Sometimes I wonder if Jean Valjean has already misnamed Cosette by calling her Baguette
I see your amusing headcanon and raise you the utterly devastating idea that he has probably at least once accidentally called her the name of one of his dead neices
listen i know that valjean stealing bread and serving 19 years for it is a HUGE part of the story and the entire plot kinda revolves around that but “all i did was steal some bread” is the funniest fucking line in all of history and there’s nothing you say to change my mind
We all know I Highkey Project Onto Javert All The Time and am hopelessly in love with Valjean but I feel like I don’t talk about how much I project onto and relate to Anxiety Man Jean Valjean too. Because like, it’s A Lot.
@anikofromearth I have a feeling there might be more references to him dissociating but the only one coming to mind right now is when he’s in Toulon and the world around him doesn’t feel real
Everything which had happened to him seemed to him absurd; everything that surrounded him seemed to him impossible. He said to himself, “It is a dream.” He gazed at the galley-sergeant standing a few paces from him; the galley-sergeant seemed a phantom to him. All of a sudden the phantom dealt him a blow with his cudgel.
Also it’s not like, explicit canon dissociation but if you squint then his identity issues could also resemble depersonalisation. (Maybe. Just let me have this okay. I’m the one projecting here)
As for other Generally Relatable Things:
Asexual? Very Confused About Love
P A N I C
Has deep emotional connections with maybe like… 2 people?
Everything going well? How about another moral crisis!
Just wants to be left alone with his books and his garden
Uses detached kindness as a coping mechanism
Too much empathy. Please dial down the empathy a bit. I Want To Fix All The Problems But I Can’t
I’m oversharing now aren’t I?
Self loathing
Yeah definitely oversharing I’m going to regret saying all of this
I just want to be buff why can’t I just relate to Valjean without all of This
Used to be Edgy And Angry, now Soft and Strong
A few other things but I don’t want to say them
Asjdndkfnf I already want to delete this psychoanalyse me while you can folks
@javerttt please refer to point 4 for your regularly scheduled crisis!
“So you don’t remember anything? Of your parents?” Jean asked.
“Sometimes if I close my eyes, I think I can remember my mother’s voice, a young and happy voice, is probably the best and closest memory I have.” the younger man said, he sounded nostalgic, but calm, as if he was already used to the feeling of not having a family of blood.
“It must have been very complicated and difficult for you, on your own.”
Jean Valjean himself didn’t remember his mother or father, it had been so long time…
“Must have been very hard for you too, sir… Not being able to see your family, like you told me, to give them support…” Feuilly said, as he sat next to the older man, taking off his beret, the copper-colored hair messed up and a little dirty with dust.
“It was, son, it was… My sister and I were still young when it happened. Maybe if I had been more careful… Or more patient… I couldn’t even see my nephew afterwards… Not sure if he survived….” Jean smiled sadly, touching the palm of one hand with the other’s fingers. He suddenly remembered his sweet little nephew, holding his hand as they gathered fire together outside during the nightfall.
“I know what it’s like to miss the people we care about. I can understand very well what it feels like to be unable to protect them.” the younger man replied, sighing deeply while he glanced at one of his friends passing with a gun in his hand.
“Whatever happens, my good boy, the important thing isn’t exactly to be with them forever, but never, ever to forget them. Never break your promises and never stop struggling for a better life for yourself and others.”
Feuilly’s heart warmed with those simple words of wisdom. Was that the feeling of having a father?
“Your nephew, sir… He would be very proud of you if you could see him right now. I bet he would admire you as much as I do.”
Jean Valjean smiled, staring at the night sky. Even though he didn’t know that his nephew could be alive, anywhere, even beside him at that very moment, he knew that no matter what had happened or what was to come, he was also too proud of the family he had and the people he met through that suffered journey. And for them, for Fantine, for Cosette, and for that sweet and gentle working boy, he would do it all over again, thousands and thousands of times.
Maybe this is over-simplifying the first “part” of Les Mis, but the tragedy of Javert, Valjean and Fantine is the impossiblity of returning to society after something “wrong” they did (being born as a child of criminals, stealing for desperation, having a child without being married) and it unfolds as each of them deals with it in their personal way.
Fantine works hard but the ongly thing she gets is being ostracized more and more, and this eventually makes her bitter and angry as she starts the good in people.
Javert arrests her, having chosen the supposed “right” way of being a pariah (aka being a policeman: outside of society, but protecting it) and being unable to understand why others can’t make his own choice.
Valjean is forced to assume a false identiti, and identifies with her, because he too had become bitter and angry, but is unable to help her in the end because another poor old man is risking to pay for the crimes he committed years ago (and still, society cannot forgive Valjean; had he not intervened, Champmathieu would have risked death penalty).
So, yeah, they all break my heart.
They’re ostracized from society and it takes away their identity and their humanity (I love the line from the musical “they gave me a number and murdered Valjean”). They’re all reduced to these roles and stereotypes, not seen as real people anymore.
Jean Vajean slowly regains his humanity and remakes himself through religion and loving Cosette, finding his path to redemption. Javert, when finally faced with his own humanity, has a moment of clarity he can’t deal with and kills himself. Fantine, while dehumanized, always maintained her role as self-sacrificing mother, and in her final days she at last is respected as a person again and allowed to rest and have peace.
I love how they all deal with their outsider status in different ways. Society is the true villain of Les Mis, and Victor Hugo shows so many ways it impacts these characters.
¯_( ಠ_ಠ)_/¯ 