#jean Valjean and children

[ueinra]

Les Misérables | Retold & Illustrated By Marcia Williams (2014)

I think one shame is enough.

poor woman… SNIP SNIP A WIG FOR THE RICH!!!!!

Such a mood.

THIS IS THE SWEETEST THING EVERRR!! and pls appreciate Cosette's drawings on the back <3

I laughed out loud when I noticed a picture of Cosette on the wall of Marius's room, but what made me laugh more were the hearts near his butt.

Oh, u won't.

[lesmisscraper]

Valjean and Cosette's official introduction to the Petit-Picpus convent.

Clips from <Il cuore di Cosette>.

[vivalamusaine]

TORONTO LES MIS WAS SO GOOD HOLY SHIT WE GOT RAPID DOG JAVERT, WE GOT AWKWARD MARIUS, WE GOT JEAN VALJEAN WITH THE PIPES SENT FROM HEAVEN ABOVE, WE GOT LOVELORN GRANTAIRE WITH AN ANGRY AND HEARTBROKEN DRINK WITH ME, AND WE GOT COSETTE HELPING EPONINE UP AND BEING SOFT TOGETHER AFTER THE ATTACK ON RUE PLUMMET?????

[dolphin1812]

I don’t think I have a lot to say on this chapter, but! Cosette still getting to be a child even during an escape scene is so nice!

Take the first paragraph, for instance:

“Uncertainty was at an end for Jean Valjean: fortunately it still lasted for the men. He took advantage of their hesitation. It was time lost for them, but gained for him. He slipped from under the gate where he had concealed himself, and went down the Rue des Postes, towards the region of the Jardin des Plantes. Cosette was beginning to be tired. He took her in his arms and carried her. There were no passers-by, and the street lanterns had not been lighted on account of there being a moon.”

Cosette getting tired and needing to be carried just takes up two sentences here. It’s not the focus of the paragraph; it’s not even an opening or concluding point. Instead, Cosette’s exhaustion is just another step in Valjean’s escape. She tires; he carries her. The use of simpler sentences emphasizes the sense of an immediate reaction, especially in contrast to all of the other sentences here. While the other sentences don’t really feel long to read because they’re broken up with punctuation, these two sentences are short and aren’t subdivided into many clauses, making them feel faster even than Valjean’s escape. Caring for Cosette, then, has become second nature to him. It requires less thought than fleeing the police, even after all his experience with the latter. At the same time, positioning this in the middle of the paragraph stresses that Cosette’s state is part of the escape. This isn’t just a struggle between Valjean and the police (although that’s certainly an aspect of this), but a complex interplay between Valjean and Cosette trusting and caring for each other, Valjean fleeing the police, and Cosette not knowing what’s going on but sticking with her father anyways.

I also love how Cosette later changes her mind when her feet go numb and decides to walk again. Even in the midst of an intense escape, she still gets to be a child, and that’s wonderful.

[little-orphan-ant]

au where Valjean adopts Gavroche instead of Cosette

[pyrrhiccomedy]

I'm replaying Inquisition to get ready for Veilguard and the Blackwall stuff is even funnier than I remember. Like on the surface of it, it works fine: a great chevalier commits a crime, flees from the consequences, is given another chance by a member of an honorable order of knighthood who then dies, and so he steals his would-be mentor's identity. His character mission in the game then is when he confesses who he really is in order to keep an innocent man from being executed for his crime. A real Jean Valjean moment.

...yeah, okay, except Jean Valjean stole a loaf of bread, and Blackwall murdered an entire family, including two children, and left his own loyal men to die or become fugitives so he could escape.

so he reveals himself, and gets arrested, and they're going to execute him for these crimes that he definitely did do, and I'm always just like...yeah, that seems fair! that seems about right. No need to tarnish the reputation of the Inquisition getting him out of jail, let the wheels of justice turn, I have other tanks.

like the crime the writers gave him is so excessive?? He could have killed a hotblooded young heir in a duel! He could have stolen from his liege lord! He could have cheated at a tournament! There are lots of things he could have done that might have made him want to hide his identity, and ultimately led him to become ashamed of the man he used to be, while your character could still plausibly be like "come on man it was a long time ago and you've done a lot of good since then, give yourself the chance to move on."

but no instead you get this incredible story beat where this guy you work with turns out to be Jeffrey Dahmer, and so you wash your hands of him instantly and never think about him again

[nortism]

fuck it, fan casting the les misérables muppet movie:

fozzie bear as jean valjean - idk it just feels right

sam the eagle as javert - just look at him, that’s javert

any human as fantine and cosette. i deliberated over who should be the human but i think this is the right choice so there’d be at least one person present throughout most of the story

kermit and miss piggy as monsieur and madame thénardier - i considered them for marius and cosette but i feel like it could be interesting to have them in a villian role. also having a human child being abused by miss piggy is very funny to me

miss piggy and kermit’s children from a muppets christmas carol as éponine, gavroche and azelma - it writes itself. also i find the idea of éponine being a really sad pig to be very funny

beaker as marius pontmercy - i want him to only say meep meep meep throughout the whole film and i want human cosette to be incredibly in love with him regardless.

bean bunny as enjolras - yeah i don’t have an explanation for this one

gonzo and scooter as courfeyrac and combeferre - courfeyrac as gonzo feels so right to me in a way i can’t explain. also combeferre is there idk

rizzo as grantaire - idk it just felt right

[foone]

Deep Space Nine is probably my favorite Star Trek because every character on it is my favorite character.

Like on other Trek shows I can be like "oh I love Spock!" or "oh I love Picard & Data/LaForge" or whatever, but with DS9 every time any regular character comes on screen I'm like "oh hey it's X! I love that guy!" and cheer like the studio audience of Married with Children. I might not even say DS9 has my favorite episodes (that's probably TNG and a couple TOS & VOY episodes (more if we count ones I enjoy because they suck (such as Threshold and Spock's Brain))), but the characters? Perfect. Chef's kiss.

And it's not even that they have the BEST character, you know? Like, if I had to pick the best character in all of Star Trek, I might argue Spock, Data, The EMH, Picard, or even Kirk. It's that every character in DS9 is a 10/10 character for me. Like on TNG I absolutely love a few characters, but others I merely like. They're great, don't get me wrong, but they're not my favorite. I've got definite favorite characters on TOS and TNG and VOY and ENT. DS9? They're all my favorite. I love every character. To the pok that this includes guest stars! We all of Dukat, but we've also got Weyoun and Brunt: FCA, Damar and the female changeling, Jean Valjean and Martok and Leeta and Morn and Father Sisko, Luther Sloan and Kasidy Yates, and we can't forget Grand Nagus Zek and Maihar'du and MOOGIE!

Anyway, I think I'm gonna make a joke edit of an episode where every time a new character enters that we haven't seen before, they pause before their first line while a minute and a half of the studio audience losing their mind plays. This would only make the show worse but it would be very funny to me.

[parasocialqueen]

unhinged/painful thoughts after rereading the banquet scene in trk with tsc and my love for jean in mind :

- jean being a little shit saying “hmm, you don’t look much like a Neil”

- the whole, Jean looked at Kevin. “Hello Kevin.” & “Jean.” Kevin said quietly. & how “Neither of them had anything else to say to each other but they stared each other down unblinkingly.” PAIN

- Andrew calling Jean “Jean Valjean” and Jean huffing in annoyance, then Andrew saying we haven’t met yet and Jean being the little shit he is replying “For which I am grateful.” MY CONTRARY CHILDREN I LOVE THEM

- “Fun is for children.” ☹️ jean my love ur making me cry

- perfectly in character with jean’s bi panic in tsc, jean forgets how to speak when he sees a beautiful person (renee)

- “You won’t stay.” It sounded less like a prediction and more like an order. THE KEVJEAN PAIN IN THIS SCENE HURTS ME SO BAD

- JEAN AND KEVIN ARGUING IN QUICK AND FURIOUS FRENCH

- “Run along,” Jean said. “It’s what you’re best at isn’t it?” Ik this was directed at Neil but the sadistic side of me believes it was also aimed at Kevin

[secretmellowblog]

As I’m following @lesmisletters, I really do love how our first glimpse of older Valjean and teenage Cosette reveals how much they’ve changed over the years. When Cosette is a very young child, before she’s raised by Valjean, she’s described as being silent out of fear:

As we have just observed, nothing trains children to silence like unhappiness. Cosette had suffered so much, that she feared everything, even to speak or to breathe. A single word had so often brought down an avalanche upon her.

But now that after years with Jean Valjean, she finally feels safe and secure:

[Valjean and Cosette] chatted between themselves in a quiet, oblivious sort of way. The girl babbled endlessly and cheerily. The old man didn’t say much, and at times would gaze at her with eyes filled with fatherly adoration.

They’re also viewed as a “matching set” by the people around them, as “Monsieur LeBlanc and Mlle LaNoire,” the father and daughter who are always together. It’s so compelling to see how much their relationship has grown even when we’re not yet in their POV.

[ueinra]

Les Misérables | Adapted By Mary Sebag-Montefiore & Illust By Alfredo Belli (2018)

Ahh I love this illustration so much and this text warms my heart I WANT THEM TO BE HAPPY LIKE THIS FOREVER <3333

[lesmisscraper]

Fauchelevent's plan to bring Cosette out of the convent. Volume 2, Book 8, Chapter 4.

Clips from <Il cuore di Cosette>.

[cliozaur]

Despite the kindness and forgiveness emanating from Bishop Myriel and, later, Jean Valjean, figures who restore faith in humanity's goodness, the Thénardiers possess the power to shatter any trust we might have in humankind. What they have done to Fantine and Cosette is arguably the gravest sin against humanity in classical literature. They exploit money from Fantine, coercing her to literally sell parts of herself, all because she believes it keeps Cosette safe and sound. If only she knew... I can’t fathom what would have become of her if she did. It is even sadder that Fantine’s money doesn't enrich these individuals; it only services their endless debts.

Cosette is abused, undernourished, and dressed in rags. This is sufficient to evoke sympathy, but Hugo takes it a step further, portraying how she was forced to perform household chores before the age of five. If you know any children of that age, you understand that you don’t want them to ‘help’ with chores, as you'll end up having to redo everything. Peasants did use child labour, but typically for simple tasks. Not for washing dishes and sweeping rooms and courtyards. If the Thénardiers had a child of five sweeping their rooms and courtyard, it's no wonder they eventually went out of business.

Villagers looking at this abused child and praising the Thénardiers for their generosity is a common occurrence in the countryside. Eugene Weber’s "Peasants into Frenchmen" gives the impression of how hardened, unsympathetic, misogynistic, and pragmatic peasants were due to their challenging and unpredictable lives.

And the last passage is absolutely heart-wrenching: “She was called the Lark in the neighbourhood… Only the little lark never sang.” Oh…

[sieclesetcieux]

Reminder that the 10 thermidor was only the beginning of a purge that saw hundreds of people murdered in the next two days and hundreds more arrested. Some committed suicide or were poisoned in jail.

The Commune was almost entirely purged:

there were 140 members on the general council on 9 thermidor

87 were guillotined

40 imprisoned

only 13 remained free

On 11 thermidor, twelve tumbrils carried 71 people to be executed. Here are their names. 12 more people were guillotined on 12 thermidor. Remember this when you read the traitorous CSP members tell you they did this to "prevent bloodshed" - when the execution toll on 11 thermidor was the biggest in one day ever.

Four months later in November the Club des Jacobins would be attacked by a right-wing militia led by Fréron, who broke the windows and doors down, beat the men, and stripped and whipped the women who were there. These women were ridiculed in crass pamphlets the following days. A deputy's wife was among them, whom Fréron had been personally targetting in his rag for weeks. The Convention punished no one but the Jacobins themselves by ordering the Club to be shut down and destroyed. A market was later built there and named to celebrate Thermidor.

The terrible winter came where tons of people starved because the new useless government of corrupt fiends lifted all regulations to "free" the market. This is the winter where Victor Hugo wrote Jean Valjean stealing bread to feed his sister's children. It's not a coincidence.

Less than a year later, in May 1795, the sans-culottes would rise for the last time in an insurrection that was utterly crushed and, with it, the popular spring of the Revolution.

The Revolution had been dying. It was now truly dead.

The next years were just a corpse they pretended was still alive.

[not-supernatural]

i love when people exaggerate sam and dean's living conditions as children and make them sound like two little jean valjeans running around the midwest

[thebrickinbrick]

Minus Five, Plus One, Part Two

No one stirred.

“Married men and the supporters of families, step out of the ranks!” repeated Marius.

His authority was great. Enjolras was certainly the head of the barricade, but Marius was its savior.

“I order it,” cried Enjolras.

“I entreat you,” said Marius.

Then, touched by Combeferre’s words, shaken by Enjolras’ order, touched by Marius’ entreaty, these heroic men began to denounce each other.—“It is true,” said one young man to a full grown man, “you are the father of a family. Go.”—“It is your duty rather,” retorted the man, “you have two sisters whom you maintain.”—And an unprecedented controversy broke forth. Each struggled to determine which should not allow himself to be placed at the door of the tomb.

“Make haste,” said Courfeyrac, “in another quarter of an hour it will be too late.”

“Citizens,” pursued Enjolras, “this is the Republic, and universal suffrage reigns. Do you yourselves designate those who are to go.”

They obeyed. After the expiration of a few minutes, five were unanimously selected and stepped out of the ranks.

“There are five of them!” exclaimed Marius.

There were only four uniforms.

“Well,” began the five, “one must stay behind.”

And then a struggle arose as to who should remain, and who should find reasons for the others not remaining. The generous quarrel began afresh.

“You have a wife who loves you.”—“You have your aged mother.”—” You have neither father nor mother, and what is to become of your three little brothers?”—“You are the father of five children.”—“You have a right to live, you are only seventeen, it is too early for you to die.”

These great revolutionary barricades were assembling points for heroism. The improbable was simple there. These men did not astonish each other.

“Be quick,” repeated Courfeyrac.

Men shouted to Marius from the groups:

“Do you designate who is to remain.”

“Yes,” said the five, “choose. We will obey you.”

Marius did not believe that he was capable of another emotion. Still, at this idea, that of choosing a man for death, his blood rushed back to his heart. He would have turned pale, had it been possible for him to become any paler.

He advanced towards the five, who smiled upon him, and each, with his eyes full of that grand flame which one beholds in the depths of history hovering over Thermopylæ, cried to him:

“Me! me! me!”

And Marius stupidly counted them; there were still five of them! Then his glance dropped to the four uniforms.

At that moment, a fifth uniform fell, as if from heaven, upon the other four.

The fifth man was saved.

Marius raised his eyes and recognized M. Fauchelevent.

Jean Valjean had just entered the barricade.

He had arrived by way of Mondétour lane, whither by dint of inquiries made, or by instinct, or chance. Thanks to his dress of a National Guardsman, he had made his way without difficulty.

The sentinel stationed by the insurgents in the Rue Mondétour had no occasion to give the alarm for a single National Guardsman, and he had allowed the latter to entangle himself in the street, saying to himself: “Probably it is a reinforcement, in any case it is a prisoner.” The moment was too grave to admit of the sentinel abandoning his duty and his post of observation.

At the moment when Jean Valjean entered the redoubt, no one had noticed him, all eyes being fixed on the five chosen men and the four uniforms. Jean Valjean also had seen and heard, and he had silently removed his coat and flung it on the pile with the rest.

The emotion aroused was indescribable.

“Who is this man?” demanded Bossuet.

“He is a man who saves others,” replied Combeferre.

Marius added in a grave voice:

“I know him.”

This guarantee satisfied every one.

Enjolras turned to Jean Valjean.

“Welcome, citizen.”

And he added:

“You know that we are about to die.”

Jean Valjean, without replying, helped the insurgent whom he was saving to don his uniform.