Les Miserables - Part IX, Various

In some books I am amazed at how well a character reads another. Like, they know that if they say one thing, it will get this reaction, but if they say this other thing, it will get that reaction. And sometimes they even know the right thing to say when the slightest wrong word would create a catastrophe. I marvel at this, because I never know what to say. Sometimes I can sense what I shouldn't say, but there haven't been many times when I felt that there was something that I should say.

In the chapter where M. Guillenormand can't express his affection for Marius, I wished he could tell Marius he was so happy to see him just because I like for characters to work through problems to a happy ending, but what he actually said was more like what usually happens in real life.

M. Guillenormand has always loved Marius in his way, but Marius never knew it. And he's so wrapped up in his love for Cosette that he's not noticing much else anyway. In my last post, I wondered what Marius and Cosette would talk about when they finally progressed to talking, and I was pleasantly surprised to find this answer to my specific qustion awaiting me:
"So what did they talk about, these lovers?--As we have seen, of the flowers, the swallows, the setting sun, the rising moon, of everything important. They had said everything, except everything. The everything of lovers is nothing." (p. 1009)

If you had to write a paper about Les Mis, you could easily choose love as your topic. There are so many different kinds portrayed. Like the Thenardiess's love for her daughters that is non-existent when it comes to her sons. The Bishop's love and compassion for the people around him. The love Valjean has for Cosette that gives him something to live for. The unrequited love Eponine has for Marius.

Hugo says, "What a great thing, to be loved! What a greater thing still, to love!" So far, Cosette has done a lot for Marius, some of it without his knowing. This reminds me of this movie SL Cool J and I saw on TV - "Marvin's Room," with Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep and Leonardo DiCaprio. Diane Keaton has given up a chance at a career and family and spent most of her life caring for her father and aunt. Unlike my brother, who can quote from a movie after seeing it only once, I can't remember a quote a second after I hear it. So I can only approximate what Diane Keaton said towards the end of the movie when she's reflecting on her life, and I'm sorry I don't remember the context because I think that gave her statement more impact. She said that she was lucky to have had people to love. It didn't matter if her life wasn't what she might have chosen for herself or even if her love wasn't returned (although I think it was in this case) or supported. Her life was full because she was able to give love. I think poor Eponine's story is going to end more tragically than Diane Keaton's, though.

Here are some bits I liked from Hugo's pages on love:

p. 932, "To love is the only thing that can occupy and fill up eternity. The infinite requires the inexhaustible." This idea is too big for my comprehension, I think.

p. 933, "What love begins can only be finished by God."

p. 934, "What a somber thing, not to know the address of one's soul!" I like this one out of context.
"Woe, alas, to the one who shall have loved bodies, forms, appearances only. Death will take everything from him. Try to love souls, you shall find them again."

p. 1012, "Etc., etc." He puts this at the end of a description of Cosette and Marius's pastoral trysts, where they talk about everything and nothing. It made me laugh.

Also worthy of note:
pp. 920-923 - Valjean's speech to Montparnasse about labor and work.