I am sad.
Why am I sad?
Because...because...*tears coming into eyes*...
...Because Eponine, Gavroche, Combferre, Coureyfac, and most of all Enjolras just died at the barricade.
My wound is aggravated because Marius (whom I have no patience for) is rescued. He will go on and probably marry Cosette (whom I only have slightly more patience for) and have a happy life while poor Enjolras dies. And not only was Enjolras killed, but it was a sad, sad, heroic death. He was shot eight times and remained standing against the wall as if the bullets had nailed him there...only his head drooped. Yes, that's how Victor Hugo worded it in his book.
...Enjolras...the bravest and best of all those men...
This is me, going to weep a little weep over him and beleaguer my sister's ear with lamentations.
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Nothing to say. You said it all. *grabs more tissues* I must read the book. Love the characters so much I want to know more about them.
Is this Les Miserables?
Awwww, Rachel...
I feel your pain. I know exactly what you're going through, because I felt the exact same way when I read that part. Especially the ignominy of Enjolras being executed like that--- shot down like a dog, indeed. That's not a fitting end for someone so brave and heroic. Not at all.
Which is why I like the musical's version of that scene better-- Enjolras still dies of course (sob) but he's shot down while climbing to the top of the barricade and waving the flag over his head. Somehow that seems much more glorious and right than being tied up and shot. Oh, Enjolras... why, why, why did you have to die?
"Did you see them going out to fight? Children of the barricade who didn't last the night? They were schoolboys-- never held a gun. Fighting for a new world that would rise up like the sun! Where's their new world, now the fighting's done?" ("Turning" from the musical)
However, Gavroche's death is what had me bawling like a baby.
One bullet, however, better aimed or more treacherous than the rest, finally struck the will-o'-the-wisp of a child. Gavroche was seen to stagger, then he sank to the earth. The whole barricade gave vent to a cry; but there was something of Antaeus in that pygmy; for the gamin to touch the pavement is the same as for the giant to touch the earth; Gavroche had fallen only to rise again; he remained in a sitting posture, a long thread of blood streaked his face, he raised both arms in the air, glanced in the direction whence the shot had come, and began to sing:
"I have fallen to the earth,
'Tis the fault of Voltaire;
With my nose in the gutter,
'Tis the fault of . . . "
He did not finish. A second bullet from the same marksman stopped him short. This time he fell face downward on the pavement, and moved no more. This grand little soul had taken its flight.
Where... are... my tissues?
I think we should all sing the song of angry men now.
I agree with Abigail. "It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again..."
I feel left out of a grand party!!!
What book is this? I MUST KNOW!!!
This is from Les Miserables I believe...
I do love Cosset and Marius very much though... don't you?
@Anne-girl, I'm glad I'm not the only one with a soft spot for all these heroic men. :)
@ Miss Dashwood, yes, Gavroche's death saddened me so--he was such a brave little gamin. Why did he have to die?
@Ashley, yes, this is from Les Miserables. :) Now you can join the party!
@Abigail, you will likely throw something at me when I say I haven't heard "The Song of Angry Men"--I'm woefully remiss in my musical knowledge of Les Mis. :(
@Joy, I like Cosette, but I wish she did a bit more than she does...she seems one of those beautiful brainless women...but I like her well enough.
I do not much like Marius--I have never had patience with the men who think they'll die if they can't have the woman they love. But put the two together and throw in Jean Valjean for good measure and I think they're a nice three-some. :)
Cosette is.... well, for lack of a better word, an airhead. No personality, no backbone, no nothin'. She annoys me.
But Marius--well, he drives me nuts in the book, ESPECIALLY near the end, but he's more likable in the musical. Although there are quite a few times when I feel like throwing something at him for not realizing that Eponine loves him... idiot.
Oh, and "the song of angry men" is actually called "Do You Hear The People Sing?". When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drums, there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes...
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