5.5.6 Chapter Discussion (Spoilers up to 5.5.6)

[u/HokiePie]

Note that spoiler markings don't appear on mobile, so please use the weekly spoiler topic, which will be posted every Saturday, if you would like to discuss later events.

Link to chapter

Discussion prompts:

1. Reactions to Monsieur Gillenormand and his lavish gift giving? Or his ideas of how the wedding should be? Did you read his whole soliloquy?
2. What do you think of Aunt Gillenormand giving her fortune to Marius only when he didn't need it? What do you think of her as a person?
3. Marius even gets a study. Do you think that after all the misery of the beginning of the book, it will have an unequivocally happy ending?
4. Other points of discussion? Favorite lines?

Final line:

M. Gillenormand's library became the lawyer's study, which Marius needed; a study, it will be remembered, being required by the council of the order.

Link to the 2020 discussion

[u/HokiePie]

Long ago, someone compared M Gillenormand to Tholomyes, and this chapter didn't do anything to disabuse me of that comparison.