Part II, Book 5, Chapter 1
A Zigzag Strategy
We’re onto Book 5! The chapter begins with Hugo wistfully breaking the fourth wall to tell us that Paris has changed a lot since the events of Les Misêrables, and that he, the author, has not been in Paris for a long time. This little disclosure serves as an explanation for why the modern reader may not recognize the exact streets and buildings described in the story (an explanation that I don’t think we really need!) but emotionally contains so much more.
We get several paragraphs of bittersweet musings on how special a beloved place becomes in your memory, especially when you can never return to the way it was—it’s one of those passages that is completely unnecessary to the story but feels so human and relatable that I kind of love it. I completely understand this feeling, and have felt it very keenly, and find it comforting to have it articulated so clearly.
We then return to the story. Valjean steals through the streets of Paris at night, with Cosette in tow, with no plan other than to never return to the Gorbeau tenement. I am hung up on the fact that he paid six months’ rent in advance for that shithole, and is probably never going to get that money back! The former renter in me is aghast!
When passing a police station, Valjean sees three men following him. Ominous! He leaves the street and hides in a doorway to watch them; when they reappear, there are four of them, as the original three have met up with a leader. Said leader turns in the moonlight and his face is illuminated, and Valjean sees that the man is no other than Javert.
JAVERT, WILL YOU JUST LEAVE THIS POOR MAN ALONE AND LET HIM RAISE HIS ADOPTED DAUGHTER IN PEACE???
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