Pages 943-969

Marius is a twat; I’m pretty much convinced of that now.

Marius spends some time brooding over Cosette and the memory of his father before he decides to FINALLY join his mates at the barricades, as soon as he arrives he saves Gavroche and Courfeyrac from being shot and then almost gets shot himself but someone else steps in front of the bullet to save him, (can you guess who that might be?) He doesn’t notice this act of bravery though because he’s still obsessed over the loss of Cosette, so much so that at one point when some soldiers try to penetrate the barricades he threatens to blow everyone up using a keg of gun powder! Remember he’s doing this because he thinks Cosette has gone forever, he’s actually contemplating suicide and mass murder because of the loss of a girl. Ummmm Marius…….OVERREACTION MUCH??? Seriously, what the hell? I’ve had my heart broken a few times but I’ve never been so upset that I turned myself into a suicide bomber. Just fucking calm yourself down for a second boy and think about what you’re doing!

I don’t get why Marius is being so dramatic, did it not occur to him at any point to actually look for Cosette? No he just assumes she’s gone forever and goes all suicidal. His friends are fighting for freedom, he’s fighting because he’s lost his girlfriend, Marius is such a twat!

During a break in the fighting Marius discovers who saved him from being shot, it was Eponine. She stepped in front of the bullet and has been fatally shot. But not before some redemption on her part though.

The previous night, before Cosette and Valjean left their house, Cosette wrote a letter to Marius telling him where they were going and asked the first person she saw on the street to deliver it to Marius, this happened to be Eponine, (Les Coincidence!) She didn’t know it was Eponine though because she was dressed like a boy.

Eponine gives the letter to Marius in her final moments of life, and admits that she was in love with him and that she didn’t give him the letter because she knew he would come to the barricades if he thought Cosette abandoned him, and that way she could die with him. She then asks Marius to promise to kiss her after she dies, which she then does. 

This is actually quite a sad moment in the book, probably on par with the death of Fantine. Even though Eponine wasn’t an entirely nice person I don’t think she deserved to die, I especially don’t think she should have died for a man who didn’t even care about her. I think her death is even more tragic here than it is in the musical because at least there Marius actually had some feelings for her, even if it wasn’t love, in the book he just kisses her out of pity when she dies.

Oh and if Marius wasn’t a big enough twat already he basically ABANDONS Eponines body to go read the letter Cosette wrote him! I hate you so much Marius, that’s just low.

So then Marius writes a goodbye letter to Cosette because apparently now he wants to die for his friends cause, even though he now knows that Cosette didn’t leave him. Seriously Marius make up your mind! You wanted to die because of Cosette and now you want to die for freedom……… (Ugggh, you know what I’m so done trying to figure out Marius at this point!)  Then he gets Gavroche to deliver the letter which does redeem him a little bit because he does that to get Gavroche away from the fighting.