like an ex-convict from his description a few chapters earlier.
22*** Also, when Javert hears a rumor of someone like Jean Valjean, even after he's supposedly dead, he travels to Paris and disguises himself as a beggar just to get a glimpse up close and see if it's really him.
23*** The original troper is correct - Javert's obsession with Valjean is really only a product of the musical (which might be where the 'dogged determinator' bit comes from. In the book he simply always does his job and nothing more. He does dress up as a beggar to check if the man is Valjean, yet after he loses him the narrative specifically mentions that he forgets all about Valjean and moves on to other villains. He is definitely not asking about Valjean when he mentions a convict to Marius; he's running through descriptions of specific members of the Patron Minette, and the words 'ex convict' are preceded by 'weaselly, cunning man' (quoting from memory) who only 'might be' an ex convict; it certainly isn't a description of Valjean. After he tries to capture the criminals, he is in the same room as Valjean for several minutes without noticing him. In the cafe after he's captured, his response to noticing Valjean there is merely mild sarcasm - Valjean's presence is at best incidental. The Javert in the book is, like most of the other characters, quite different from the one in the musical - this one just does his duty, without the distracting obsession over Valjean, and isn't specifically religious. A by product of condensing a 1200-something page novel into a three act musical is probably changing the characters out of necessity - and the musical is the most well known, which is where the impression originally mentioned supposedly comes from.
24*** You're overstating this. In the book, Javert suspects that Madeleine is Valjean from the beginning; he would arrest him but he doesn't have enough evidence yet. The fact that he's even thinking about this possibility indicates some level of obsession. Later, after Valjean is officially reported ''dead'', Javert still entertains the thought that he might be alive when he hears that Cosette has been "kidnapped" (in reality she went with Valjean willingly). When this theory is seemingly dashed by false testimony from Thenardier (who at the time was just trying to get the police out of his business), he revives the theory ''again'' when he hears about a mysterious man accompanying an eight-year-old girl from Montfermeil. This leads him to pose as a beggar to get a look at Valjean's face, and then to rent out the room right next to him in hopes of hearing his voice. Finally he ends up pursuing Valjean in the middle of the night with officers and soldiers for backup. Once Javert is convinced that he's about to succeed, we get this paragraph: \
25\
26"Then he began to play. He enjoyed a ravishing and infernal moment; he let his man get ahead of him, knowing he had him, but wishing to put off as long as possible the moment of arrest, delighting to feel him caught and see him at liberty, fondly gazing at him with the rapture of the spider that lets the fly buzz, or the cat that lets the mouse run. The paw and the talon find a monstrous pleasure in the quivering of the animal imprisoned in their grasp. What delight there is in this suffocation! Javert was rejoicing."\
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28It's a ''little'' bit beyond "just doing his duty".
29** Also if you look at the crimes Valjean has committed by the end of the play, it's more than just stealing a loaf of bread. He attempts to escape from prison several times, breaks parole, and assaults a police officer, as well as participating in a revolution. Still a Determinator, but with more justified.
30** I just added an example in CharacterExaggeration relating to this (changed handles in the mean time). Basically, in the book, Javert thinks Valjean is dead during the entire time Cosette grows up, until their paths cross again. In adaptations, the chronology is simplified so that instead of extra escapes and recaptures, when his identity is exposed, Valjean ends up knocking Javert out and fleeing prior to rescuing Cosette. So, Its Personal to a greater extent for Musical!Javert.
31** Though it is worth pointing out that (according to the brick) Javert requested the transfer from Montreuil-sur-Mer to Paris expecting that, like most fugitives, Valjean would turn up there (before he was caught in Montfermeil). Of course, this was right after he found out he'd been spending a few years answering to an ex-convict... and also, he did know Valjean was alive in the book - they cross paths shortly after he comes to Paris, just before he reunites with Fauchelevent.
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33* One thing that has always bothered this troper is that it seems like there are only 3 policemen in all of France. Javert, Javert's assistant (from the prologue) and the two guys who show up with Valjean at the Bishop's door. I feel like there should be a lot more policemen.... or does Javert have a bunch of clones that I didn't notice?
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35** Does a story really need to have the entire police force seen or mentioned every time an officer appears? Javert appears alot because he's a main character. We don't assume that Thénardier owned the only inn in France either.
36** That adds up to four police officers.
37** Of the criminal major characters, Thernardier, is extremely slippery and dodges the police with ease. No need to have them around him. Javert is the only one in Paris who would even recognize Valjean as a criminal. And while he probably has the image of him burned into his mind, there are likely a lot of guys matching the description to and simply would not make a manhunt worth the while for what is ultimately a personal case of the one that got away.
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39* Having only seen the musical, I don't know if this is addressed in the book, but... Why does Javert let Valjean go in the sewers? Why does he suddenly change his mind about him? He knew Valjean was at the barricade, so he certainly could have figured out that the man he was trying to help had been there also... Why would Javert suddenly see this as a noble thing, rather than an escaped convict helping a rebel guerilla? Why wouldn't he try to bring in both Valjean ''and'' Marius?
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41** Presumably because by then he's seen Valjean have pity on Fantine, save the man trapped under the cart, save Champmathieu from a false conviction, and save his life, telling him where to find him. Almost every time they interact after the opening scene, Valjean's doing something heroic, and this is the last straw for Javert's black and white worldview.
42** It's addressed a bit more in the book, but the same point applies to the musical. By sparing Javert's life at the barricades, Valjean basically "killed" Javert. It's the first time in his life in which to act legally (arresting a ex-convict who broke parole) would be to act immorally (arresting the man who spared his life). Add to it the fact that Valjean clearly did it out of the goodness of his heart - he gave no terms or conditions to the act of mercy and even gave Javert his address for later. As for why Javert didn't arrest Marius as well, he's trying to arrest a good bit of the main cast, but he's not evil. If he took Marius right then and there, the kid would have died for sure. Valjean was the one wanting to give him medical treatment, and Marius probably wasn't going to go anywhere anytime soon if he ''did'' make it. As for why Javert left it on the honors system for Valjean to return, it ties in to him being unsure of whether it's right to act legally and arrest him, or morally and let him go. That's why he ultimately commits suicide. It's the only way he can think to solve the problem.
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44** Just to add detail, in the book, Thénardier helps Valjean, who he thinks is an assassin, escape the sewers. Once outside, he runs into Javert, who helps him bring the badly wounded Marius (lots of cuts on his head, and the bullet that took him down went into his back and broke his shoulder blade) to his grandfather's house. Then he goes to Valjean's house with him, and when Valjean looks out the window, Javert is gone. Then his soliloquy-type thing happens.
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46** The book makes it explicit that Javert thought, like Thenadier, that Marius was dead; no reason to arrest a corpse.
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48* Okay, this is a pretty insignificant question, but I was wondering if someone knew something I didn't. In the novel, Valjean's sister is described as having seven children. In the "Prologue" song of the musical, Valjean says, "My sister's '''child''' was close to death, and we were starving." Does anyone know why the number of children was changed?
49** Maybe one of her seven children was sick?
50** They were all hungry. But that one time, her youngest son would have died in the night unless someone ''did'' something.
51*** But Valjean was arrested before he could give the child any food and the youngest child still survived.
52*** ^In the novel maybe, but in the musical it could well be that he delivered the food and then got arrested afterwards. We're not told either way.
53** For the same reason Éponine doesn't have a sister and Gavroche isn't mentioned as her brother, some of the details get left out when compressing a DoorStopper into a three hour musical.
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55** "My sister's children were close to death" doesn't scan.
56* What bothers me a little in this story (musical) is that Javert tracks Valjean most of his life. but in the robbery ("could it be he's some on jail bird") Javert doesnt realize its him. after 19 years of being his prison guard, then ten years of knowing him as the mayor, would've Javert be able to reconize Valjean right away?
57** In the musical Javert only ever sees the back of Valjean's head and maybe a side glimpse of his face for a fleeting moment. In every production I've seen Valjean takes care to keep his face hidden from Javert for the brief time they are on stage together.
58** Nothing in the musical states that Javert was his guard the whole time. Also, Valjean fled after the bishop thing. Javert didn't go to the same place Valjean was Mayor of (can't recall the name) until later.
59* How on earth did Javert know the gun would misfire? Even if it had a 50% chance of doing so, which is likely, that's a pretty big chance that you are going to actually be shot. Seriously, is he psychic?
60** He didn't know. Javert believes himself to be doing the right thing so absolutely that the universe itself will protect him in his quest for justice. This is why he commits suicide at the end, because Valjean has rocked his worldview so much. The gun misfiring was lucky (or not so much, Thénardier is probably not that concerned with maintaining the thing and the weapons of the period were not exactly reliable). He told Thénardier it wouldn't fire because of his belief in his dogma, and that it misfires is just lucky.
61** Maybe he knows a tad bit about weapons (handling with them somewhat regulary and such - I would not go as far that he is an expert, but...) - Thénardier's room is in a horrible condition, his aquaintances most surely live under the same circumstances - it is quite possible that the air is quite damp. And we all know how embarassing it gets when your gunpowder gets damp. Javert's not a newbie to his work. Is is quite possible he has experience on the field... or maybe Hugo just wanted dear Monsieur l'Inspecteur to be even more badass than he already was.
62** When Javert says your gun will misfire, your gun ''will'' misfire.
63*** How do you know Javert ISN'T psychic? It would explain a lot.
64*** He doesn't need to be psychic. Even the gun is scared of Javert.
65* Why wasn't Marius arrested after returning from the barricade? He was a revolutionary, they should have brought him to justice.
66** Possibly his grandfather (a wealthy and well-respected man who is still passionately loyal to the Royalists) wielded enough influence to convince the government to not press charges against the last, badly wounded survivor of a failed student rebellion.
67** IIRC - in the book, by the time Marius had recovered enough from his various wounds to be arrested, the King had declared a general amnesty with regards to participation in the rebellion so he was off the hook.
68** Likewise. Marius was a revolutionary, but a nobody really. Not worth the work of arresting him and even getting a positive ID on one guy in a crowd.
69* Fantine left Cosette with the Thénardiers because she wouldn't have been able to get a job as an unwed mother, but how would anyone ''know'' Cosette was illegitimate? Couldn't Fantine have claimed to be a widow, or even a woman whose husband ran out on her? I know people were supposed to have identifying papers of some kind, but I don't recall her having any at all (something I'm betting a lot of poor and/or homeless people -- like Gavroche -- wouldn't.) I can't imagine a factory would bother doing a thorough background check on a mere assembly worker. Failing that, couldn't she have had papers forged?
70** She would have had to move away from home, something she probably couldn't afford to do, in order to escape people who knew Cosette was illegitimate and the social stigma that came with it. Claiming to be widowed like that was probably common, and people she told that story to might still know Cosette was likely illegitimate; a proper marriage and all in the slums wasn't common, methinks. It is likely that a factory wouldn't do a background check, but would they let a woman work (I've no idea) and would they want someone so poor and desperate? She wouldn't have had the money to have papers forged.
71*** Fantine was originally from Montreuil-sur-Mer but left when she was ten and when she was fifteen moved to Paris and had Cosette. By the time she came back to Montreuil-sur-Mer, no one even remembered her so faking being a widow should have been pretty simple. It was only the fact that she hid her child that made people realize she was illegitimate.
72*** Fantine worked all day (and in the era before labor reforms, standardized work hours/work weeks) she wasn't able to work and take care of her child.
73*** No but she could have hired someone in town to watch Cosette so she could still see her sometimes and see that Cosette was well-treated. It would also allow her to respond faster if a problem occured like an illness or something that required more money and, not needing to pay for postage, it would be cheaper for her.
74*** Because Fantine was around 20 when she left Cosette with the Thénardiers and still assumed the best in people, and she was originally drawn to them because their daughters were so well cared-for. She had no reason to assume that they were anything other than upstanding people who would care for her child as best they could.
75*** What does it matter how well-cared for the Thenardier children were and how well-cared for she assumed Cosette would be if this was all days away? Did she think she couldn't find someone who would take good care of her daughter in Montreuil?
76*** That's exactly what she thought. Here's a quote: "I can't take my child into the country. The work will prevent it. With a child I couldn't find a job there; they're so backward in that district." Paying someone in Montreuil to care for your child means revealing that you ''have'' a child, which ''automatically'' gets you branded as an illegitimate mother, which in turn makes you unemployable. (And this is what happens in the end. As soon as Fantine's secret is discovered, she gets fired from her job at the factory.) I don't think they'd accept the "I'm a widow" story unless they'd personally known the father and attended his funeral.
77*** It's not quite as simple as "she's fired for having an illegitimate daughter". She's fired because she rebuffed the foreman's advances and he can't stand knowing she said yes to some other man but no to him.
78*** The girl had been travelling for days, carrying for her daughter with barely any money, food or time to rest. She obviously wasn't thinking very clearly.
79* At the barricade, why was Javert so quick to confess his identity when Enjolras asked him who he was? And then, when he thought he was going to die, he seemed totally content with his situation. I understand that Javert is the sort who always maintains his composure, but surely he didn't WANT to die? Didn't he have a duty to fulfill? And he came to the barricade with his police identification and a note from his superior on his person! Isn't Javert more cautious than that?
80** He probably didn't want to die but was just accepting of his incoming death. For him, its entirely sensible that an informant would be executed after being captured by rebels. It would fit right into his strict view of the world that he had lived by all his life. In fact, he probably sees it as the Rebels' right to kill him if they caught him. And as to dying... He probably thought he would be a martyr and ascend to heaven. {{Knight Templar}}s are like that. Being spared is where he starts to freak out because it contradicts this view. As for the ID and note, it probably would have been helpful when leaving the barricade to confirm that he was in fact with the government.
81** Javert is the kind of guy who puts duty and honor and truth (or his ideas of them) above life itself. Lying to save one's own life is what crooks do.
82* How could anyone ''possibly'' have mistaken the other man for Valjean since he wouldn't have had the telltale brand? Surely they would have checked before putting him on trial!
83** Well, in the musical, Javert says that Champmathieu actually did have a brand - "I have known the thief for ages/tracked him down through thick and thin/and to make the matter certain/there's that brand upon his skin." As for /why/ he had a brand...uh...um...I can't quite recall what the explanation was, if there even was one. At any rate, it wouldn't have been out of the question for the guy to be put on trial before fact checking; the judicial system was absolutely /terrible/, not to mention that the trial itself was, well...ugh. Not good.
84*** I always interpreted that line as meaning Javert hadn't seen the brand yet, but he was confident it would be there. Remember, he also says Champmathieu (who isn't referred to by name in the musical) is just going to court today. Of course, that does raise the question of why Valjean felt the need to save the other man from being convicted, if they would have discovered in due course that he didn't have the right brand.
85*** Champmathieu was also an ex-convict, but he had been legitimately released.
86*** So was Valjean, he just broke parole. If Champmathieu had been branded and imprisoned there would have been some record of him and he should have been on parole. He could have said that he wasn't Valjean because he was this other criminal and here are his parole papers. It was the fact he WASN'T a convict and was too poor and too insignificant to have papers or literally anyone in the world who could prove that his life had happened and he wasn't just an escaped convict that made the mistaken identity happen. If Champmathieu were, in fact, another convict who had broken his parole then Valjean's act of self-sacrifice just becomes [[SenselessSacrifice the stupidest thing ever]]. He would have saved Champmathieu from the terrible fate of going back to prison forever for breaking parole...only for Champmathieu to go back to prison forever for breaking parole. The only possible upside Champmathieu would have for going back to prison under his real name was that he might not be facing the death penalty like book!Valjean was for having robbed that kid after leaving the bishop.
87** In the book, there wasn't any chest-branding. Champmathieu just happened to look enough like Valjean for Javert to mix them up. As for the musical, search me.
88** I distinctly remember one version of the story (movie or musical, can't remember which), where Javert not only knew Champmathieu wasn't Valjean, he'd DELIBERATELY set him up as Valjean as a trap to get Valjean to out himself.
89*** I remember there being a version that does that as well, but it's simply too much of an out of character portrayal of Javert for me. Javert, who believes vehemently until before death that all cons are evil at heart and aren't capable of carrying out acts of altruism, would have no reason to think that Monsieur Madeleine (if he really is Valjean in disguise) would do anything but let Champmathieu be damned, the better to save his own skin, ergo he wouldn't concoct such a useless (to him, at least) plan.
90* What did Fantine ever see in Tholomyès? He was prematurely old and ugly at thirty, he refused to marry her after she had his child, and even before he decided it would be a 'grand farce' to just ditch her and his friends' girlfriends as a strange location and never return, his speech made it clear he was a pretentious asshole and could barely keep straight which girl was his. And even if the other girlfriends did not care enough about their boyfriends to be upset at being broken up with, why would they be amused by and laugh at being abandoned a decent distance from home and forced to find their own way back? That really should have pissed them off, not make them ''more'' fond of the people who ditched them!
91** Everything you say about Tholomyes is true, but love is blind. IIRC, he treated her -- an unimportant orphan -- like a queen, and the novel remarks that he had a way of talking that made him seem brilliant and original -- at least to people who were kind of ignorant (read: Fantine). Doesn't everyone have that one ex who seems so clever and cool at first, and it's not until the breakup that you see everything crummy? Sadly for Fantine, her first boyfriend was Tholomyes, ''and'' she never got the chance to move on from him.
92* What happens with Valjean's sister and her kids? The musical mentions them exactly once, and they seem kind of important since he went to jail for stealing bread for them, but then he never mentions them again. You'd think he'd either try to find them or say something about how he's not going to go look for them because he's a criminal which apparently makes him feel compelled to avoid the people he cares about, but instead... nothing.
93** The novel does address this. A few years into his prison sentence, someone arrives who had known of him in Faverolles and had seen his sister in Paris. She only had her youngest son with her and the witness suspected she didn't even know where the others were. After Valjean is released and established as Madeleine, he makes inquiries at Faverolles trying to find them. Because of how insignificant and anonymous they were, Valjean was never able to locate any of them again and never found out what happened to them.
94*** In the film of the musical, Valjean visits a grave. It's a simple grave, just a wooden cross on a pile of rocks, so there's no telling who's buried there. Possibly the sister (let's call her "Jeanne") and the kids were just scattered to the wind. It would add to Valjean's bitterness if Jeanne died after he went to prison to help her.
95* Here's an icky, squicky question... In the musical, why does it never occur to Fantine to go to the forman who fired her and ask for her job back, even if it meant agreeing to be his mistress? It's degrading and nauseating, yes... but surely safer then turning to the streets - where as we can see, she doesn't last very long.
96** I don't think the foreman was open to that. He didn't ask it of her, he just threw her right out because she hadn't been willing to earlier. And once he believed that she was sleeping with a bunch of random people, he didn't seem as interested.
97** Could also be the same reason she didn't go to Valjean for help. She refused to degrade herself before someone who wronged her. Heck, it took most of "Lovely Ladies" before she agreed to prostitution.
98** The Foreman hated her at that point. Also, ''all of her factory coworkers'' also hated her. Taking to the streets at least gave her a chance of finding non-hateful people.
99* How was Marius capable of simultaneously being unable to believe that Valjean was even ''at'' the barricade and yet that he had viciously murdered Javert while there?
100** In the book, he clearly knows Valjean was at the barricade. It's hinted that he knows in the musical as well ("Then it's true/Then I'm right/Jean Valjean was my savior that night").
101*** In the book he knows Valjean is there and vouches for him ''at the time'' but as time passes he has a difficult time believing that it was actually Valjean and not just some random guy who looked like him. Marius tests Valjean and asks him if he knows the street that the barricade was on and Valjean claims that he's never heard of it and then Marius accepts that Valjean was not actually there...until finding out that he was once a convinct and then he must have brutally murdered the spy they were going to kill anyway.
102*** D'oh, you're right. And I just read the book, too. *facepalm*
103*** A lot of the details are easy to forget.
104* Inspector Javert's career has encompassed the ''Ancien Regime'' of Louis XVI, the Reign of Terror, the Directory, The Consulate and Imperate of Napoleon, the restored Bourbon Monarchs Louis XVIII and Charles X, and finaly the July Monarchy of Louis Phillipe. That's a lot of different rulers and government forms. I can't believe that Javert managed to hold on to his invincible faith in the righteousness of Law and Government in the face of the Conspicuous Consumption of Marie Antoinette ("Let Them Eat Cake and all that), the Terror of the Jacobins and/or the Corruption of the Directors, continue to advance in his career, and still be alive, kicking, and still in law enforcement in time to become Valjean's parole officer, especially since Louis XVIII and Charles X weren't the type to believe in "truth and reconciliation." Wouldn't he have made more sense as a somewhat dour cynic who shrugs his shoulders when Valjean breaks parole, and rather than step forward to infiltrate the Friends of the ABC, simply be the one not stepping back, and overall behaving more like Benjamin from ''Literature/AnimalFarm''?
105** This may be hard for many of us to conceive, but Javert is a man of absolutes. God commands obedience to authority, and thus following authority without question is the only way to righteousness. In fact, the fact that he's served under so many different regimes makes this even clearer - it's not for him to decide which rule is legitimate or whose authority to follow. It's not that he believes that Law and Government is always Good and Just, but that it is the only way to create order in society.
106*** [[SarcasmMode Javert is a man of absolutes? I had no idea.]]
107** Javert's career isn't actually that long. He's stated to be 52 in 1832, ergo, born in 1780. Too young to have served the Ancien Regime, which fell in 1792, or even to have fully grasped the consequences of its excesses. He would probably have started his career around the time the French Revolution was settling down and transitioning from the First Republic to the Empire. Most of his career takes place while France is under the rule of either an emperor or a king. While Hugo makes a thing out of the politics of the time (i.e. Marius's grandfather is a monarchist, Marius is for Napoleon until he's a republican, and that's enough to cause a big falling-out), Javert's politics simply favor authority - and therefore both Napoleon and the monarchy are perfectly acceptable. The Reign of Terror happened while Javert would have been 13-14, and that could've been a very formative event that impressed upon the young Javert that rebellions are bad.
108* When Valjean returned from the barricade, what did he tell Cosette? I assume it wasn't "I read your boyfriend's letter and went to the barricade to save him for you, but he almost died anyway, so I had to drag him through the sewers and bring him to his grandfather's house," so how ''did'' he explain how he 1) knew Cosette was in love with Marius, and 2) knew Marius was wounded?
109** IIRC, Cosette was not aware of any of that until later. She knew he had been wounded but didn't know the details. Remember, Marius had to tell her what was going on when they were reunited with Valjean at the end of the musical. (Of course, in the 2012 film adaption at least, he'd still have to explain why he was covered in poo.)
110*** He got back pretty late. She might have well have been asleep and he cleaned up by the time she found him.
111* What's the time frame of Fantine's fall and eventual death supposed to be like? Watching the musical, it almost seems like her being fired, selling her hair, getting arrested, and dying happens within a single night, but that seems...weird, obviously.
112** Well in the book she loses her job but is given a little money to get by but she still has to sell all of her furniture. She makes a living sewing for most of the day for a few months but the Thenardiers keep asking for more money and then her wages are slashed because a local prison can provide the same labor for cheaper. The Thenardiers keep making demands so she sells her hair and then after awhile her teeth and a little while later becomes a prostitute. Yet more time passes and she gets arrested. It is two months after that that she dies.
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115* When Valjean and Javert meet outside of the sewers, Valjean pleads for an hour in order to deliver Marius to safety, insisting "This man has done no wrong and he needs a doctor's care!" Um, no Valjean. He was at the barricades, fighting against the soldiers of the crown on his own, free will. It most certainly is enough to make him guilty of high treason, which is an automatic death sentence and the most serious offence after a murder.
116** I think Valjean would have said Marius was the Easter Bunny if he thought it would have helped. He was desperately trying to convince Javert, not necessarily speaking the truth or with regard to the law.
117** He's arguing a point of ''morality'', not law. He's saying that Marius is a good person who doesn't deserve prison. If he'd had time for a longer discussion, he might have gone on to say that the government is abusive (e.g. "They sent me to prison for 20 years because I stole a loaf of bread") and thus revolution is justified and thus Marius has "done no wrong" regardless of how many laws he broke.
118* In the movie, Eponine steals Cosette's letter to Marius in which she explains to him that she needs to go away. Marius later comes to Cosette's house and sees she isn't home, but he never got the letter explaining why. He immediately starts to despair over Cosette's absense, even though for all he knows she could just be gone out for a buggy ride with Papa. He laments 'How can I live when we are parted?', which in this situation sounds a bit melodramatic.
119** They moved, though. All of their things would have been gone and since he went in a panic, it was clear that Eponine told him that Cosette and her father had cleared out so he went there to desperately see if it was true.
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121* Why did Fantine just suddenly stop trying to reach Madeleine after she was sacked? In the movie, she only tries to call for him as she is thrown out and he is having a meeting with Javert. In other adaptations Madeleine falls ill by the time she comes asking, and is not received because of it. In the book it is said that the forewoman sends her on her way, claiming that the order has come from him when in truth she never even bothers to bring the matter into Madeleine's attention, and Fantine never even tries to reach him. Why does she simply drop the subject and never tries again, even though she knows that Cosette's life depends on her finding a place to work?
122** In the book Fantine has a lot of pride and it takes a very long time for her to lose that pride and be willing to seek him out. She doesn't go from factory worker to sous-less hair-less toothless prostitute overnight. She believes he was just to fire her and kind to give her 50 francs when he did so and so won't go asking for more and by the time that she is at the end of her rope she has started to hate Madeleine and think that he is a terrible and cruel man to blame for all of her problems and thus not the sort of man that would offer any help. In the movie, I think the lyrics "You were there and turned aside" are the key. Fantine was desperately begging him to save her before she was fired but after she was thrown out and Madeleine hadn't done anything, she must have assumed that the foreman told him what happened to her and he was fine with her being dismissed for having a child. Everyone in the factory was clamoring for it and even if the foreman hadn't been enraged by her refusal to sleep with him he likely would have fired her anyway. She knew her job would be in danger if it came out she had a child which is why she kept it quiet in the first place. She could have still tried but she believed she would only be refused and humiliated further (after all, if she is not even good enough to have a job there why would she be good enough for charity?) and so she did not.
123*** The issue here is that "Madaline" aka Jean Vajean turned away from the issue of the 'working class' which worked at his factory but that's why he decides to raise Cosette because he feels guilty because its his fault that Fantine became a 'lovely lady'.
124*** He believes it's his fault, at least. He didn't know his foreman would choose to fire her over what appeared to be a minor factory dispute or that doing so would ruin her life, force her to become a prostitute, and ultimately kill her instead of doing the job he was supposed to do and in the book he had never heard of her or knew she got fired at all. It's really not his fault at all but he couldn't save everyone and wanted to make amends for not being perfect.
125** I assumed that it was just really hard to get a meeting with the guy. He's the mayor, and he owns a factory, and he probably owns a bunch of other businesses too. It would be like a random homeless person trying to schedule a meeting with a millionaire CEO. How are you going to make that happen? Who's going to let you in the door? How are you going to convince anyone that the CEO would actually be happy to talk to you? Not to mention that Fantine felt that Madeline had failed her once already, so there wasn't any use in going through a lot of effort just to be refused a second time.
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128* Javert assumes that Valjean's request to go save Cosette is just a lie to escape again. A few days later, he finds Cosette actually exists, and in the following years sees Valjean care for her as he promised. And yet he never doubted that Valjean was evil until after sparing him at the barricade?
129** Just because Cosette existed doesn't mean that Valjean would have come back a few days later. I don't think Javert particularly disbelieved her existence so much as didn't care. After all, if he didn't think she existed and Valjean would go there then why would he turn up at the Thenardiers' shortly after Valjean had left which would waste precious time if Cosette were not real or, at the very least, Valjean believed her to be real and was going after her. There are all sorts of nefarious reasons a criminal might want a child but even if he was legitimately going to do his best to raise her, loving a child does not automatically make one a really good person who has changed and does not deserve prison. Javert is well-aware that Valjean only ended up in prison in the first place because he loved his sister's child who was dying and was trying to save him. It's just another excuse to him. And maybe love for Cosette would lead him to go off and commit more crimes (and, in fact, it did if she was the only reason he did not let himself be arrested and instead to be a fugitive for a few more years).
130 *In the musical, what happens to Jean Valjean at the barricade? He falls like the students, but in the end he just gets up and carries Marius into the sewers. By the way, how did he know that Marius was still alive and why didn't he check if he could help anyone else?
131** He probably felt a pulse. It doesn't seem at all difficult to tell if someone is alive or not. And how would he have been able to help anybody else? Everyone was dead or unconscious and he barely made it through the sewers with one person. He would not have made it if he tried to carry two. There was really no other escape route even if he had been able to wake someone else up. He barely made it through the sewers even with his incredible strength and there is no way that an average person, even uninjured (and they all would have been hurt pretty badly) would have been able to do it. I don't know what you mean by 'what happens to Jean Valjean?' It seems like you answered your own question. He likely got a minor wound and then saw Marius was down so it was time to leave. He also didn't have all the time in the world to go seeing if everyone was still alive for the time being.
132** To answer the first question: Valjean probably feigned being shot and dead, seeing that the barricade was swarming with soldiers that blocked all possible escape ways. Hugo is vague in his numbers, but seeing that all the Amis and what supporters they had had all been shot to where they stood, there must have been, at the very least, over a dozen bodies - no one would think to take a closer look at any of them, especially if they are already dirtied and bloodied.
133** Valjean didn't check on anyone else because he went to the barricades for the specific intended purpose of getting Marius out of there. He's as single-minded as Javert: he's in it for Cosette's happiness and not much else, and now that he can literally put Cosette's happiness on his shoulders, it's time to go.
134* In the musical, if Javert is a devout Christian, why does he swear by the stars like a pagan?
135** In Javert's mind, the stars represent God's will. They're orderly and predictable, they give light to the darkness, and on the rare occasion they fall, they fall "in flame," an explicit metaphor for the way sinners who stray from the proper path are condemned to Hell. It's anything but pagan to him. In fact, his description of the stars sounds more like angels than actual stars.
136*** Interestingly it also gets Christianity backwards. According to Christianity all are born into sin and are already fallen. Christ lifts us up. Javert not grasping this is perfectly fitting into his character since he believes people cannot change and has absolutely no understanding of forgiveness.
137*** He did say "every man is born of sin/every man must find his way" in "The Confrontation". Which makes sense if you think about it; Javert is so strict with criminals because he believes they choose not to seek forgiveness. Then comes Valjean, putting more holes in this ideology than Swiss cheese.
138* When Champmathieu was thought to be Valjean, why didn't anybody check if he had a tattoo with the number?
139** Who knows why in the musical (other than to make the plot still work) but in the book Valjean was never branded with a number and wasn't given a prison brand until his second arrest since brands had been temporarily abolished at the time of his first arrest.
140** This fact is even known to break all logic, so most of the newer adaptations have left the verse mentioning it out, since it's easy to cut without breaking continuity.
141** The people who were conducting the proceedings were probably bureaucrats, and bureaucrats always miss the obvious solution.
142** WMG: There were bureaucratic mixups at some of the prisons, so sometimes two people got branded with the same number. (The government is crap, after all.). Champmathieu accidentally got branded with "24601" when he was supposed to get some other number.
143* I think there is some illogicality in the book, first, when Thenardier cuts off a strip of Marius' coat in the sewers, believing that he had been killed by Valjean and that would be a proof. But it could only prove that Thenardier had seen the "dead man", not the "murderer", so of what use would it be? The second thing are Marius' clothes he had on then. It's later said that he kept them so that they'd help him find his savior. But how? It's also interesting that his family or servants hadn't thrown them away earlier.
144** He assumed the piece that Thenardier took was taken by the man who saved him. And I recall he hid them from the others. As for Thenardier's failure at logic, he's Thenardier. I dare you to name one time his actions made sense.
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146* Does Valjean know about Javert's suicide, and equally importantly, that his (Valjean's) actions helped cause it?
147** In the book, he reads about it in the paper but he has no idea why Javert would do something like that. He decides Javert must have been mad [[note]]and he does die in Seine[[/note]] because he let him go and that's why he killed himself.
148*** Thank you.
149** One of the movie adaptations (the 1998 one IIRC) has Javert committing suicide right in Valjean's face after letting him free, and Valjean's not blinking and eye about that.
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151* How the heck did the court know that Valjean stole the 40-sous piece from Little Gervais? Yes, he went back into Digne and asked around for him, so it could be surmised that 'someone' had stolen from the Savoyard, but IIRC he had already destroyed his passport, so there was no reason for any of the witnesses that day to suspect that the thief was Jean Valjean, if they even knew such a man existed. And that's not even getting into the fact that Javert suspected him of robbing the Bishop of Digne. Sure, we as the readers know that he did both of these things, but there would have been no report or evidence to speak of connecting him to either heist.
152** Valjean attracted a lot of attention from the townspeople when he was there. Little Gervais probably told someone about the robbery, and they would realize that it was Valjean based on the description. Then they likely heard about the police taking him in on suspicion of stealing from the Bishop, and put two and two together.
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154* I'm going to admit that the book probably covered this[[note]]I only watched the musical[[/note]], but if Jean was released in 1815, he would have been imprisoned for stealing bread in 1796, during the period of the Revolutionary Directorate, while the subsequent extensions all would have been during the reign of Napoleon.
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156* From what I understand, this does not apply to the book. However, one aspect of "The Robbery" in the musical always bugged me. Javert witnesses Thenardier's gang commiting a crime, and admits to already recognizing Thenardier as a criminal. Yet Javert has no problem letting him free just because he's able to help lead him to Valjean? This doesn't seem consistent with Javert's usually straight-laced, play-by-the-rules nature.
157** There wasn't concrete proof that anything happened, so "in the absence of a victim" Javert is forced to let him go.
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159* In the book, when Marius regains consciousness after being wounded it seems that nothing has been said about Cosette as he is surprised when his grandfather grants him permission to marry her and only then does he learn that Jean Valjean comes to inquire about his health for her. As far as he knows before that, she has gone to England. So why does he see his grandfather's refusal as the only possible obstacle to him being with her? He should be thinking more along the lines of "I need to find out where she is and how I can go there/bring her back" instead of "I have to get permission to marry", as that of itself would have been useless if she really was abroad.

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