Les Miz (was Authority and rule-breaking)

[heidi.h.tandy.c92 at alumni.upenn.edu]

No: HPFGUIDX 16274

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., catherine at c... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., lea.macleod at g... wrote:
> > 
> > Go get the book, Catherine, and read the chapter that ends with 
> > Javert´s death (I only read the french version, so I don´t know 
the 
> > English title, sorry). That chapter was a revelation to me, and I 
> > think it may be to all people working in a legal profession. 
> > 
> > 
> Yes, I do need to go back to it - I did say it was a number of 
years 
> ago.  But I still stand by my comparative comments on black/white 
> issues, ordered worlds etc.
> (By the way, I don't know if you knew, but I'm training to be a 
> lawyer at the moment!)


Catherine - I didn't realize it (and you're a few weeks too late for 
questions during the draft/beta of the A Sirius Affair trial scenes, 
darnit!) but it's always good to see more lawyers here, as I'm sure 
Penny would agree :)

For me, Javert, in both the musical and the book, is the reason I 
have never had any interest in being a prosecutor. I cannot see the 
world in pure rules and clear black and white, and I have no sympathy 
with those who always do. 

Lea wrote:
> Javert commits suicide because he has failed, not because he 
realised 
> he was wrong. He found himself trapped between two impossible 
crimes: 
> To let a convicted criminal escape and to arrest him. This 
situation 
> didn´t fit anywhere in his view of the world, and he just couldn´t 
> cope with it. Javert´s death is not a redemption, it´s a 
resignation.
Absolutely - it's the perfect demonstration of the mental state of 
the individual who believes he has no possible choice. He actually 
does have choices,  but selecting any of them would force himself to 
reconsider his ideals and perspectives, and even the act of 
reconsideration would be tantemount to a violation of such ideals and 
perspectives, and therefore, the weak, cowardly decision is made to 
not engage in such self-examination. 
Snape, on the other hand, I believe, has reconsidered his 
perspecitves, and probably his ideals (he may've been a spy on the 
DE's the whole time and never agreed with their philosophy, but I do 
doubt that). And in so doing, he has made brave decisions that are 
fully opposite to the idea of cowardice. In a way, he's more like 
Valjean in one fundamental way - a segment of his existance is 
grounded in the protection of other people - in Book 1, it's Harry. 
After book 4, is it the whole entire "Old Crowd?"

On a related note, interspersed with my Homage fanfic, where I place 
the HP characters into Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice (even those of 
you who don't read fanfic might want to give it a whirl - it's closer 
to a FILK than a story - I swear!) I've *tried* to place the HP 
characters into Les Miz - both the book and the musical - and I 
cannot get it to work. I just lose it when it comes to matching the 
characters up, mostly because I hate Cosette in at least 18 different 
ways, and therefore cannot put Hermione into that role, no matter 
which boy I have as Marius (but I do *love* draco as marius - book 
Marius, especially!) and given that I don't want Hermi dead, I can't 
put her into the Eponine role either. The Dursleys do work as the 
Thernardiers, and I would love to see a Vernon-FILK to Master of the 
House, and Ron, believe it or not, keeps cropping up as my Enjolras, 
but that might be because I still see Little Waif Harry from Book 1 
as Gavroche ("we may look easy pickings, but we've got some bite!").