#mere plutarque

[fatecanberewritten]

To read aloud is to lend authority to your reading.

Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (transl. C. Donougher)

[pureanonofficial]

LES MIS LETTERS IN ADAPTATION - Mother Plutarque Finds No Difficulty in Explaining a Phenomenon, LM 4.4.2 (Le Théâtre de la jeunesse: Gavroche 1962)

Montparnasse on the hunt at such an hour, in such a place, betokened something threatening. Gavroche felt his gamin’s heart moved with compassion for the old man. What was he to do? Interfere? One weakness coming to the aid of another! It would be merely a laughing matter for Montparnasse. Gavroche did not shut his eyes to the fact that the old man, in the first place, and the child in the second, would make but two mouthfuls for that redoubtable ruffian eighteen years of age. While Gavroche was deliberating, the attack took place, abruptly and hideously. The attack of the tiger on the wild ass, the attack of the spider on the fly. Montparnasse suddenly tossed away his rose, bounded upon the old man, seized him by the collar, grasped and clung to him, and Gavroche with difficulty restrained a scream. A moment later one of these men was underneath the other, groaning, struggling, with a knee of marble upon his breast. Only, it was not just what Gavroche had expected. The one who lay on the earth was Montparnasse; the one who was on top was the old man. All this took place a few paces distant from Gavroche. The old man had received the shock, had returned it, and that in such a terrible fashion, that in a twinkling, the assailant and the assailed had exchanged rôles.

[psalm22-6]

The Gamin of Paris, an early example of a Les Miserables fix-it fic

I came across Gavroche: The Gamin of Paris by reading a review from 1872 (the year it was published), a review which made me say what the hell?? On the Wikipedia page for Les Miserables Adaptations, Gavroche is listed first among the literary adaptations, with no indication of how wild the review lead me to believe it would be. So I bought a copy off Ebay and read it, which brought me immense amusement and equal parts terror. Now I know we are all used to adaptations of Les Miserables which diverge from the original but I think it's fair to say that this goes beyond adaptation so please enjoy my summary (and below the cut I will put some notes about the author, the publisher, etc.) The story begins with Gavroche hiding in the bushes at the house of an unnamed old man and his companion Mere Plutarque Mary Anne. From his vantage point, Gavroche sees Montparnasse attempt to rob an old passerby. Yes, Montparnasse has a rose in his mouth and yes he is dressed to the nines. The man gives Montparnasse his purse and a sermon: Hugo’s original rant was 1,118 words, but while this lecture is considerably paired down, the impact…well, as you will see the impact is far greater. When Gavroche later encounters Montparnasse, the young man says of the experience:  “Such a sermon – my faith! It has nearly spoiled my taste for business ever since. If you’ll believe me Gavroche, I have some thoughts of turning honest man.” When Gavroche steals the purse from Montparnasse to give to Mary Anne, the author remarks: “He was rewarded not not [sic] an hour after, by a sixpence given him by a gentleman, whose hat he rescued from a gutter.” We learn that Gavroche’s mother, Mother Jondrette, has sold her two youngest sons to a woman named Magnon Manon. This Manon (besides being a criminal) is a nurse who bought the boys to replace two boys who died in her care. She then loses the two adopted boys. One day, while Gavroche is contemplating theft (“we regret to say”), he encounters the two lost children and decides to care for them. Gavroche asks them their names.

“My name is Adolphe, sir,” said the elder boy; “his,” pointing to his brother, “is Gustav.” “What fine names!” said Gavroche with a shrug, “fit for a crown prince! Well, I shall call you Dolph and Gus.”

Time passes and Gavroche cares for the boys. Things began to look up for him.

Gavroche, with the cares of a family on his hands, found, as it happened – or rather as Providence so ordered – that his condition was no worse but better than before. The scanty food, picked up by chance, as the crumbs and berries of sparrows are, proved more nearly enough for three than it had been for one. Perhaps this was because his new sense of responsibility awoke in him a desire for employment which he had never felt before. All he knew was, that errands fell in his way in a marvelous manner.

Now, by some narrative maneuvering owing to the fact that Gavroche is the main character of this story, events are a bit out of the familiar order and the Gorbeau House ambush arrives 30 chapters later than it would have in the original table of contents. On the night of the ambush (and not after) Gavroche goes to see his parents, whereupon he overhears Montparnasse and Brujon speaking:

“How soon will the crib be ready?” asked Montparnasse. “Not for an hour yet,” answered the other, a thickset man with a harsh, croaking voice. “It is only to pluck a pigeon?” “We may have to pinch it a little to make it sing,” answered the other; sinister words which Gavroche well understood. Montparnasse moved uneasily. “Do you need me, Brujon?” he asked. “Not if you are so flush of jobs as not to want a finger in this one,” answered the other, laughing. “There will be enough to share without you.” “I will be your watch,” said Montparnasse. “You’ll need one.” “Eponine is on the watch,” said Brujon. “You can keep her company instead of blacking your pretty face.” 

It appears Montparnasse can no longer stomach violent crime. Surmising that his family is involved in what is about to take place, Gavroche sneaks into the house and hides in the neighbor’s room. The neighbor is a “poor student” who is not important and not at home. Looking through a hole in the wall, Gavorche recognizes that the man his father is targetting is the same man who delivered the sermon to Montparnasse. The man, named Jean Valjean, knows Jondrette as “Fabantou” “Faber” and Valjean himself is living under the alias “Leblanc” (I guess “Fauchelevent” was too much for the young American reader.) Jondrette offers to sell Leblanc a painting, “on which were painted some coarse figures, no doubt a sign-board from some tavern,” but that is not important to the plot. Jondrette reveals that he knows Leblanc is Valjean:

“You remember me now, I see, the man whom you robbed of the child who was a fortune to him – the boy for whose keep I received a sum which sufficed to maintain my family. You are the rogue who sneaked and spied upon me, who complained of me in the courts for ill-treatment of the child, offering to take charge of him yourself till the return of his parents, and getting me three months in prison which were the beginning of my downfall!”

You may be wondering who is this boy? He is also not important to the plot.  Gavroche wants to help Valjean but does not want to go to the police or betray his family. (In some sentences the name “Marius” is here just replaced with “Gavorche.”) Jondrette demands money from Valjean and proposes to dictate a letter to him: 

“What shall I write?” asked the prisoner. “You have a steward?” asked Jondrette. “Yes.” “What is his name?” “Simon.”

Simon is not important either, I just thought I would mention him. Valjean jumps up and seizes a red-hot chisel from the fire, saying:

“The money you demand I could not give you, and if I could, what is held in trust for the unfortunate should not be wasted on the wicked to save my life. It is in your hands. Then take it.”

Valjean throws the chisel out an open window. (There is no Azelma so the window was not broken.) Gavroche has the idea to write a note saying “the beaks are coming” and throws it into the room, causing the assailants to flee through the window. Jondrette says invokes the rule of ladies first and they do NOT fight over who gets out first. Gavroche frees Valjean (“This is one of Brujon’s knots but whatever he can tie I can untie”) and introduces himself as “Little Gavroche.” Valjean tells Gavroche to come home with him but Gavroche says he must get back to Adolphe and Gustav.  The Jondrette parents are soon arrested and Eponine is taken to “the House of Refuge” but “the police not being omniscient, they could hardly have known of the attempted robbery in the Jondrette garret, as no information was furnished them by the old man who had so nearly been its victim.” Their arrest is due to some unrelated, unmentioned crime. Gavroche encounters Montparnasse again and Montparnasse enlists him to help break Jondrette out of prison and, as in the original, the father does not even recognize his son. Meanwhile, the boys are still around, getting up to quirky adventures such as this one recounted by Adolphe: 

“We went down to the wharves, but they shoved us about so that I was afraid Gustav would get hurt, and was just going to take him away, when only think, a great Englishman who was there stumbled against us, and almost knocked Gustav into the water, so that I cried out quite loud, and then he boxed my ears for bringing Gustav there, and then he gave me a sixpence.” 

Now it is time for an insurrection. Why? The author declines to state. It is noted that “no matter how quiet and prosperous the times may appear to be,” revolution may spark at any time and that, besides those with good intentions, there are also “the desperate, the discontented, the criminal, ignoble souls who hope for disorders which offer a chance to plunder.” The author asserts that the majority of people “denounce all disturbances equally, whether their cause be a just or an unjust one. To them all insurrection is the revolt of the dog against the master, worthy to be punished with the whip and the chain: but when the revolutionary effort is successful, when the dog shows itself a lion, they throw up their caps and shout 'Long live the people.' ” (It can be hard to figure out which lines are the author’s own invention and which come from Hugo. This bit about dismissing revolutionaries as dogs was originally applied to the bourgeoisie, not “the great body of citizens.”)

Insurrectionists build a barricade in the Rue St. Denis, before the tavern of Mother Houcheloup Hourdeloup. The insurrectionists are led by a man named Marius (this Marius bears no resemblance whatsoever to Marius Marius and I have to believe that “Enjolras” was simply deemed too hard to pronounce). Marius has two lieutenants, Joly and Combeferre Comberre. Gavroche decides to join them. He has lost his way since he became separated from Adolphe and Gustave some time ago. He had tried to distract himself “with such amusements as he could find, but often, even in the best contested game of hop-scotch or pitch-and-toss, he would stop and mutter gloomily, ‘But where the deuce can my two children be?’ ”  Gavroche asks Marius for a gun since he had one “thirty years ago” in the “last revolution.” He also requisitions a cart for the French Rebuplic and runs into the National Guard (this is just happening a bit out of order but that is to be expected). Meanwhile, in the Luxembourg gardens, “Dolphy” and Gustav are eating soggy cake when suddenly an old man appears and offers them a whole non-soggy cake. The man is, of course, Jean Valjean, and, through speaking to the boys, they realize that they are all looking for Gavroche. “Surely, in meeting them, Providence gives me a sign that I shall find the lad I sought for in vain thus far, and pay the debt I owe him,” thinks Valjean. He takes the boys to his home and sits outside, wondering what to do. “A republican himself in his convictions, he had no thought of joining in this revolt, which he believed to be ill-timed and absolutely in vain.” Then, who should walk by breaking lamps for the Republic but Gavroche? Valjean attempts to convince Gavroche not to return to the barricades, but when that fails, he puts on his National Guard uniform and goes after him. The insurrectionists know that no one is coming to join them and have resolved to die for their cause. When Valjean arrives, Gavroche vouches for him. Then, during the first attack, Gavroche threatens to blow up the barricade with a powder keg! Again Valjean tries to convince Gavroche to leave, this time telling him that Adolphe and Gustav are at the house, but Gavroche again declines. He goes out to collect cartridges singing:

I am merry, I am free, That’s because my money’s spent; All my clothes in rags you see, That’s the fault of the Government. Not a penny can I give, That’s because my money’s spent; Like a little bird I live, That’s the fault of the Government. I am done for, I suppose, That’s because my money’s spent; In the gutter goes my nose, That’s the fault of the –

He collapses, unable to finish the last verse after having been shot. “Unheeding the rain of bullets that fell about him,” Valjean retrieves his body while Comberre gets the cartridges. However, the barricade is quickly attacked again and Marius, Joly, and Comberre are all killed. Valjean escapes with Gavroche. In the sewers, Valjean is “guided by chance, or rather, as he himself felt, led by the providence of God” and strengthened by the “miraculous gift [of] God.” He encounters a group of policemen. The police are not there searching for insurgents. They are “making their half-yearly inspection of the sewers; for in spite of the insurrection, the wheels of government still ran on in the old grooves.” Valjean goes unnoticed. Finally, Valjean reaches a locked grate and encounters a man who offers to let him out for a price:

He saw standing beside him a man dressed in a style more suited for the streets of Paris than for this den of the sewers. . . At sight of that dandified well-fitting black coat, and the youthful handsome face of its wearer, the old man had not a moment’s hesitation in recognizing him. It was Montparnasse. . .He looked at the young man with strange feelings. He felt that [Montparnasse] was as truly sent by Providence to his aid, and to save the life of Little Gavroche, as if he had been a shining angel instead of a bandit, who had taken refuge in the sewer; and that he too was sent to Montparnasse to save him from something worse than death itself.

Montparnasse does not recognize Valjean or Gavroche but, pressuring that the old man has killed the young one in order to rob him, Montparnasse proposes to split the profits. Valjean agrees, on the condition that Montparnasse will receive his share when they arrive “at a better place where we can look over the papers together.” Montparnasse agrees. Montparnasse is slightly surprised to see that Valjean’s victim is a child but it doesn’t bother him much. He even offers to help Valjean sink the body in the Seine but the old man explains that they need the body in order to obtain their reward. At Valjean’s house on the rue St. Antoine, Montparnasse is terrified when he realizes that the child is Gavroche and confused when he recognizes Valjean. Valjean explains that he is an escaped galley-slave, an inventor, and a manufacturer.

“And why, Monsieur Galley-slave, have you murdered this helpless child? Not for booty, assuredly, for the poor little gamin never owned a penny but to share it. Even wolves would not tear wolves’ cubs for sport.” “Young man. . .I have not murdered but saved this child. I did not give him wounds, but bound them. Once long ago my hand was reddened with blood shed by an angry blow. That was my crime, bitterly repented and expiated through long years. . . Help me, my son, to draw this boy from the edge of the pit into which he is sliding. Here is your share of the riches I promised you should be gained by this night’s work.”

Gavroche wakes up weeks later, and finds that noxious Paris has been replaced with “a quiet seaside village on the northern coast, called Clairvue.” Upon seeing Valjean, Gavroche believes that the old man has also died and that they are both in heaven, but he is confused to see Adolphe and Gustav there too. Slowly, as he is nursed back to health by a woman named old Jeannette, he realizes that he is not dead. The boys tell Gavroche that when he is better, he can play with them by “the great water.”

“What do you mean by the great water?” said Gavroche. “Is it the river Seine?” “O, no, it is the real ocean!” cried Adolphe.

“Mother Street” has been replaced by “Mother Ocean.” Valjean sends the boys away before they can say more. Only when Gavroche has had more time to recover does Valjean allow Gavroche another visitor:

A handsome jaunty young sailor appeared at the door, and, approaching, disclosed the face and form of Montparnasse. . . “My faith! You look like a fancy picture of a sailor lad!” “Don’t you like it, Gavroche? Isn’t it becoming?” asked Montparnasse with a well-satisfied smile, turning himself round for inspection like a young girl with her first ball-dress. “I think so,” answered Gavroche emphatically. “The blue shirt beats the black swallowtail to nothing. The girls will look at you and make you more conceited than ever, Montparnasse.” Gavroche was right. Nothing was ever so becoming to the handsome face and slim alert figure of Montparnasse, as the blue shirt, opening to show his round young throat, the knotted silk neckerchief, the wide white trousers, and the Panama hat with its broad ribbon, which replaced the tight-fitting black suit in which the dandy of the bandits had rejoiced.

It is revealed that Valjean, knowing that Montparnasse’s “weakness,” “vanity,” and “love of admiration” had been the driving causes of his criminality, purchased for him a sailor’s uniform and, knowing that Montparnasse would be “followed with glances of sincere and open admiration from the pretty fisher-girls of Clairvue,” had decided to make Montparnasse into a sailor. Valjean “smoothed away all difficulties” for Montparnasse by purchasing a ship and instating Montparnasse as overseer, rather than as a common sailor. Also, Valjean legally adopted Montparnasse and the other sailors, “receiving Montparnasse as the son of the liberal owner of their vessel, were careful to make the first trials of his new profession as pleasant and as little arduous as possible.” Away from the “evil associates of his Parisian life” the “gentleness and goodness in Montparnasse’s heart were awakened.” He even took on a new name: Victor Leblanc. Valjean, of course, considered himself to be the father of all four boys, remarking “I shall have four brave sons now, in place of my lonely old age. God is very good to us, my children.” In Valjean, Gavroche “found father, mother, kindred, all in one.”

All was well, until one day Victor encounters a ghost from his past: Manon, who was in Clairvue, en-route to England, in the guise of a lady’s maid. Manon attempts to lead Victor back into a life of crime but Victor refuses. However, he does learn a few things from her.

“Your sister Eponine is dead, Gavroche. She died of consumption in the Hospital of Saint Sadelon.” “Poor Eponine,” said Gavroche seriously, but not deeply grieved for the sister he had scarcely known. “She was always sickly. The hospital was at least a better place to die than the street.”

Victor also realizes through his conversation with Manon that Adolphe and Gustav – originally named “Jean” and “George” and lost to her while she was “satisfying the police” –  are the children of Jondrette and the biological brothers of Gavroche.

[Valjean] bowed his head. Prayerfully he felt that Providence had committed to his care the sons of his deadly enemy, that he might be a father to the worse than fatherless. . . “My own brothers!” [said Gavroche.] And then, after a pause – “But, father, they were my brothers a truly before, since we are all your children.”

Together the family walks off to look at the sunset, which was “as clear and calm as that which was closing the storm and struggle of Jean Valjean’s life.” The End. 

This post is already so long that adding a read more seems ridiculous but whatever. Note about the author: Gavroche: The Gamin of Paris was “translated and adapted by” M.C. Pyle aka Margaret Churchman Pyle. Margaret was the mother of the famous children’s book illustrator Howard Pyle and of the prolific but lesser know children’s book writer, Katherine Pyle. The Pyle family was one of Wilmington Pennsylvania’s old Quaker families (side note: although Howard didn’t ever illustrate a scene from Les Miserables as far as I am aware, he was a great influence on Mead Schaeffer who did).

Note about the publisher: Porter & Coates, located in Philadelphia, published over 100 children’s books. Their popular Alta Edition series (to which most copies of "Gavroche" for sale today belong) consisted of reprints and was published between the 1880s and 1890s. (Whereas the original Gavroche was printed in 1872 but I’ve only seen one photograph online of what I believe to be a first edition.) Pyle's other book, published around the same time and through Porter & Coates, was called Minna in Wonderland and could generously be called an "alternative" to Alice in Wonderland. The same is true of Gavroche. Note on Margaret's translation:  I did not compare Pyle's story line by line to the original text but for the most part (for the parts which were actually from the text) her translation seemed fairly true, though obviously heavily abridged and simplified for her readers.  I liked her choice of English slang equivalents, which I compared to those used in the Wilbour translation (the translation I assume she would have had at her disposal). Wilbour mostly left the argot untranslated, whereas I thought Pyle's word choice was readable and fun.  I also liked Pyle's choices for Gavroche's songs. At least one song is a traditional English language folk song, while others seem to be Pyle's invention, rather than attempted translation. Here they are:

[After his parents are arrested] I’m a jolly stroller boy, Bold and free, bold and free. Now an orphan I must roam, Since my folks are all from home. I can bear it till they come Back to me, back to me. [On his way to join the insurrection] Louis Philippe will lose his sheep, And never again shall find them; The people of France will make an advance, And leave their King behind them. [While scouting out the National Guard and stealing a cart, #236 in the Roud Folk Songs index] Let’s go to the woods, said Robin to Bobbin; What will we do there? Said Bobbin to Robin; We’ll shoot at a wren, said Robin to Bobbin, ‘Tis the best of all four-footed game. [Sung to let the insurrectionists know he is near] Morning is coming, The day dawns clear; Open the door Till my story you hear, In blue uniform And bearskin chapeau The soldiers are coming; Co-co-rico!

[akallabeth-joie]

Brickclub Les Mis 3.5.4

Mabeuf is the best character in this book. I will fight you over this. 

(Discretely, because he doesn't like fighting). 

Mabeuf uses "vous" to Mere Plutarque, get the same when asked if he ever married.

[akallabeth-joie]

I swear I've seen it as "Plutarch", but Hapgood uses 'Mother Plutarque' and Denny 'Mere Plutarque', and I don't have any others to hand.

I read it as the notary/lawyer made some sort of error with the brother's will or whatever the family's property settlement was. Fraud is a darker possiblity, but I suppose we can't discount it in this book. Either way, poor Mabeuf. :(

BrickClub-3.5.4 Monsieur Mabeuf

“Monsieur Mabeuf’s political opinion was his passionate love of plants, and especially of books.”

I love how the signifier of a Good Person is just “well he gardens.”

So we meet Mabeuf properly and he’s The Guy Who Didn’t Like Politics, but not in an intolerant way, but from a perspective of Why Must We All Hate.

“‘Were you never married?’

‘I’ve forgotten,’ he said.” That’s a Mood.

“He never went out without a book under his arm and he often returned with two.”

Making a note of this line for so many reasons such as Foreshadowing and also the fact that Mabeuf just warms my heart with his love of books.

Mère Plutarque!! (Is that spelled differently in other translations or am I just forgetful?) Another woman who “embodies innocence” and the narration calls her a “poor old dear” because she’s a “virgin.” Gah. Come On.

Things turn bad for him after his brother dies and a lawyer costs his 10,000 francs, because what? He was just cheating an old man for money or…? (Lawyers Are The Worst)

His situation is Not Good and he sinks deeper into poverty, but yet, he keeps his mind and “innocent pleasures.” Such as listening to Mère Plutarque reading!

Listen, this man just wants to read and garden and to stay away from guns and hatred. He fulfills my soul and breaks my heart. Him and Plutarque must be protected.

[akallabeth-joie]

Brickclub Les Mis 3.6.5

My copy of Wilbour has a typo where the portress’s nickname is used in place of her real name in the explanation that the nickname is not the real name (no “Mme Burgon”, her real name is also “Mme Bougon”, aka Mrs. Grumpy).

Anyway, Hugo does that thing again where the older female characters (sans Mlle Myriel, auxiliary actual saint, and IIRC the reclusive Mere Plutarque) are all inveterate gossips. I’m not really sure what the point of including her here was? It serves to introduce some Courfeyracian irreverence and have someone react to Marius dressing up three days running, but I’m not seeing a larger reason.

The true climax of this chapter, of course, is Marius imagining the birds are mocking him. 

No second person pronouns.

[akallabeth-joie]

Brickclub 4.4.2

Gavroche is our point of view character to two rather different interactions: Mere Plutarque apprising Pere Mabeuf to their dire financial straits (the latter is indifferent, which is a little alarming from one's employer); and JVJ turning an attempted robbery into an afterschool special.

The longest bit of text here is JVJ lecturing Montparnasse on how awful prison is, a theme that is more poignant coming so soon after the scene of the chain gang. JVJ's paean to honest work sounds pretty convincing: if Montparnasse doesn't want to work, being sentenced to hard labor is counterproductive.  But Montparnasse isn't the first character we've met who aspires to doing nothing--Tholomyes and Bamatabois are also idlers, but with the money to be 'respectable' about it. They're all idle, they all ruin others* in their selfish pursuits, but the Bamataboises of the world sit on juries that condemn the Montparnasses.  Which is not to say he doesn't deserve it (the whole murder thing), just that JVJ's moralizing is highly pragmatic, and informed by very personal experience. [Also, I feel the need to point out that there is a ton of advice about escaping prison included in JVJ's monologue, even if it is presented as examples of why prison is awful and not condusive to laziness.] 

Anyway, Gavroche is a good kid (seriously chaotic good); despite having no food, he forebears taking even a single apple from Mabeuf. AND THEN he goes and steals the purse from Montparnasse, in order to give it to Pere Mabeuf and Mere Plutarque. A moment before, recall, Gav didn't interfere to help JVJ because he knew Montparnasse could take him out (likely permanently). Now, in behalf of a stranger, he risks possible death--and doesn't even take a sou for his own meal.

I really want a fic now where Eponine and Gavroche adopt Mabeuf and Plutarque and they all live happily ever after in the garden (with only occassional larceny to keep them afloat, and the adults don't quite notice that's what happening). 

*Fantine. They all hurt Fantine. And Montparnasse's on a similar track with Eponine.

[Also, for the record, JVJ uses tu with Montparnasse. This fits agewise (60 year old JVJ keeps calling 19 year old Montparnasse enfant) but I wonder if attempting to rob someone automatically makes the social situation informal? Could also be JVJ disrepecting the guy who tried to rob him, but the otherwise paternal and conciliatory tone of the lecture makes me think no.]

[akallabeth-joie]

Brickclub 3.5.4

M. Mabeuf is fabulous, and I want to give him a hug.

"M. Mabeuf avait pour opinion politique d'aimer passionnément les plantes, et surtout les livres...il était bouquiniste." I sympathize with this position. I'd make a joke about joining his political party, but since 2003 or thereabouts, I feel irresponsible for even joking about it.

Anyway, we get nice character sketches of M. Mabeuf and Mere Plutarque, about their interests in cats and flowers and books, and their lack of interest in romantic attachments. These honestly feel like sketches of people Hugo has met--composite figures, perhaps, but real.

Reading this again is making me even less content with Mabeuf's role in the BBC Mis. He's explicitly pacifistic, to the point that it affects where he lives (or at least how he feels about living in a village named for a battle or next to a shooting range). Having him bond with Marius over Georges' military career instead of his flower-growing is a reversal of his character. It's also one we, unfortunately, saw too much of.