Les Misérables, Book 3: The Grandfather and the Grandson, Chapter 1 summary

What happens

1. M. Gillenormand enjoys authority in aristocratic salons despite his bourgeois background.
2. Around 1817, he visits Madame la Baronne de T. twice weekly among friends devoted to royalty.
3. The guests ridicule political opponents through songs, puns, and revolutionary language turned against Bonapartists.
4. The narrator describes the salon’s respect for Comte de Lamothe-Valois despite his connection with the necklace affair.
5. Gillenormand’s age, bearing, and sharp remarks strengthen his standing among the guests.
6. His daughter and a seven-year-old boy accompany him, and the guests pity the boy because they despise his father.

What to notice

The comparison exposes the hostility beneath the salon’s entertainment. Political songs retain their violence even when their targets change.

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