1.2.6-Lifeisyetfair

1.2.6
"To be at sea is to be in front of the enemy."

I get the practical aspect of this view, but I wonder what thinking of the sea as an enemy looks like to Hugo, who so often links the ocean to God, the human soul, etc.

The whole thing with the gunner reminds me of a quote from Caroline B. Cooney’s The Voice on the Radio to the effect that in math, a positive and a negative cancel out, but in a human being, they’re both still there. Except in that book, that’s a reason for a second chance, and here it’s a reason to kill. Nevertheless, this is our first instance of a major theme- does a good deed cancel out a bad one? Moreover, does it count if you’re only fixing the damage you yourself did?

The peasant has a point, which is that the gunner has severely compromised their mission. However, I think we can all agree that in this case, mercy and not inexorability was called for. And yet… “la Vendee has a head.” This very inexorability is what people are looking for in a leader in this time and place.

"Great billows kissed the gaping wounds of the vessel—kisses full of danger."

This is a lovely sentence.

Look out for further reference to the Cross of St. Louis.

Commentary
Pilferingapples I don’t know, I think we’ve seen the idea of the sea as a place of peril/inimical to humans in Hugo before— the whole Deep Waters, Dark Shadows chapter in Les Mis, for one.

About the rest, I’m still watching to see where this goes— the ship, and this story! IT’S SO WEIRD NOT HAVING ANY IDEA.