Les Misérables, Book 10: June 5, 1832, Chapter 5 summary

What happens

1. The narrator describes how ordinary business and entertainment usually continue close to violent street fighting in Paris.
2. The uprising of June 5, 1832 instead frightens the city, emptying streets and closing windows and doors.
3. Rumors spread about rebel strength, military plans, political support, and possible looting, while people question Marshal Soult’s hesitation.
4. Theaters remain closed, patrols search pedestrians, and more than eight hundred people are under arrest by nine o’clock.
5. Prisoners crowd detention sites while anxious households listen to military sounds and await the first cannon shot.

What to notice

The sentence states the chapter’s central contrast: a city accustomed to unrest now experiences an unusual, widespread fear.

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