The Dog-son Of A Wolf

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October 2016

Oct 26, 2016 9 notes
#Anthony Perkins
Oct 26, 2016 205 notes
#drew sarich
Oct 23, 2016 2,989 notes
#2012 movie #Valjean

voulair:

me @ the stars: help me

Oct 19, 2016 406,491 notes
Oct 16, 2016 64 notes
#1978 movie
Oct 15, 2016 60,490 notes
#stars
Oct 13, 2016 31 notes
#art
Oct 13, 2016 11 notes
#montreuil-sur-mer
Javert and Religion

iberiandoctor:

esteliel:

iberiandoctor:

esteliel:

iberiandoctor:

pilferingapples:

kindnessiseternal:

So…I have question after I saw a post on Tumblr. It said Hugo wrote that Javert was not religious. I wondered how that was the conclusion because  I didn’t read it that way (or maybe I read it too obtusely?)

I’d like to write something about his background.

 Can someone please explain it to me? 

Sure!
To quote Hugo–or at least the FMA translation of Hugo:

From the last chapter of  Tome 1, Fantine:

It will be remembered that Javert’s foundation, his natural element, the very medium in which he breathed was veneration for all authority. He was all of a piece, admitting no objection or restriction. To him, of course, ecclesiastic authority was the highest of all; he was devout, superficial, and correct on this point as on all others.

Later, from Javert Derailed: 

He had a superior, M. Gisquet; he had hardly thought until today of that other superior, God.

Basically, Javert respects the authority and order that he considers religion to provide, without thinking or caring about the spiritual aspects. God is Order is God, in Javert’s mind; he obeys the Church authorities because they are *authorities*, not because he understands or feels (until very late) the need for spiritual guidance and support.  His religion is “superficial”, all about the forms and not about the underlying philosophy.

I am sure there are Javert fans who have much more to say about this! But that’s the bare-bones Hugo Statement there. 

I guess I would also add to what @pilferingapples has succinctly and so accurately put (so much for my own succinctness, lol) that Javert's being “devout, superficial and correct” isn’t the same as being “not religious”. Religion is important to Javert, albeit from a superficial standpoint. Of course, it isn’t the same as (IMO) true spirituality or knowledge of God’s heart, nor Hugo’s (or Valjean’s, or the Bishop’s) idea of true spirituality or God.

Linked to that is the question of whether Javert finally discovers true spirituality at the Seine or whether the decision he makes there just emphasizes his religious confusion. I am in the former camp, in that I see that decision as a moral act and an honourable resignation, rather than giving up in a fit of pique…

But if it really were Javert truly finding spirituality, wouldn’t that have to result in him NOT killing himself? He seems to find it and reject it - he has this realization that there is this great superior, God, whom he never thinks about, but now that he has to think about him, he can’t imagine working for this superior and so hands in his resignation by flinging himself into the Seine.

I also find it quite telling that Javert’s confused derailment thoughts about God and morality are still using the language of authority (superiors, resignation etc.): his brain can’t think about ideas that transcend his understanding of the order of the world without using the imagery of worldly authority.

But since any acceptance of a higher authority than human law (conscience, God, compassion, whatever you want to call it) would by definition mean that these ideals outrank and transcend worldly authority, it breaks his brain and he cannot do it, because even in his very thinking about such an extra-legal order of the world he can only do it by grasping at the imagery of worldly authority, and in consequence he can never break out of it.

I agree that Javert’s derailed thoughts do lead to a reading of confusion and surrender – that being unable to imagine a world order involving an authority superior to Man’s Laws, and being unable (or unwilling) to continue to work for such a superior, is what makes him fling himself into the Seine, in The Ultimate act of resignation.

As you say, that he can only frame his thoughts in the old language of Man’s Laws/Authority, and his constant language of rejection of the new world order, support this reading. (Also see Hugo's obvious symbolism in setting the scene – the sky is cloudy, everything is completely dark, the stars cannot be seen – as well as Valjean's after-the-fact thoughts about Javert’s mental state).

The countervailing argument, and it is likely wishful thinking on my part, in favour of True Spirituality, would be made as follows: Javert realises there is this superior authority (conscience, God, compassion), and his previous acts in service of Man’s Laws have run contrary to that authority, whereas Valjean’s acts have been in service of that authority: so far, so Brick ;) He feels in that instance that he doesn’t have it in him to live and not turn Valjean in – this isn’t an instance where he can slope off from M-sur-m and support himself by tilling the soil. So in a final act of mercy, and a first act of obedience towards his new superior, he decides to put things right with the man he has wronged for such a long time.

In support of this argument, you could put the calm, detailed note in excellent chirography on improvements to the prison system, which arguably isn’t the act of someone leaving one’s post in a fit of pique or confusion. And at the very end, Hugo pulls away from his POV, so nobody knows what finally takes place inside his soul.

IDK, my head tells me the first reading is right, but my heart wants to believe in the second ;)   

I think my main problem is that we have this description earlier on of his thoughts:

He beheld before him two paths, both equally straight, but he beheld two; and that terrified him; him, who had never in all his life known more than one straight line.

It’s this clear dichotomy, Javert can see two choices for himself, surrender to Man’s Law (turn Valjean in) or to God’s Law (let Valjean go). And his problem is that he cannot make a decision for either, so he chooses suicide instead, which makes it difficult for me to believe that he intends it as an act of obedience to God. (Who would not want his death in any case.)

Though it’s interesting - I think this might be a very final Punish Me, M. le Superior scene. God, just like Madeleine, is a superior who is kind but not just (at least as Javert sees justice), who is also a superior who refuses to punish Javert as Javert thinks he deserves to be punished, and who also refuses (or in the case of God, would refuse) to accept Javert’s resignation.

So once more, as in Montreuil-sur-Mer, Javert is forced to punish himself in lieu of a neglectful superior who refuses to do his job - Javert really wants God’s compassion for himself as little as he wanted Valjean/Madeleine’s compassion, he’s even embarrassed by God.

Of course, as you say, if you look at Valjean, Javert killing himself is still the kinder option, but if he believed in compassion, he would have accepted it for himself as well instead of rejecting it together with that world governed by a Compassionate Superior.

(But of course there’s always fix-it fanfic to explore all the ways in which Javert might learn obedience to a compassionate superior, and I’m definitely craving that alongside with you. :D)

I really enjoy how we’ve framed our discussion (or adopted Hugo’s framing) in terms of the +other+ resignation scene, and how you suggest Javert may see it as a  PM, ML Superior scene! Absolutely. I now kind of want all the afterlife fic where Javert insists on remaining in Purgatory because he feels he doesn’t deserve salvation…

In terms of your and Javert’s two diverging paths: I have actually always seen his suicide as a consequence of Door Number Two, i.e., of his letting Valjean go, and not a refusal to choose between the two doors. 

After all, Javert must know that by doing away with himself he rejects Door Number One, and indeed his action of lying by omission to Gisquet (as we’ve been recently discussing) is consistent with that choice not to turn Valjean in (albeit that he might have convinced himself that Valjean might die on the barricades anyway). OTOH, by his plunge, Javert facilitates Valjean’s release and adheres to God’s Law thereby. Javert kills himself as a consequence of that decision, perhaps because he cannot live in a world where he has been complicit in a breach of Man’s Law (*) and he can’t live with his decision to let Valjean go. I want to believe that decision was made out of a desire to show mercy, in obedience to God’s Law.

I agree with you that if Javert had had a true spiritual revelation about a merciful God, he would have realised that he ought not destroy himself, he should show himself the same mercy – and clearly he doesn’t realise this. But it’s not in Javert’s nature to judge lightly, and indeed he judges himself even more strictly. Plus, his decision to jump may have been less in the name of punishment and more in the name of seeking relief from having to further labour in this vale of tears, etc etc.

Thank goodness for fix-it fic! Yours, for sure, and, you know, I am trying to make some too.

(*): I am not so sure that a private citizen’s failure to turn in a fugitive from justice would be an offence under the Code Penale; all the Third Schedule Offences against the state that I could see concerned public servants harbouring fugitives and seeking to pervert the course of justice, but my French is pretty crappy.

Oct 12, 2016 117 notes
#meta
Oct 10, 2016 477 notes
#Art
Oct 9, 2016 59 notes
#Art
Oct 8, 2016 121 notes
#west end #jeremy secomb #peter lockyer

missellamason:

the-end-of-the-chase:

prudencepaccard:

it’s kinda remarkable how many illustrations of Goriot!Vautrin could easily be Javert having an uncharacterisrtically good time. Like look

or this

or

it’s AU happy Javert, having the Gorbeau raid meeting with Marius outside where his coat has much less of a chance of catching fire

like keep the muttonchops, the hat and the walking stick but change the personality completely

I know some of you ship it but I’m not even talking about that. I just mean the sheer visual similarity

of course when Vautrin stops dyeing his sideburns then all bets are off

Javert Having An Uncharacteristically Good Time is a rather touching notion.

That middle picture! Javert undercover and doing a surprisingly competent job of blending in?

Oct 1, 2016 72 notes
#I'm actually offended I've never seen these before what the fuck #brick illustrations #Art
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