I think it is important to remember that the amis are students and that if they had lived today, they most likely would have lived in student housing aka shared flats with a disgusting kitchen that is cleaned once every term.
Les amis (and others) as that guy you end up living with in your first year of uni:
Enjolras: That guy who always puts up angry notes about how everyone needs to clean up after themselves (but never does it himself)
Bossuet: That guy who sets off the fire alarm at 6 in the morning every third week.
Cosette: That guy who’s always saying “I need to get back to studying” and then stays in the kitchen chatting about nothing for another three hours.
Montparnasse: That guy at the end of the corridor that no-one has ever seen, and who might be dead, or might have moved out months ago. No-one knows.
Jehan: That guy who always cooks or bakes for everyone in the flat.
Joly: The only guy who actually does any cleaning or takes out the trash. Also “tests” his flatmates every now and then to see if they would notice if he just leaves the trash to rot in the corner of the kitchen. They never do, and he gives up after a couple of days because it’s just filthy and he can’t live like this.
Musichetta: That guy who has friends over ALL. THE. TIME.
Feuilly: That guy who isn’t a student and who is illegally staying in his “friend’s” room for “just a few days” for the whole year.
Courfeyrac: That guy who always has really loud sex.
Bahorel: That guy who is trying to hook up with everyone in the flat.
Éponine: That guy who steals everyone’s food and cutlery all the time.
Combeferre: That guy who seems to live of Pot Noodles and coffee.
Grantaire: That guy who never wears proper clothes.
Marius: That guy who passes out in the hallway every weekend.
so I did some research regarding Enjolras’ name and discovered that he was almost definitely based off of French anarchist/friend of Victor Hugo Louise Michel. Enjolras was one of her pseudonyms when writing, and she signed her letters and poems to Hugo with the name (Hugo also referred to her in his journal as ‘Enjolras’.
this is interesting because Michel is a lot like Enjolras, daring to be shot (“Since it seems that every heart that beats for freedom has no right to anything but a little slug of lead, I demand my share. If you let me live, I shall never cease to cry for vengeance.”) instead of imprisoned, publicly protesting the government, and being violently anti-Bonapartist. It’s also interesting that another of Michel’s pseuds was ‘La Louve Rouge’ (the red wolf), and Enjolras is almost always depicted as wearing red.
Louise Michel went on to help lead the Kanak Revolt, and later singlehandedly lead many demonstrations in Paris. She was also most likely not straight, and involved in a relationship with Sylvia Pankhurst while they advocated for women’s rights.
tl;dr shown through their many similarities (and Michel’s affiliation with Hugo), it’s quite possible that Enjolras’ name/character was based off of feminist-anarchist Louise Michel.
Sources: [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] (a couple of those are in French)
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