Posts Tagged “Cosette”

Sunday in the Park with Fantine We meet Fantine when she's carefree and still with Cosette's father; the Thenardiers on a day when they look ALMOST respectable; the mysterious M.Madeleine.
Don’t worry, it’s okay… She's Less Miserable at the end of the play.
Escape from Montfermeil It takes 45 pages to get Cosette away from the Thenardiers. It's not complicated, just very, very detailed. Also: They're NOT comic relief, even remotely.
Valjean sure knows how to pick a hiding place Continuing my series on re-reading the novel. Valjean and Cosette arrive in Paris, but are soon driven out, pursued by Javert.
Stealth Courtship At last, Marius and Cosette meet! Sort of. Long-distance flirting is all they can manage, and they still haven't spoken a word to each other after weeks.
Ambush in the Slums Marius meets his wretched neighbors, the Thenardiers, who try to extort money from Jean Valjean and Cosette. A tense standoff is interrupted by Javert.
Meanwhile, Back at the Rue Plumet… After 250 pages only seeing them from Marius' POV, we meet Valjean, Cosette and their home in the Rue Plumet...and see their side of the stealth courtship.
Creeping Around the Garden Someone is stalking Cosette, watching her window and following her in the garden. Fortunately, it turns out to be Marius, so everything's okay!
Over the Edge Marius and Cosette's secret meetings start off well. They even escape an attempted robbery. But everything falls apart just as Paris begins to boil over.
Passing Peak Ammunition The barricade holds against several attacks the next morning, but they start running out of bullets...and defenders. Adieu to Gavroche and Javert.
Don’t Worry, Be Happy Javert is no longer a threat, Marius is alive and reconciled with his grandfather, and he and Cosette have a chance to be together. What could go wrong?
This is the End Without Javert, Valjean pursues himself to his own shocking decline, stopped only when Thenardier tries and fails to blackmail Marius. Sadly, it's too late.
Revisiting the Movie Musical After Re-Reading the Novel I liked the film of Les Misérables better on second viewing, and also was able to see just how much they brought in from the novel.
The Lark Cosette's childhood nickname follows her throughout the novel in the way that Jean Valjean's prison number 24601 doesn't.
Agency: Cosette vs. Éponine vs. Florence Listening to Judy Kuhn as Florence in Chess made me think about how she differs from Cosette in Les Misérables, and what sets Cosette apart from Éponine.
Fantine: Alternate Possibilities Fantine told Mme Thénardier that she was a widow. Could she have done the same in town? Would it have worked, or would it have just exposed Cosette to all the trauma alongside her?
Rescuing Cosette The woodcut of Little Cosette drastically understates how badly she’s treated by the Thénardiers. So do all the adaptations I’ve seen.
Now Arriving at Rue Plumet Back to Jean Valjean and Cosette, POV changes, foreshadowing, and clear signs of PTSD a century before it was really understood.
Marius: Stalker The flirting is funny. But Marius sneaking around Cosette's garden? Not so much. To Hugo's credit, he shows us how scared Cosette is and never suggests she shouldn't be.
The Bubble Bursts Marius and Cosette are seriously caught up in each other. They don't notice the attempted robbery. They don't even notice a cholera epidemic.
Cosette is Separated from Another Parent Jean Valjean carefully creates a false paper trail for Cosette's legal history (and inheritance) that won't lead back to him, just in case he's found out again.
Tholomyès the…Dad? It seems weird that someone as someone as shallow and selfish as Tholomyès actually stayed with Fantine during her pregnancy.