#bit of a digression but this is the second time we see a thenardier child helping mabeuf! first being eponine

[syrupsyche]

God today's chapter was insane! Previously I had mentioned Valjean's and Cosette's similarities and differences and here, we get to see something like that too. Montparnasse and Valjean can again be youth vs. the old, the vain vs. the humble etc. but the one thing they have in common is their criminal background. And it's simultaneously relieving and heartbreaking that Valjean finally gets to talk to someone about his past, especially after his traumatic experience witnessing the chain-gang from the previous chapters. Relieving because his first attempt at sharing his past (when Cosette had asked him) was unsuccessful due to his more-than-likely PTSD-induced panic attack, so ranting to Montparnasse was probably the first time in a looong time he was able to say out loud the wrongs that have been done to him, and to get into the true reason why prison was so horrible— because the effects of it never end:

Life will become monstrous all about you. To go, to come, to breathe, will be just so many terrible labors.

But its also heartbreaking because we know that Montparnasse won't do anything. He definitely won't change his ways (though to his credit, he thinks about it), and he is ultimately too vain to care about the traumatic past this weirdly strong stranger had just dumped on him. At best, he thinks Valjean is mad. At worse, he believes his past but doesn't believe in the severity of being sent to prison. After all, it does sound like a tall tale used to scare children from doing wrong, even though we the readers know it was all true. So either way, it seems like Valjean's heartfelt and poignant sharing was all for nothing

...except it did have an effect; Valjean may not have been able to help Montparnasse, but he had indirectly helped Mabeuf in the end. Valjean's words didn't have an sway on Montparnasse, but they sure had an effect on Gavroche, who listens to Valjean's whole rant and, despite starving himself, steals Valjean's wallet from Montparnasse and tosses it to Mabeuf. The selflessness and generosity that Valjean promotes thus still has an importance! The intended audience had ignored it, while the real audience had picked it up and put it to use.

“That has fallen from heaven,” said Mother Plutarque.

Valjean and Gavroche both share this heaven-like comparison now and once again, we are invited to see their similarities. Good and kind despite their circumstances, brave, selfless etc. etc... If Valjean had known Gavroche was present, he would have been very proud of the child.