Les Misérables · Chapter
What Is to Be Done in the Abyss if One Does Not Converse explained
The chapter depicts the early morning hours of June 6, 1832, inside the Rue de la Chanvrerie barricade.
What happens
The chapter depicts the early morning hours of June 6, 1832, inside the Rue de la Chanvrerie barricade. The insurgents, led by Enjolras, have fortified the barricade overnight, repaired damage, and prepared for the coming assault. Food is scarce, and Enjolras forbids drinking wine, rationing brandy instead. The dead, including Mabeuf, are laid out, and Javert remains bound. The men discuss philosophy, history, and the morality of political violence, with Combeferre reflecting on the assassins of tyrants and the nature of justice.
Themes in this chapter
Revolution and Social Upheaval
The barricade is prepared for battle, and the insurgents face hunger and death with revolutionary resolve.
Suffering and Sacrifice
The men endure hunger, lack of sleep, and the presence of the dead; Mabeuf's body is used as a symbol.
Justice vs. Law
Combeferre debates the morality of political assassination, contrasting Brutus's blade with Cicero's thought.
Characters to notice
- Enjolras
Leads the insurgents, orders repairs, forbids drinking wine, and places the fifteen bottles under Mabeuf's table.
- Marius Pontmercy
Marius no longer looks after anything; the insurgents are under Enjolras's eye.
- M. Mabeuf
Lies dead under a black cloth in the taproom, his bullet-ridden coat used as a flag.
- Javert
Bound to his post in the taproom, erect beside the dead Mabeuf.
- Combeferre
Examines the wine bottles, speaks of the dead and compares translators of the Georgics; discusses Caesar and Brutus.
- Courfeyrac
Comments on the extinguished torch, saying it annoyed him.
- Feuilly
Engraves 'Long live the peoples!' on the wall during the two-hour rest.
- Bossuet
Observes that Grantaire is asleep, saving the bottles; later exclaims about Greek places and Homer.
Key passages
“The barricade had been not only repaired, but augmented. They had raised it two feet.”
The barricade was strengthened and heightened by two feet overnight.
Describes the insurgents' preparation for the coming attack.
“As they could no longer eat, Enjolras forbade them to drink. He interdicted wine, and portioned out the brandy.”
With no food left, Enjolras prohibited wine and rationed brandy.
Shows Enjolras's strict discipline in the face of scarcity.
“The light of torches resembles the wisdom of cowards; it gives a bad light because it trembles.”
Torchlight is like the wisdom of cowards—it flickers and gives poor illumination.
Courfeyrac's philosophical remark on the extinguished torch.