Les Miserables

Valjean is increasingly concerned about the political unrest in Paris. Worried that their house is already under surveillance, he wants to leave in a week. On his daily walks around the neighborhood, Valjean is convinced that he has seen Thénardier lurking in the shadows. Valjean is correct. Thénardier is planning another attack against Valjean. However, Eponine has thus far managed to delay her father's plan for revenge. The social unrest and growing calls for revolution have turned Paris into a powder keg waiting to explode.

In "immense despair" (749), Marius wants to see Cosette. After leaving his grandfather's house, he visits the home in Saint-Germain, but the house is empty: Valjean and Cosette have moved once again. This revelation adds to Marius’s heartbreak. However, there is no time for Marius to dwell on his feelings. He hears a strange, whispering voice tell him that his friends have started their revolution and that he should join them. Marius rushes to find his friends who have begun assembling barricades on the narrow Parisian streets. Meanwhile, Pere Mabeuf, the former church warden, slips deeper and deeper into poverty.

Paris is about to explode. The narrator discusses the city's long, storied history of riots which have "a beauty of their own" (755). Paris is suffering from a terrible epidemic of cholera, and the mood in the city is intense. People are unhappy with the government, and even the slightest provocation could spark another revolution. This spark ignites on June 5, 1832. On this day, a man named General Lamarque is being buried. He was a popular figure who served with distinction as a commander in the Napoleonic Wars and later became an outspoken critic of both the Bourbon Restoration and Louis Philippe’s constitutional monarchy. Lamarque was famous for defending ideals such as liberty and supporting the downtrodden people of France. The authorities are well aware of the general's popular status. They worry that his funeral may be the catalyst for public unrest. The monarchy orders soldiers to be deployed throughout the city to establish control of the streets. However, a burst of gunfire at Austerlitz Bridge is enough to light the spark, and "the rumor of war flies to every part of Paris" (763). The revolution begins, the people rise up, and barricades are built in the streets to establish control of the city amid the "tremendous blaze of the riot" (768).

Gavroche takes to the streets, singing and carrying his broken pistol. The Friends of the ABC are one of the first groups to heed the call of the revolution. They arm themselves and rush to the streets, keen to face down the soldiers deployed by the monarchy. Gavroche is part of the swell of people marching through the street. The mob grows and grows, to the point where elderly men like Mabeuf are joining their ranks. The men in the crowd tell Mabeuf to go home, but he refuses. He wants to be a part of the revolution as do many others, and the group keeps growing.

The students erect a barricade at the Corinthe, a wine shop which is one of their favorite places to meet. They eat, drink, and talk inside. Everyone helps build the barricade, including Gavroche. The people use furniture, household items, and anything else which can help block the street and deny access to the monarchy's soldiers. People like Gavroche defend the barricades fiercely, though he tries and fails to convince his comrades to give him a gun to replace his own broken pistol. When the barricade is built, the revolutionaries wait for the attack from the soldiers with "solemn gravity" (793). They look around at one another in anticipation of what is to come. Gavroche realizes that an unknown man has joined them. He recognizes the stranger as Javert, the police inspector. Gavroche accuses Javert of spying for the monarchy. Javert is seized and tied up. Some of the revolutionaries are drunk, and in the confusion one of them fires a gun and hits a local man. Enjolras, furious, executes the shooter immediately. He then delivers an inspirational speech to the people behind the barricade about his regret for the executed man and his hope for the revolution, after which "all will be concord, harmony, light, joy and life" (801). Courfeyrac spots a familiar face among the crowd. The unknown person is a "slip of a young man" (801) who came earlier to the house and inquired after Marius.

Marius is overwhelmed by his emotions. Without Cosette, his only desire is "to make a speedy end of it all" (802). After the apparent loss of Cosette and the wild thrill of the revolution, he is stricken with pain and excitement in equal measure. He decides that he is ready to die. He walks through the streets of Paris, comparing the riot to a civil war. Taking the two pistols given to him by Javert, he marches through Paris to find his friends. Caught in his "dismal tumult of thought" (809), he feels as though he is already dead.

The soldiers attack the barricade with a blast of gunfire. They hit the revolutionaries' flag, knocking it down. Mabeuf clambers up the barricade to re-raise the flag, calling out in the name of "the Republic! Fraternity! Equality! And Death!" (812). The soldiers take aim and shoot Mabeuf dead. The soldiers attack. They try to break down the barricade, but their attempts are thwarted. Marius arrives just in time. He saves Gavroche and Courfeyrac from certain death.

Just as a French soldier is about to fire on Marius, a young man steps between them and takes the bullet intended for Marius. Grabbing a keg of explosive powder, Marius climbs up the barricade and threatens to blow it up unless the soldiers retreat. His plan works. The soldiers back off.

Behind the barricade, the students count their dead and sentence Javert to death for espionage. Although they believe he should be executed, they decide to keep him alive for now, so as not to waste their gunpowder. They may be able to exchange him for a certain captured revolutionary comrade. However, they soon hear the man in question executed by the soldiers. Enjolras hatches a plan: They will execute Javert last, deciding that ten minutes before the fall of the barricade is the ideal moment.

Marius checks the rear of the barricade. He is all alone when he hears "the voice that had called to him" (817) earlier in the day, urging him to go to the barricade. The voice belongs to the same individual who took a bullet for him earlier. Marius now realizes that the individual is Eponine, who disguised herself as a young man. She tells him that she is dying from the gunshot wound. She hands him a letter, written by Cosette. Eponine dies. Marius kisses Eponine on the forehead and then reads the letter. In it, Cosette tells him where she will be before departing for England. Marius is filled with energy. He grabs the nearest piece of paper and writes a final farewell to Cosette. He believes that he will never see her again, as he will surely die on the barricades. He bids farewell to the woman he loves. He writes a second letter, telling whoever finds his body to take him to his grandfather. Marius hands the letter to Gavroche and asks him to deliver it to Cosette immediately.

Valjean is eager to leave for England so that he and Cosette can resume their happy life. He spots the "distinctly legible" (825) impression of Cosette's letter on her blotter. The idea that Cosette is in love with Marius shocks Valjean, and he feels as though "all the light in his life had gone" (827). Realizing the depth of his desolation, Valjean dons his guard's uniform and heads out into the streets.

Gavroche tries to deliver Marius's letter to Cosette. He runs through the chaotic streets of Paris toward the address given to him by Marius. However, he is intercepted by Valjean who takes the letter from Gavroche and promises to see that she receives it. Valjean asks Gavroche about the barricade, but the young boy does not answer before scrambling off into the dark.

Valjean returns to his house and reads Marius's letter. Initially, Valjean is relieved that Marius is "going to die for sure" (832), and that he will no longer need to worry about a young man taking Cosette away from him. However, Valjean cannot think this was for long. He decides that he must help Marius and the revolutionaries. Dressed in his National Guard uniform, he takes to the streets to do what he can. Gavroche returns to the barricade, loudly reciting inflammatory poetry and stealing a hand cart to add to the defenses. When a police sergeant tries to stop him, he causes chaos and runs away via a roundabout route.