Les Miserables read-a-long 2026 | Première Partie (1)

Agree it was hard to read. The casualness of the cruelty.

Today’s chapter was upsetting. The way Hugo describes Fantine at this point is distressing.

Interesting that we had dandies described after a description of the general uselessness of Tholomyes. To set the scene the bar was set very low…

So sad.. poor Fantine! The depths she has gone too - having her incisors removed is truly barbaric! - and little Cosette is no better off and in fact, is probably treated with even more cruelty by her foster family. They are truly evil..

The chapter title translates as ‘Christ has made us free’ but it’s bitterly ironic.

Fantine has been made a slave by simply needing to earn money to live, whilst being a social outcast with no hope of conventional employment.

Well that’s a depressing chapter. Hadn’t quite expected the inditement of prostitution as a societal failing!

@MotherOfCatBoy You are very welcome!

As I mentioned before, time on my hands atm…

I am trying to read in French at the moment as well as the Donougher translation but today I chickened out and hadn’t seen the ‘fille publique’ bit 🤣

Thank you @Neitherherenorthere I was wondering what « fille publique » meant!
I guessed it meant she became a prostitute but it sounded somewhat official. It has the faint ring of Public Toilet. Which isn’t too far off I suppose. Poor girl.

I feel like Mme Victurien has always covered her tracks when she turns 180 degrees in her opinions, by accusing others of what is considered a ‘crime’ at that particular point in time.

If people are looking at others then they aren’t looking at her. Also she is “on the record” for voicing the “correct” opinions?

I was curious about ‘registered’ prostitution as Fantine was registered.

Apparently there were periods of French history where prostitution was tolerated.

From Wiki:

“The year 1804 saw the legalisation of tolerance and brothels.

Women and houses are controlled by the Brigade des mœurs.

The women had to register at the prefecture in order to work in a brothel.

Each woman had to have a twice-weekly medical check-up,[37] which was perceived as the most degrading part of their job and abhorred by the prostitutes.

In April 1831, 3,131 girls registered at the Paris Prefecture.“

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_prostitution_in_France

Poor, poor Fantine.

Here you go 🙂

Could anyone let me know which chapter we’re on today. I’ve been away and have missed a few days, but not sure how many!

I suppose that because the woman went to the Thenardiers and they told her that the child was Fantine's, that there was no point in coming up with a cover story. Perhaps she could have said otherwise? Fantine seems very young and innocent and wouldn't be able for the likes of Mme Victurien.

These chapters about Fantine are so sad.
It's awful that her sacrifices are unnecessary; all based on lies to line the pockets of the other two.

I cannot believe the level of nosiness of Mme Victurien! She went to all that time, effort and cost to pry and seemingly has no shame about it since she has shared her information. Don’t others judge her? Or was that perfectly acceptable?

I don't understand why Fantine didn't pretend to be widowed as I thought that was the traditional cover story in these circumstances or to pretend that the child was your sister's and she had sadly died etc...

@Benvenuto I think you’re right.. not as bad as I thought.. but Mme V still changing with the wind, as did a lot of people then

@Neitherherenortheresadly, I think the problem of buying stuff on credit still persists today with stuff like pay day loans, which is why it seems so understandable to me. Possibly Fantine was deprived of things when she was younger that she got used to when living with Tholomyès so she wanted them in her new home or possibly she just assumed she would be able to pay it off with her wages. Debt is really tricky unless you avoid it or have the mathematical skills to manage it.

I agree about the wordplay.

I think Hugo enjoyed playing with words here too.

I read today:

“The Jacobins eventually moved to Paris, where they borrowed the name Jacobin after the converted Dominican (or Jacobin) convent in which they met.”

So it’s word play? The monk swapped the Cistercian (Bernadin) convent for the Jacobin (converted) convent.

Ironic given the horrors the Jacobins perpetrated.

I think Hugo the poet really enjoys words and double meanings?

Thank you @Benvenuto 😊

(“I think it’s understandable that Fantine can’t manage money as she is still young and has had no-one to help her understand money or to give her cast-off clothes or household items to get herself started.”)

You are right, that would explain how she got into debt. I hadn’t thought about what her relationship with money might be.

I am still struggling to understand how her behaviour aligns with growing up on the street though?

I’m sure Hugo has got this covered, because he is too clever not to have thought it out 🤣
But her naivety still surprises me.

I’d love to know more about her 🤣

I wonder if her beauty made people kind to her? I’ve always noticed beauty seems to make people more generous and indulgent?

But surely then her beauty would have attracted unwanted male attention? How did she remain so naive?

Perhaps she has been so very isolated for all of her life, that she really doesn’t have much experience of people? Perhaps she learnt to be invisible and didn’t mix with people at all?

I know Hugo’s characters in this novel are mechanisms to illustrate larger observations about society but I didn’t think he would portray Fantine like this without more explanation?

What would the Bishop have said? 🤣 I think JV would be capable of more mercy and less dogma regarding Fantine?

@MotherOfCatBoythe bonnet rouge was one of the symbols of the Revolution so it suggests the monk escaped the cloister to be a revolutionary. I understood the French to be that he went from the bernardins (Cistercians) to the jacobins (rather than betraying people) - but given that the Jacobins were in power under Robespierre in the Terror, you’re probably right that the monk was involved in some nasty stuff and definitely right that Mme Victurnien is a complete hypocrite.

I was really interested in the word « bigote » - the dictionary gave me « sanctimonious, holier than thou » as well as « bigot » in English and I thought it was interesting, a slightly wider interpretation than just the « prejudiced or narrow minded person » we use it for today.
I think it said her monk « wore a red cap » (of the Revolution) and « passed Benedictines to the Jacobins »?? Which would imply some fairly nasty betrayals and a big anti- religious, anti-Church tone. Hence why she changed when the wind blew the other way at the Restoration. So not only is she nasty, she’s a massive hypocrite.

Ugh, Mme Victurien spending 35 Francs of her own money to check up on Fantine's back story is just cruel and spiteful... I do NOT like Mme Victurien and can see why her husband ruled her with a rod of iron (although, not excusing his cruelty either - they actually sound well suited!)

I’m not sure JVJ was personally involved in the decision but there is a bit in the Chapter “Madeleine” going on about how he values women being virtuous above all else, so Fantine’s illegitimate child wouldn’t have been viewed kindly.

I didn’t particularly like the part about the Bishop’s sister - it was too close to idealising female characters, which is one of Dickens’ traits that I don’t enjoy. That said, I did think of how much housework there was to do 200 years ago and how easily a house would slide into disorder if there wasn’t someone managing the household, so if you were ill you probably would be very grateful to the person making you feel comfortable.

Hugo has some great phrases to describe Mme Victurien - I liked the detail that she had married a monk who had escaped from the cloister during the Revolution:

Elle était sèche, rêche, revêche, pointue, épineuse presque venimeuse ;

She was sharp, rough, surly, shrill, prickly, almost venomous ;

[I would normally translate sèche as dry, but the dictionary also gave sharp, which seems to fit better, but wizened might be a good alternative.]

A la restauration, elle s’était faite bigote, et si énergiquement que les prêtres lui avaient pardonné son moine.

[At The Restoration she made herself into a bigot, and so energetically that the priests forgave her her monk.]

The way Hugo describes Mme Victurien is almost comic (it made me think of Voltaire’s style) - but the impact she will have on Fantine is anything but.

@Neitherherenorthere- I think it’s understandable that Fantine can’t manage money as she is still young and has had no-one to help her understand money or to give her cast-off clothes or household items to get herself started.

Ahaha! 🤣 No I think it’s clear that the workshop supervisor is acting independently as she has free rein over the supervision of the woman’s workshop.

In this chapter I found myself considering the fact that Fantine had furnished her room on credit - ‘a vestige of her improvident ways’

That’s really the trouble with Fantine isn’t it? That and naivety. She doesn’t look to the future or consider the worst aspects of human nature. How can she have grown up on the streets and yet not be “street-wise?”