Les Misérables, Book 1: The War Between Four Walls, Chapter 1 summary
Book 1: The War Between Four Walls, Chapter 1 of 365 · 11 min to read the chapter
In Chapter 1, the narrator examines the June 1848 insurrection through two contrasting barricades, one chaotic and roaring, the other precise and silent, while questioning how a republic should confront suffering rebels. The account connects these defenses to Cournet and Barthélemy and traces the violence that ends their lives.
What happens
- The narrator argues that popular violence requires resistance but also respect for the suffering that produces it.
- The Saint-Antoine barricade rises as a vast heap of wreckage, crowded with defenders and resistant to artillery.
- The Temple barricade presents a silent, carefully aligned wall whose concealed defenders fire with deadly accuracy.
- After three days of resistance, attackers enter through houses and rooftops, killing every Temple defender except Barthélemy.
- The narrator contrasts Cournet’s forceful warmth with Barthélemy’s silence and connects each man to his barricade.
- The account follows Barthélemy through imprisonment, his killing of Cournet in London, and execution by hanging.
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How do the attackers capture the Temple barricade?
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