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fn

The Jungfrau, or Virgin, is a high, snow-covered peak in the Swiss Alps. Hugo evokes a fantastic vision of white on white—absolute purity.

fo

In addition to being a great visionary poet and a great satiric poet, Hugo is a great love poet. See, for example, “Aurore” and “L‘Âme en fleur,” books I and II of Les Contemplations (1856).

fp

Dog.

fq

Brought; from the Spanish llevar.

fr

Eat.

fs

To break a pane by means of a plaster of mastic, which, sticking to the window, holds the glass and prevents noise.

ft

Cry.

fu

Saw.

fv

Cut.

fw

‘Tis not the first of the new year, / To hug papa and mamma dear.

fx

To work here.

fy

Knife.

fz

Francs, sous, or farthings.

ga

So plump is my arm, / My leg so well formed, / Yet my time has no charm.

gb

A Jew.

gc

Thénardier, who has become a complete monster, is ready to see his daughter murdered without blinking an eye.

gd

Pantin, Paris.

ge

Théodule is “unbearable” because the three-colored cockade on his uniform, symbol of the constitutional compromise between the king (white) and the people (blue and red are the colors of Paris) offends M. Gillenormand, a conservative royalist.

gf

Napoleon is made, / All of willow braid.

gg

Evokes a well-known fable by Jean de La Fontaine, in which a buzzing, pesky fly takes credit for having gotten a team of horses to haul a heavy coach uphill; Gavroche acts like that fly (but more effectively).

gh

In a privileged moment of moral and political insight, Marius understands the dignity and necessity of his participation in the uprising of 1832. The next two paragraphs represent his thoughts in free indirect discourse.

gi

Napoléon’s victory there was grand, because many soldiers were involved; to capture the Bastille (where the defenders surrendered, and which at the time contained only three prisoners) was “immense” owing to its symbolic importance.

gj

As in the Champmathieu affair, despite the strong temptation, Jean Valjean cannot allow another person to die to ensure his own happiness. He sadly recognizes his painful moral duty to do everything possible to save Marius.

gk

The Mother Country.

gl

Nearly every time Hugo mentions children in this novel, he implicitly advocates for more public aid for those orphaned and abandoned.

gm

This paragraph encapsulates Hugo’s vision of spiritual progress for all humanity.

gn

On April 15,1834, government agents mistakenly murdered an innocent working man and his family in a poor neighborhood of Paris, on suspicion of subversive activities. Honoré Daumier protested with a famous lithograph.

go

Another allusion to Dante’s Inferno, with the implication that Jean Valjean’s horrible struggles will ultimately prove redemptive.

gp

“The City” includes l‘Île de la Cite and l’Île Saint-Louis in the Seine.

gq

A rhetorical term for a pithy concluding exclamation, here used whimsically to create a mock-heroic style.

gr

Not only is Marius’ body heavy to carry, but Marius also represents a figurative cross to bear because he makes Jean Valjean suffer jealousy, rage, and the fear of losing Cosette.

gs

A universal symbol of evil and entrapment, often used by Hugo.

gt

Refers to the figurative chalice of suffering that Christ, foreseeing his crucifixion, had to accept at Gethsemane and drain to the bottom.

gu

Thénardier puns by using the French idiom for “liberty”—la clé des champs (“the key to the fields”).

gv

Thénardier uses the idiomatic expression ça me botte—“that puts boots on my feet” (in a day when many had to go barefoot).

gw

The French term used is le recel, which refers to the felonies of receiving stolen goods or hiding persons wanted by the police.

gx

Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805) was a prominent painter of maudlin, moralizing subjects, and cloyingly cute children and girls.

gy

“To pull the Devil by the tail” is a French idiom for “to have trouble making ends meet.”

gz

French lawyers often served as investment managers for individuals and were notorious for absconding