La misère aime le compagne

I have to say that watching Les Misèrables and comparing Hugo's hopeless world to that of Marx is not a dull way to start a Political Geography blog.

Perhaps it was a little confusing to talk about the Les Mis characters at first. When we're declaring which of the tragic characters had a miserable life, are we speaking from their perspective or ours? Are we taking the standpoint that they were miserable unto themselves or miserable to society as a whole?

Going with my viewpoint and a societal standpoint as the answers, I really enjoy contemplating the situation of the Thènardiers. Such happy and carefree people they are, mooching off the lives of others, they are very much a misery to the French society. They steal, they lie, they cheat, they beg, and they only return that which they believe will benefit them (such as Cosette for Jean Valjean's money).

Now, looking at an individual standpoint, who is the misery unto him/herself? Low and behold, it's the "beloved" daughter of the innkeepers, Eponine. We did discuss her symbolic sacrifice as the true miserable character of the story. At first, I was thinking that the innkeepers and Eponine should almost not be separated. The Thènardiers raised their daughter into the very lifestyle they thrived in, did they not?

However, I don't think this quite fits the bill. We missed one point in class that this is not just about individual characters.  Perhaps Hugo did not even intend it, since he did write the character profiles rather distinct from one another. I think Eponine represents the deep, engraved face of lawlessness, immoral, Godless, whatever-you-deem-it people. Her situation cannot be understood on its own. You have to see that what makes the Innkeepers such miserable people to society is not the money they take from strangers, the food they provide from leftover hash, or the bonuses they nick from the consistent passerbys. What makes them awful is how this lifestyle has triple-folded upon their daughter, creating a miserable, internal life for her.

This movie is indeed hopeful, because just indeed as the men of the barricade fight against the government, the Proletariat fight among their own people that bind them, parents included. In this sense, I do see the American Civil War aligning with the French. Values were pressured upon family members that were not quite prepared to receive it. The hope within society is that the oppressed are able to rise against it. (Who the oppressed are is another story in some cases...) Perhaps Hugo would not believe in this revolution being the right path, but I do.