# From the Rue Plumet to the Quartier Saint-Denis explained — Les Misérables > Chapter companion for Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. ## What happens Marius, driven by despair and a desire for death after his heartbreak, hears a voice summoning him to the barricade. He leaves the Rue Plumet garden and traverses Paris, passing through areas of normal activity into increasingly somber and crowded streets, then through military bivouacs and abandoned barricades, until he reaches a silent, dark zone near the Rue de la Poterie and Rue du Contrat-Social, where a stray shot narrowly misses him. He continues onward, determined to meet his fate. ## Themes in this chapter ### The Human Condition and Fate Marius, overwhelmed by grief and despair, feels summoned by destiny and walks toward death, illustrating the human struggle with fate and the desire for an end to suffering. ### Revolution and Social Upheaval The chapter depicts the physical and social landscape of Paris during the uprising, with crowds, barricades, and military presence, highlighting the revolutionary turmoil. ### Suffering and Sacrifice Marius's journey is one of personal suffering and a willingness to sacrifice himself, as he seeks the barricade and a quick end to his pain. ## Character check-ins ### Marius Pontmercy Summoned by a voice, he leaves the Rue Plumet garden and walks through Paris toward the barricade, armed with Javert's pistols, driven by grief and a wish to die. ### Javert Marius carries Javert's pistols, which he had taken earlier. ### Bossuet Marius encounters two white horses from an omnibus that Bossuet had harnessed earlier in the day. ## Key lines > The voice which had summoned Marius through the twilight to the barricade of the Rue de la Chanvrerie, had produced on him the effect of the voice of destiny. Marius felt that the voice calling him to the barricade was like fate itself speaking to him. _This sets the tone for Marius's fatalistic decision to go to the barricade._ > Mad with grief, no longer conscious of anything fixed or solid in his brain, incapable of accepting anything thenceforth of fate after those two months passed in the intoxication of youth and love, overwhelmed at once by all the reveries of despair, he had but one desire remaining, to make a speedy end of all. Driven insane by sorrow, unable to think clearly, and crushed by the loss of his youthful love, Marius only wanted to die quickly. _Explains Marius's mental state and motivation for seeking the barricade._ > He found himself in something startling. There was no longer a passerby, no longer a soldier, no longer a light, there was no one; solitude, silence, night, I know not what chill which seized hold upon one. Entering a street was like entering a cellar. He entered a zone of eerie emptiness and darkness, where the silence and cold felt like stepping into a tomb. _Describes the desolate atmosphere as Marius approaches the barricade area._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/les_miserables_se/chapters/i-from-the-rue-plumet-to-the-quartier-saint-denis - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/les_miserables_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/les_miserables_se/chapters