Part I, Book 5, Chapter 5
Vague Glimmerings on the Horizon
Javert is here!!!!!
I don’t know why I’m so excited about this. Javert sucks. And yet I’m so stoked.
Mayor Madeleine has become a beloved man, revered far beyond his little town, spoken of in the same way that people spoke about the bishop, RIP. But there’s one guy who isn’t part of the Mayor Madeleine fan club, and that is, obviously, Javert.
For reasons that no one, Javert himself, can really explain, he’s instinctively suspicious of Madeleine and feels a lot of antipathy towards him; Hugo describes it as “an instinct that […] secretly warns the dog-man of the presence of the cat-man.”
JEAN VALJEAN IS A CAT THEORY CONFIRMED.
Has someone analyzed Les Misérables using the “Jean Valjean is a cat and Javert is a dog” framework? I think there is something there.
Anyway, we get some backstory on Javert: he arrived in town as police inspector after Madeleine had already become a big deal. There is a long, long description of Javert’s physical features as a reflection of his character; Hugo is real big on physiognomy, which I am not (and neither should you), so I’m reading all such passages like this with an appreciation for their literary utility but with the knowledge that physiognomy is bs at best and bigotry at worst.
Javert, as we all know from “Confrontation,” was born inside a jail, to a fortune-teller and a convicted felon, so in this deeply hierarchical and judgmental society he was pretty much shafted from the get-go. There’s a lot of fascinating probing into why Javert is the way he is, but I thought this was a pretty insightful summation of why he chose his path:
As he grew up, he believed he was on the outside of society and had no hope of ever being let in. He observed that society unforgivingly kept out two classes of men, those who attack it and those who guard it. He had the choice between these two classes only.
We also get a look into what makes him tick: he’s guided by “respect for authority and hatred of rebellion.” Any form of disorder, to Javert, is “rebellion.”
He looked on any state official, from the prime minister to the rural policeman, with a deep-seated blind faith. On anyone who had once crossed the legal threshold of wrong-doing he heaped scorn, loathing and disgust. He was uncompromising, and allowed of no exceptions.
In short, Javert is a fascist! It is fascinating to read, via Hugo’s novel, what is essential a psychological profile of the fascist, which unfortunately is both useful and relevant today, and I actually mean literally today (as of this writing, but I can’t imagine it won’t also be relevant when this post goes up).
Javert “hated books” but reads anyway, and if there weren’t enough red flags here, that’s a pretty big one. Also such a contrast to Valjean, who in spite of only being recently literate still loves books and reads all the time.
Because Javert is so suspicious of Madeleine, he’s constantly watching him, and instead of being all “Why are you so obsessed with me,” Madeleine just acts like he doesn’t notice at all. Once again, this is cat behavior.
Finally, we are told that Javert is secretly investigating Madeleine and trying to figure out what his big secret. LEAVE MADELEINE ALONE you weirdo fascist book-hater!
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