Part I, Book 6, Chapter 1
An Initial Rest
We’re onto Book 6! Madeleine takes Fantine to the hospital he set up and is there by her bedside when she wakes up. By that time he’s asked around and gotten Fantine’s sad story from others. First of all, I hope that supervisor got a very stern talking-to! Second of all, if enough people know what went down with Fantine for Madeleine to piece the story together, why didn’t anyone do anything?? Are all French towns judgey and unhelpful?
The very same night of the snow assault and police station showdown, Javert sends a letter to the head of the police precinct in Paris. This is fine, not ominous at all.
Madeleine also writes a letter that night (boy, the postman was probably like “why is everyone writing letters all of a sudden”) to the Thénardiers, giving them 300 francs to pay off Fantine’s 120-franc (and totally fake) debt and then some, and asking them to bring Cosette to Montreuil-sur-mer immediately. If these were any other people, they’d be happy at getting easy money and left it there. But these are the Thénardiers, who have an unfortunately admirable level of savvy for grifting that probably means they’d be doing super well in the federal administration in 2026. They clock, correctly, that they can get SO MUCH MORE MONEY if they hang onto Cosette and bleed whoever this new sucker is, so they respond with a fake medical bill for Cosette’s fake illness.
Madeleine, who if he lived today would be paying off random strangers’ GoFundMes, sends them 300 more francs and asks them once again to bring Cosette. Mr. Thénardier (does the guy have a first name?) refuses to give up the child, who he now sees as a cash cow.
The initially judgmental nuns in the hospital (why! are all these townspeople so judgey???) are won over by Fantine—who thinks only of Cosette and speaks endlessly of her love for her child—because everyone loves a hooker with a heart of gold. Every day, Fantine asks when Cosette will be there; Madeleine, who doesn’t know yet that the Thénardiers are profligate scammers, tells her, any day now! The thought of Cosette appearing at any moment keeps Fantine going, even as her condition worsens.
Everyone except Fantine seems to know that she’s dying. As it turns out, Bammy shoving snow down Fantine’s back triggered a sudden worsening of her chronic illness—jeez, can we please charge him with murder? I realize the whole thing with this book is prison abolition and doing away with the death penalty but maybe we can make a little exception for this guy? As a treat?
The doctor treating Fantine urges Madeleine to get Cosette there because they’re running out of time. Fantine fully believes she’ll get better once she sees her daughter again (😭) and wonders why the Thénardiers are keeping Cosette. Oh, this poor, sweet idiot.
Fantine is Exhibit A for why Daisy in The Great Gatsby is completely wrong when she says “that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” No, Daisy! Look at Fantine! Being a beautiful little fool is how she got into this mess! Ugh. Somewhere in Fictional Character Hell, Tholomyès is burning for what he’s done to Fantine.
The Thénardiers (also in Fictional Character Hell) send more excuses for why they can’t send Cosette. Madeleine, who has a lower bullshit threshold than Fantine’s, gets fed up and decides that someone needs to just go get Cosette, which honestly should have been the first move (was he expecting a small child to just be, idk, thrown into a stagecoach by herself?), but whatever. He writes a letter authorizing the bearer to take custody of Cosette and has Fantine sign it. Thank goodness, a guy who understands contracts. (Looking at you, Fantine!)
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