# Night Begins to Descend Upon Grantaire explained — Les Misérables

> Chapter companion for Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.

## What happens

The revolutionaries barricade the Rue Mondétour, using materials from the wine-shop Corinthe and an overturned omnibus. Grantaire, drunk and rambling, is rebuked by Enjolras for his lack of seriousness. Grantaire asks to sleep on the barricade until he dies, and Enjolras dismisses him as incapable of belief or action. Grantaire falls asleep at the table.

## Themes in this chapter

### Revolution and Social Upheaval

The chapter depicts the physical construction of a barricade and the fervor of the revolutionaries preparing for battle.

### The Human Condition and Fate

Grantaire's drunkenness and Enjolras's rejection highlight the contrast between nihilistic escapism and committed idealism.

## Character check-ins

### Grantaire

Drunkenly rambles about love and liberty, is scolded by Enjolras, and falls asleep at the barricade.

### Enjolras

Commands the barricade construction, rebukes Grantaire for his drunkenness, and dismisses his resolve.

### Bossuet

Oversees the barricade, stops an omnibus, and uses it to block the street.

### Courfeyrac

Joins Bossuet at the barricade and scolds Grantaire.

### Joly

Comments on the weather and kisses Mame Hucheloup's neck.

### Gavroche

Helps overturn a lime-dray to use in the barricade.

## Key lines

> Let me sleep here—until I die.

Grantaire asks Enjolras to let him stay and sleep at the barricade until his death.

_Grantaire's plea foreshadows his eventual fate and underscores his passive devotion._

> Grantaire, you are incapable of believing, of thinking, of willing, of living, and of dying.

Enjolras tells Grantaire he lacks the capacity for faith, thought, will, life, and death.

_Enjolras's harsh judgment reveals the ideological divide between the committed revolutionary and the cynical drunkard._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/les_miserables_se/chapters/iii-night-begins-to-descend-upon-grantaire
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/les_miserables_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/les_miserables_se/chapters