#thoughts thoughts...

[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.

[alleesaur]

doodling a bunny vs doodling a hare

[foolfortune]

[grntaire]

HELLLLLL YEAH!!!!!!!

[thegreatyin]

"how can m/f ships be good-" first of all through the power of bisexuality anything is possible so write that down. second of all if we start othering ships based on gender and nothing else we're no better than the opposition. third of all you need to watch more addams family

[arielries]

Do you ever wish you could take the steam with you?

[vilea777]

sorry i cant hang out i forgot how to mimic human like behaviour

[esthermika]

[yeepof]

I understand that tall men are our POV characters, but surely being like a foot taller than everyone around them would have some occasional consequences

[hansoeii]

the honda odyssey, huh?

[casioaty]

Well if the shoe fish

[slow-drowned-angels]

“Do it scared” but please realize that, if you Do It Scared too much and don’t let yourself rest + relax + have fun in between, you will fuck yourself up. If you “do it scared” all day every day, you will burn out badly and quickly. Sometimes this is temporarily necessary but please keep this in mind.

[mushiver]

I know what you're all definitely thinking. What if everyone from Gravity Falls was a chair. Well, I was bored enough at 3am to think about that too

Edit: part 2

[twelvemonkeyswere]

not even JRR Tolkien, who famously developed the concept of the Secondary World and firmly believed that no trace of the Real World should be evoked in the fictional world, was able to remove potatoes from his literature. this is a man who developed whole languages and mythologies for his literary world, who justified its existence in English as a translation* simply because he was so miffed he couldn't get away with making the story fully alien to the real world. and not even he, in extremis, was so cruel as to deny his characters the heavenly potato. could not even conceive a universe devoid of the potato. such is its impact. everyone please take a moment to say thank you to South Americans for developing and cultivating one of earth's finest vegetables. the potato IS all that. literally world-changing food. bless.

[vimbry]