1.1.1-Kingedmundsroyalmurder

ClubNinetyThree 1.1.1
And so it begins. I have basically zero historical context and I’m reading a version without footnotes and for the next several weeks I will not be looking anything up, so this should be interesting. (No, really, my French revolution knowledge is mostly a single readthrough of Viva la Revolution and general background. I know none of the details that Hugo will be sprinkling through this. It’ll be fun.)

Anyway, yes, we open on what is apparently a standard Hugo technique: describing war in terms of nature and logistics. He likes lists, and he’s good at them, and for this kind of thing his lists work really well. It’s a good way to convey scope while also zooming in on personal details. It’s very Tim O’Brien, really. (Hey, I warned you that I’d bring that in.) We get numbers and troop movements and we also get names and specific dates. It’s not quite Waterloo level, but it’s getting there.

We also get excellent use of Hugo’s short sentence skills. “Le bois de la Saudraie était tragique.” “Les oiseaux gazouillaient au-dessus des bayonnettes.” “—C’est un coup de fusil.” Like, the man is justly famous for his convoluted sentences, but he can wield a short sentence to deadly effect.

Also in classic Hugolian fashion, we start broad and kind of slowly fade into plot without quite realizing what’s happening. Like most of us, I like the contrast between the two women, and I find it particularly interesting that the sargeant is tutoying Michelle while Houzarde vousvois her. I don’t know if it’s a status thing or a politics thing (Houzarde also uses the standard calender, but I don’t know when the Republican calender was created) or a gender thing, but it jumped out at me. (Houzarde also does the, “don’t call me Mme. X, that’s my mother!” thing, which made me laugh.)

I was actually pleasantly surprised by both of the women. Maybe it’s because we have so far had very little of Hugo the narrator, but he was basically not weird or problems about them at all, at least not that I noticed. They reacted to each other as people, rather than as Symbols Of All Womankind/Motherhood. I mean, they almost certainly are symbols, because Victor Hugo is still Victor Hugo, but they also feel like people. (Though they’re still all referred to by their titles/professions/identities, regardless of gender, in what I assume is a continuation of the ‘this is a story that is simultaneously specific and vast’ thing he set up at the beginning.)

I really like Michelle. She has a very straightforward way of looking at things. Like, she doesn’t care about politics or anything like that, she just cares that her husband is dead and her children are starving. “Who killed him?” “A gunshot.” “Where are you taking your children?” “In front of me.” Houzarde has a reflection of that when she talks about how she serves water to everyone regardless of politics, but she clearly knows the politics and chooses to set them aside, as opposed to flat out not caring to know.

And it’s not like she’s naive about her situation. She knows that she’s in dire straights. She knows that things will be even worse when the winter comes. She would be quite capable of understanding the nuances of the politics, probably, but she has other, more practical concerns on her mind. And I don’t think anyone really blames her for that — Houzarde takes her under her wing right away, and the Sargent warms up to her and understands that her children are her primary concern. (“It’s that she’s not hungry,” said a soldier. “It’s that she’s a mother,” said the Sargent.)

And so Michelle is welcomed as a citizen and as family. We shall see how long this business of things going well for good people lasts.

Commentary
Alasse-irena You are not wrong about the women! Apart from that one throwaway sentence about forms of feminine bravery, I was very not-put-out by the women and their interactions. They both appear to be real people free from Magical Woman Powers like Cosette’s.

Also yes, Michelle is currently my favourite character.

Kingedmundsroyalmurder (reply to Alasse-irena) And I don’t think he mentioned virginity at all! Four for you Hugo, you’re learning.

Fizzygingr Hmm, I like your point about the lack of names making the story universal. I was reading it as a depersonalization, but you’re right that it also adds an everyman quality to it. I’m interested to see where Hugo goes with it.