One thing I love about Marius Pontmercy is that even though he seems fairly lukewarm about ideals and causes he supports, he’s absolutely all in, ride-or-die, will do anything for the people he cares about. He falls for Cosette and suddenly he’s writing 15 page love letters and kissing her in the moonlight. He discovers that his father cared for him and he’s bringing flowers to his grave and taking on his title to honor him. When he decides his life isn’t worth living, he decides at least he can die with his friends. The other revolutionaries are at the barricade because they believe in France and freedom; Marius ends up there because he believes in them.
Forget Valjean being buried alive, forget Marius banging his head agains a tree for two hours, forget everything because the absolute highlight of the brick is when Victor Hugo says that lizards are pocket crocodiles
victor hugo titling a chapter “wherein will appear the name of enjolras’ mistress” and it ending up just being france itself was the original clickbait
