1.2.5-Lifeisyetfair

1.2.5
"The marine lantern swinging overhead added a dizzy shifting of light and shade to the picture.The form of the cannon disappeared in the violence of its course, and it looked now black in the light, now mysteriously white in the darkness."

I love this detail; it’s so cinematic. Even the lighting cooperates with the mood.

"bales of counterfeit assignats, of which the corvette carried a large quantity—a characteristic piece of English villany regarded as legitimate warfare."

This was definitely a real thing the British did. I laughed at “a characteristic piece of English villany regarded as legitimate warfare” even though it’s a silly stereotype.

"Boisberthelot said to La Vieuville,—

"Do you believe in God, chevalier?"

La Vieuville replied: “Yes—no. Sometimes.”

"During a tempest."

"Yes, and in moments like this."

"God alone can save us from this," said Boisberthelot."

Noting that a) God doesn’t save them, human beings do, albeit that “It was like the shadowy vision of a miracle.” b) Hugo still reserves doubts about belief in God for morally questionable characters, but here it’s a very human moment. In general, this book is going to be a lot better on that front than Les Miserables.

""Come!" he said. Perhaps he loved it."

I love this line, I love the whole familiarity of the gunner and the gun, the relationship between them, as it were.

"The man had conquered. The ant had control over the mastodon; the pigmy had taken the thunderbolt prisoner."

The triumph of intelligence, and generally intelligence and thought seen as a distinguishing trait of humanity, is a minor running theme. Here the intelligent force of the man conquers the superior brute force of the cannon.

Finally, the peasant/general could have jumped in and helped a lot earlier, but was content to merely watch until the last possible moment. When he does intervene, though, he saves the day.