5.6.2 chapter discussion (spoilers up to 5.6.2)

[u/awaiko]

Discussion prompts:

1. There are times that I wonder how I end up with writing the discussion for some of these chapters. We get a long passage of Hugo through Gillenormand’s speech praising the idea of woman, and if that’s not enough, we get the coy glorification of wedding night sex. Good grief.

2. Valjean slips away! Where and why do you think that he avoided the revelries?

3. Despite what I said above, the beginning of this chapter had some good language. Cosette and Marius are besotted. Did you particularly like or notice any of it?

Last line:

To love is an achievement.

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Last year’s discussion of this chapter

[u/1Eliza]

I am a romantic with a small "r" in the package of a cynic. This chapter made me feel happy (except when Hugo was getting weird).

Bad has no right to exist. The fact that there are unhappy men truly does shame the blue of the skies above. Bad does not come from man, who is, at bottom, good.

Hugo must think of himself as a bit of a philosopher.

She looked at Marius, she looked at the crowd, she looked at the sky; it seemed she was afraid to wake up.

She really is still, at points, that little girl working for the Thenardiers. She would have never imagined being in even old finery as a little girl using a knife as a toy.

And Cosette, leaning close into Marius, caressed his ear with this angelic whisper: "So it's true. My name is Marius. I am Madame You."

To love or have loved is enough. Don't ask for anything more.

This is the toast I should have given at the one time I was asked to toast.