Les Misérables, Book 1: The War Between Four Walls, Chapter 21 summary

What happens

1. The army charges in daylight, scales the barricade, and falls back under the insurgents’ fire.
2. Enjolras fights from cover while Marius exposes himself above the defenses.
3. The defenders joke about danger and condemn promised supporters who abandon them as their ammunition runs low.
4. Repeated assaults bring the army closer, but the hungry, wounded insurgents repel ten attempts to take the barricade.
5. Bossuet, Feuilly, Courfeyrac, and Combeferre die; Marius suffers severe wounds, while Enjolras remains untouched and receives replacement weapons.
6. The narrator compares the fighting with epic battles and argues that ordinary people become heroic through conviction or loyalty.

In this chapter

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