1.2.4-Fizzygingr

Brick!Club 1.2.4: This Cannon is Symbolic.
So our Cartoon Villians Vieuville and wassisname are going on about how much they hate those gross common people, when suddenly TROUBLE BELOW DECK. And Hugo makes sure we know it’s trouble: “Nothing more terrible can happen to a sloop of war in open sea and under full sail.” Wow. Very dramatic.

And it’s worth noting that the cannon is below deck, in the lower parts of the ship. That was pretty uncommon, as I understand, so it was definitely deliberate.

I love the language Hugo uses to describe the cannon in motion. Those verbs, wow. (And the translator, of course. Four for you, Helen Dole.):

That short mass on wheels moves like a billiard-ball, rolls with the rolling of the ship, plunges with the pitching, goes, comes, stops, seems to meditate, starts on its course again, shoots like an arrow, from one end of the vessel to the other, whirls around, slips away, dodges, rears, bangs, crashes, kills, exterminates.



uh, anyway.

The cannon is described as an “eternal slave…avenging itself,” which makes me think that it’s supposed to stand for the anger latent in the People, waiting to burst forth. Especially with the very Hugolian bit about how it’s “moved by the ship, which is moved by the sea, which is move by the wind.” In other words, it’s an act of God, an inevitable revolution. And it’s despair bursting forth into bravery: “You cannot kill it, it is dead; and at the same time it lives.”

But on the other hand, the cannon is “total depravity” and “subject to caprices.” If it’s the Rage of the People, it’s an animalistic and directionless rage, and I’m not entirely comfortable with that.

But at any rate, it’s wreaking havoc on the ship and TOTALLY messing with our Cartoon Villains, so I can’t be too unhappy.

Commentary
Shirley-keeldar DALEK-CANNON!

Also tasty analysis of the cannon’s symbolism, and good call on the “it’s an act of God” deal, that does look to be a big part of it.

But. Mainly DALEK-CANNON.