Les Misérables · Chapter
VI: The Fontis explained
Jean Valjean, carrying the dying Marius through the Paris sewers, encounters a treacherous quagmire (fontis) caused by heavy rain.
What happens
Jean Valjean, carrying the dying Marius through the Paris sewers, encounters a treacherous quagmire (fontis) caused by heavy rain. Despite sinking deeper into the mire, he finds a solid fragment of the vaulted pavement and uses it as a point of support to escape, emerging exhausted but spiritually uplifted.
Themes in this chapter
Suffering and Sacrifice
Jean Valjean's desperate struggle through the mire, carrying Marius at the risk of his own life, exemplifies self-sacrifice and endurance.
Redemption and Transformation
Valjean's emergence from the fontis, kneeling in prayer and filled with a strange light, symbolizes a moment of spiritual renewal and redemption.
Characters to notice
- Jean Valjean
Struggles through the fontis while carrying Marius, nearly drowning in the mire before finding a solid point of support and emerging safely.
- Marius Pontmercy
Unconscious or dying, carried by Jean Valjean through the sewer and the fontis.
Key passages
“Jean Valjean found himself in the presence of a fontis. This sort of quagmire was common at that period in the subsoil of the Champs-Élysées, difficult to handle in the hydraulic works and a bad preservative of the subterranean constructions, on account of its excessive fluidity.”
Jean Valjean encountered a quagmire, a common hazard in the Champs-Élysées subsoil at the time, which made hydraulic work difficult and damaged underground structures due to its extreme fluidity.
Describes the nature and historical context of the fontis.
“He still held Marius on high, and with an unheard-of expenditure of force, he advanced still; but he was sinking. He had only his head above the water now and his two arms holding up Marius. In the old paintings of the deluge there is a mother holding her child thus.”
Valjean continued forward with immense effort, holding Marius aloft, but sank until only his head and arms remained above water, reminiscent of a mother clutching her child in ancient flood paintings.
Highlights Valjean's sacrificial struggle and the poignant imagery of his burden.
“He rose to his feet, shivering, chilled, foul-smelling, bowed beneath the dying man whom he was dragging after him, all dripping with slime, and his soul filled with a strange light.”
Valjean stood up, trembling, cold, and covered in filth, still carrying the dying man, yet his spirit was illuminated by a mysterious inner light.
Captures Valjean's physical exhaustion and spiritual transcendence after escaping the fontis.