Les Miserables - Week 03

[Jill]

Not only is it realistic for Fantine to have left Cosette with the Thénardiers, it still happens today, as desperate mothers in Central and South America send their children northward with strangers because things in their home countries are *that bad*. I can’t imagine that level of hopelessness, thank goodness, but it surely exists.

Fantine just makes my heart hurt. So tragic. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, and she’s accustomed to things not going her way, but for her to have seemingly turned the corner with her job and its benefits, her apartment with furniture (though I cringed at reading she’d bought it on credit, ripe for doom), and the ability to send payments to the truly terrible Thénardiers, just to have it all ripped out from under her because of a busybody... well, I don’t blame Fantine one bit for spitting in Madeleine’s face. It’s just too much for her. She thought he’d ordered her firing, which has resulted in her present miserable (see what I did there) downward-spiral situation. She’s endured scorn and isolation, sacrificing her golden hair, her TWO FRONT TEETH FOR GOD’S SAKE, and the rest of her body to provide for her child, and she’s now found herself sentenced to six months in jail for defending herself from a 19th century frat boy who called her ugly and shoved snow down her back like a real man. She’s literally on her knees begging for mercy; you can almost feel the adrenaline flowing. But Madeleine, ever faithful, blows it off and responds by orchestrating Fantine’s release and arranging to provide fully for her and Cosette so that Fantine never has to work again if she doesn’t want to.

In addition to the parallel stories of JVJ and Fantine, where neither is a bad person but more a victim of circumstance and some poor but desperate choices, I’ve noticed some increasing dehumanization language. Fantine is said to have “let out a howl of rage, spun round, and, springing like a panther, hurled herself at [Monsieur Bamatabois], digging her nails into his face” (Rose 159). And their scuffle is described as a “whirlwind composed of two beings hard to recognize as a man and a woman” (160). JVJ, frustrated that he can’t find a place to stay upon his release from prison, exclaims, “I’m not even a dog!” (58). I think it’s interesting to employ this sort of language as each character’s situation gets more and more untenable and their choices more questionable.

Gotta give another shoutout to the Rose translation here. There are 87 footnotes (!) in the subchapter titled The Year 1817 in Fantine III, and I read every one. I’d have otherwise skimmed that chapter rather than stopped to google every sentence, so once again the footnotes saved the day.

[Ami]

Linda wrote: "Ami wrote: "Book 5
My takeaway from Book 5 was much like everybody else’s…strong parallels between Fantine and JVj, both productive members of society turned hard and callous vagrants. I was glued ..."

It took courage to spit in the face of the most powerful man in town.
Courageous would have been to go and speak to him when she was fired because of his immorality clause. Yet, it is exactly as you say that it wasn't so much about the choices she makes but about and instead about the circumstances that put her in those situations. The act of spitting on somebody is inhumane and no civilized human would behave in this manner. I think by Fantine spitting on Madeleine, Hugo is drawing out how far from grace she has fallen, similar to JVj before Bienvenue showed him the same compassion.

I believe that Hugo intended Fantine to be regarded as a victim of society, not as culpable for the choices she has to make. The worst that can be said of her is that she is too innocent, too gullible.
You're right, he paints her in this particular shade of destitution as a means to fight against a society that is incapable of harboring those who are clearly in need. Hugo brushes the canvas rather thickly around her, even when she's doing well she's still not safe from the ills of her brethren.

Did Hugo mean for the reader to regard Fantine as so pure that she has not been tainted by her street life?
It's a ploy, Linda! :P If the reasoning behind it is to jolt the life back into his audience, forcing them to see the product of their own making, then I'm wholeheartedly behind his endeavor even when I think he's being heavy handed with his societal depictions. Fantine and JVj struggle like none other, yet no matter how much good they try to do, society is unwilling to accept their efforts-It's totally one-sided, even if legitimate, to a degree.

But as horrendous as the choices she had to make, I can see no alternative for a poor discriminated woman at that time in France.
This is exactly Hugo's point. And, as you said earlier, it's not about the choices so much as it is the circumstances. I've taken this to heart, can you tell? :)

[Piyangie]

Robin wrote: "Unfortunately, it's not just historical. There are many examples in modern times and today of kids maltreated in foster families, used for the money, sexually abused, etc. Of course, there are many wonderful foster families too. And regardless of politics, we know that separated children from the Mexican border will generally not do well even in well-meaning foster situations...."

This is shocking, Robin. My country has very strict laws on child protection and so many governmental institutions to monitor. This in itself doesn't stop children being abused in the ways you mentioned. But it will hinder many from resorting to such abusive conduct with a free hand.
However, evil cannot be totally wiped out from any society. There will always be sons and daughters of the devil! But I'm still glad we do have laws to prevent and protect children from being abused (even though they may prove inefficient at times) unlike in Hugo's day where it looks that such conduct are sanctioned.

[Piyangie]

Robin wrote: "It does seem odd that Fantine waited so long to send for Cosette. Also, when she arrived, still very pretty, if she had wiles, she could probably have gotten someone to marry her and hopefully take on her child. I still think she could have claimed to be a widow, it was almost impossible to check on those things at the time. The town was fairly prosperous thanks to M. Madeleine so she could have married a shopkeeper, blacksmith, etc. I could see that would be a problem if people knew her as a street urchin, but Hugo tells us no one knew her. It seems she was too trusting and not devious enough.

She was certainly too trusting of the Thenardiers, believing everything they said. And couldn't she have gotten a day off to go visit Cosette? I'm not clear how far away it was. There are a lot of religious holidays in France, when work would be canceled..."

From the author's point of view, I believe that Hugo was bent upon making Fantine a victim of the society. And through her character, he exposes the darker side of the human nature as well as human society. So it was only necessary that Fantine should make her choices as she did.

From the story's point of view, I believe Fantine's conduct can only be answered in this one way. Her tastes were higher having a gentleman lover, so the pretty Fantine is not contented to settle for less. With all her prettiness, she is also very naive. She readily believes of the goodness of the others and is too trusting. However, why she never made a visit to see Cosset came to my mind too. If she had gone at least once, she would have witnessed how her child is being treated. Perhaps as Rafael has mentioned, she may not have had enough money to do the journey. Madam Victurnien spent thirty five francs to find out Fantine's secret and this includes her journey to Thenardiers. From this we can infer that Fantine was unable to bear the cost of the journey and the distance was such that couldn't be traveled by foot

[Ami]

Trev wrote: "Ami wrote:

I just can't see Felix and the other young men and girls partying with a hugely pregnant Fantine..
Neither could I, but Xan made a good point about about him... he just didn’t care. I ..."

Did she really believe that the affair would go on for ever and that Felix would marry her for the sake of the child?
I do believe she did, especially because of her unassuming nature.

Was she just lucky or did she have a resolve and a worldly knowledge not spoken about by the author?
Uh, no, this was not her at all. At least this is the way it appeared to me only because she seemed to go whichever way the wind blew, having no personal direction of her own. To have lived in the streets for so long, she didn't acquire any of the smart street sense it has a tendency to teach those it harbors. Instead, our dear Fantine is very much a limp flower, waiting to be taken care of, revived.

You said something interesting here...Fantine remaining innocent, untouched for as long as she was until meeting Felix. Keeping in mind her pearly whites and golden hair, the unsavory nature of the streets, it is rather curious how she escaped what would be considered inevitable for somebody in Fantine's shoes.