Part I, Book 5, Chapter 2
Madeleine
This chapter continues the “what happened to Jean Valjean” storyline, and is basically a fast-paced catchup of Valjean/Madeleine’s rise, proving that Hugo is capable of conciseness when he wants to be.
When the local jewelry industry blew up (hockey stick growth! alert the MBAs and venture capitalists!), Madeleine builds a huge factory, employing both men and women, where he makes it clear that anyone in need could get work, as long as they’re honest people.
With his newfound wealth, Madeline spends way more on others than on himself—hmm, I wonder where he could have gotten this from? He finances improvements to the town hospital, builds schools and pays the teachers out of his own pocket, creates and pays for a nursery, creates a welfare fund for old and disabled workers, and sets up a free pharmacy. This is totally what the bishop would have done if he had more than 15,000 francs/year to play with—well done, Valjean Madeleine.
Because of his work with the factory, the king appoints first the mayorship and then the Legion of Honour to Madeleine (so that’s how mayorships work?), both of which he turns town. Again, big bishop energy!
The people of what passes for high society in the town call Madeleine “Monsieur Madeleine,” but the children and workers call him “Père Madeleine,” which if I learned correctly in the French 2 class I accidentally signed up for, means Daddy Father Madeleine, which is so sweet, and has big Monseigneur Bienvenu energy. Hugo is being very obvious with the reformed-Valjean/bishop parallels and I am so here for all of it.
The king finally appoints the mayorship to Madeleine again—I have questions about who did end up mayor when he turned it down the first time—and Madeleine is about to turn it down again when he overhears a grumpy common woman say, “A good mayor can be useful. Why shrink from doing good?”
I love that Valjean has basically one button: if you shame this man he will do good deeds. The overheard remark works, and Daddy Madeleine becomes mayor.
With a lot of things I like to play the spin game of how you can read things totally different ways based on your political leanings of choice, and I had fun reading Madeleine’s effect on Montreuil-sur-Mer two different ways.
You could take the conservative rah-rah-capitalism view, which is that the paternal actions of a titan of industry creating order in a company town is beneficial for everyone. (You can back up this assertion with the fact that Madeleine insists on strict gender segregation in the schools and the factory, and is deeply religious, prompting others to follow suit.)
You could also take the progressive anti-capitalist view, where Madeleine creates a strong welfare system with free healthcare, free education, and free childcare, with UBI for people who are unable to work, and this is clearly a case study proving that robust social safety nets are good for society.
You can make a compelling argument for both viewpoints, and I kind of love that. Both camps would agree with Madeleine’s statement, “The state’s two most important servants are the woman at whose breast the child is nurtured and the schoolmaster.” This is why moms and schools are ground zero for so many culture war issues!
This chapter makes such an interesting philosophical case for what makes a good society, and what good local leadership looks like. It also gave me such warm fuzzies, because whether or not Valjean realizes it, he really is the bishop’s man through and through.
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