Les Misérables, Book 5: The Descent, Chapter 10 summary
Book 5: The Descent, Chapter 10 of 365 · 8 min to read the chapter
In Chapter 10, Fantine sells her hair and two front teeth to meet the Thénardiers’ demands for Cosette, whose supposed illness is a fraud. As her health declines, creditors pursue her and sewing wages fall, another demand for money drives her into prostitution.
What happens
- The Thénardiers demand clothing for Cosette, so Fantine sells her hair, but they give the petticoat she sends to Éponine.
- Fantine comes to hate Father Madeleine and takes a lover who beats and abandons her.
- A false report of Cosette’s illness leads Fantine to sell two front teeth and send forty francs.
- Fantine lives in a bare attic, suffers persistent coughing and pain, and earns less despite working seventeen hours daily.
- Thénardier demands a hundred francs and threatens to abandon Cosette, and Fantine becomes a prostitute.
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In this chapter
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What does the narrator reveal about Cosette’s reported illness?
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