Les Miserables

Monsieur Gillenormand is a "man of another age" (443). He is an elderly bourgeois individual who was born in the 18th century. Now, he is more than 90 years old, though he still has all his own teeth. He has a testy personality and superficial tastes. Even though he is "passionately fond of women" (446), he no longer has the energy to carry out an affair. However, he is "not at all annoyed" (447) when a woman falsely suggests that he has sired two children with her. He supports both children financially, even though he is not their father. When people annoy him, he does not hesitate to hit them with his cane. Monsieur Gillenormand is a strong supporter of the French monarchy, much to the annoyance of his grandson, Marius Pontmercy. Monsieur Gillenormand shares his home with his unmarried 50-year-old daughter and Marius, the son of his now-deceased second daughter. Although they do not share political views, Monsieur Gillenormand loves his grandson but treats him sternly. Marius's mother died at a young age. She was married to a colonel—the "man of her dreams" (449). She loved the colonel, even though he was a part of Napoleon's army that displaced the French monarchy following the French Revolution in 1789. The colonel's name is Georges Pontmercy, the same individual Thénardier robbed on the battlefield, inadvertently saving his life.

Georges Pontmercy did not grow up rich. He strove to make himself a high-ranking officer in Napoleon’s army. He was proud of his achievements, even after Napoleon’s defeat and the return of the monarchy, when he was placed under house arrest. He met and married Marius’s mother, who died in 1815. At the behest of Monsieur Gillenormand, Marius is kept away from his anti-monarchist father. After being told by his grandfather that Georges abandoned him, Marius has little affection for his father. He does not know that the two men’s political forced Georges to relinquish Marius into Monsieur's Gillenormand's custody. Instead, Georges is forced to watch his son from a distance, and the loving letters he writes to his son are confiscated by Monsieur Gillenormand. Thanks to a conservative tutor, Marius is raised with similar beliefs to his grandfather.

Marius remembers being summoned to his dying father's bedside in 1827, but he arrived too late, missing his father's death by a matter of minutes. He struggled to grieve for a man who he believed did not love him. However, Marius finds a note written by his father among the dead man's possessions. In the note, Georges claims that his life was saved after the Battle of Waterloo by a man named Thénardier. He asks Marius to track down this man and, as recompense, "do the best he can for Thénardier" (463).

The note confuses Marius. He struggles to process his father's memory when he returns to Paris, not understanding why the father who supposedly did not love his son then asked to see Marius in his final moments. He speaks to a church warden named Mabeuf who describes how Georges regularly visited Paris to watch over his son, though he never made his presence known. Marius resolves to learn everything he can about his father, reading history books and news items about Georges’s role in the Napoleonic Wars. Increasingly, he begins to "to adore his father" (465). His grandfather and aunt believe that he is seeing a woman, when he is actually praying at his father's grave. This developing respect annoys Monsieur Gillenormand, as does Marius's newfound admiration for Napoleon Bonaparte. The old man turns "from purple to incandescent" (474) with anger. These new political views create a rift between grandfather and grandson. Marius leaves the house feeling outraged, refusing to accept any money or help from his family.

Marius becomes more interested in politics. He meets a group of radical students who abandon their studies in favor of a revolutionary cause. Laigle and Courfeyrac are among of these students. They help Marius find somewhere to live and introduce him to a secret society called the Friends of the ABC, "a society dedicated ostensibly to the education of children, in reality to the elevation of men" (476). The leader of the Friends of the ABC is a "charming young man" (477) named Enjolras, who convinces the group to push for change in society. Marius relishes his involvement in the group. However, his enthusiasm is dampened when he argues with the members about the "truly great" (494) Napoleon. Marius echoes his father's beliefs and praises Napoleon for ushering in a golden era in French history. The other members criticize Napoleon for making himself Emperor of France, as they favor a more democratic model of governance. The argument leaves Marius deeply shaken. In the coming days, he realizes he has no money and is thrust into poverty. He sells all his possessions.