Les Misérables (novel)/Funny
For a serious novel, there are some funny moments.
- The scene where Javert arrests the Thénardiers is one big Funny Moments—i.e., "Would you like my hat?" and "You will not leave by the window. You will leave by the door. It is healthier."
- When the National Guard first arrives at the barricade, there's a rather amusing exchange
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Guardsman: "Who is there?"
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- "I have just met Marius' new hat and coat, with Marius inside."
- Half the things Gavroche says or does
- Even Hugo's digression on convents has its moments, specifically with the antics of little girls in convent schools.
- Combeferre's most effective one-liner in response to Marius' speech on Napoleon: "To be free"
- The entire chapter with Theodule trying to get in M. Gillenormand's good graces, and the old man's reply: "You are a fool".
- Towards the end of the book, Thénardier tries to blackmail Marius with the knowledge that Cosette is an illegitimate child. Upon meeting Marius, he has to pause and figure out how to best phrase the accusation, knowing that saying "Your wife is a bastard!" will more likely get him punched in the face.
- Hugo's aside when Fantine introduces Cosette.
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"For Cosette, read Euphrasie. The name of the little one was Euphrasie. But the mother had made Cosette out of it, by that sweet and charming instinct of mothers[...] It is a kind of derivation that confuses and disconcerts the entire science of etymology. We knew a grandmother who succeeded in changing Theodore to Gnon." |
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