imagine the first time Enjolras makes Grantaire laugh though – an actual mirthful laugh lacking its usual bitterness and which has Grantaire looking impossibly younger – and Enjolras’s just left there blinking witlessly at the artist, because he made that happen, until his initial look of shock is replaced by that of determination, because he will make that happen again. as often as possible.
I love Enjolras’s arc bc his rejection of the personal/domestic/non-ideological was explicitly portrayed as a character flaw and it’s an arc i’m familiar with because it’s alive and well in modern times it’s just less Deep it’s the arc usually given to the driven, career/cause oriented woman in a rom com who realizes the ‘error of her ways’ and that a man and a family is what she really needs to be fulfilled
it’s nice to see a man in this role instead and instead of giving him a hetero love arc that leads to a wife, 2.5 kids and a dog, Enjolras becomes complete by virtue of noticing and valuing other people’s domestic attachments, and the own attachments he’s formed with his friends: mothers holding vigils for sons, men that need to be sent away from the barricade because they have dependents, his willingness to trade Prouvaire for Javert, his smile at Grantaire
the arc doesn’t consist of him finding a New Person and abandoning his ideals/former life, it consists of him finding all of these things in the lifestyle he’s been leading this entire time, a life that still ends in revolution and sacrifice
there’s no condescension from hugo towards his character it’s so refreshing
Nice point – it’s an expansion of his world view, not a rejection of his ideals and priorities.
Enjolras, Canne de Combat – probably the one we have the most canonical evidence for him practicing, as he uses the Rose Couverte move at the barricades with his carbine and drives back attackers. I always liked this as a means for him to interact with Grantaire, who includes use of bâtons (usually translated as singlesticks) among his talents.
Just bringing this one back. We see quite a lot of references now to Grantaire being adept at “singlesticks”, referred to in the English translation. In the French, he’s a “bâtonniste”. The two disciplines are similar, but not quite the same. Bâtons were used at this time in the emerging discipline of Canne de Combat, which had evolved from fighting techniques used by young men in the cities using their canes as self-defence.
Grantaire is often described as a “boxer” – the line in French is “la savate et le chausson” – this refers not to boxing with the fists, but rather with the French martial art of Savate, a type of kickboxing. Originally introduced by French sailors, it developed closely alongside Canne de Combat, and the two are interlinked.
As referred to above, there is also textual evidence for Enjolras using these techniques – indeed, he must be quite adept at them to be able to use the Rose Couverte move to keep an entire onslaught of attackers at bay as he guards the retreat to the Corinthe.
Jehan is probably the type of person to celebrate those weirdly specific holidays. Like, today is National German Chocolate Cake Day here in the US and I know Jehan would be the type to not only know that fact, but celebrate accordingly.
you can think enjolras is a naive schoolboy all you want who had passion but no plan, that’s your right i guess.
but the man filled bottles with nitric acid and had them placed under a table at the barricade and when bossuet asked who would be drinking them he responded “they are.”
when the guard broke through the wine shop guess what was thrown at them. bottles filled with nitric acid.
¯_( ಠ_ಠ)_/¯ 