primeideal: Multicolored sideways eight (infinity sign) (Default)
primeideal ([personal profile] primeideal) wrote in [community profile] club93 2014-06-10 03:51 pm (UTC)

"He was one of those who do not believe in luck and he was lucky." I like this line. Not sure how else we could generalize it to Cimourdain’s situation—he believes in God, after all, even if he’s awkward about it.

"it was like Chiron seeing Achilles in battle." Chiron the centaur; this talks a lot about Achilles, even if Chiron is relegated to one line on Achilles’ page. One emphasis here is that Chiron is not just a military centaur; he has other, more cultured, interests too. This maybe is hinting that Cimourdain, as a priest, is not just…interested in the religious structures of the day but also has revolutionary interests? Maybe.

"It was the time when each man had his own military dream, each wished to make a general: Danton wished to make a general of Westermann; Marat, of Rossignol; Hebert, of Ronsiu; Robespierre wanted to get rid of them all." Westermann: friend of Danton’s, allegedly bragged about how brutal and inexorable he was in La Vendée. Rossignol: didn’t want personal rivalries to influence decisions. Smart guy, given Ronsin (it’s typoed on Wikisource): follower of Hébert, threw a battle to the Vendeans because he was jealous?!

We had the Danton-Marat-Robespierre trifecta recently, but here Hébert is filling in for Robespierre, who’s above the fray. Not clear whether Robespierre just thinks all the generals are incompetent, or whether he’s dreaming about transcending the military altogether.

"and surely, he thought, this is not the time for emotion." Except for the emotional joy he’s going through right now. But that doesn’t count.

"Gauvain will be "at the top" "—á la hauteur,”—a phrase of that day.” <- Instead of the Vendean forests where he’s stuck right now. Cimourdain likes the mountain analogies, too.

"that voice, which in spite of years of absence was always sounding in his ear" Stop being adorable, you two. Though I wonder if Cimourdain’s imagined Gauvain has much in common with the real one after the separation, or whether Cimourdain’s just listening to his own dreams of greatness, projected from a different direction.

"You will live. You wished to kill me in the name of the king; I pardon you in the name of the Republic." <- And here’s where we get our chapter title shoutout, I think; it’s a bible quote. "Wheover gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward." (Jesus, Matthew 10:42.) Cimourdain is dreaming about the future Gauvain represents, and Gauvain is ready to live out the future by being better than the old regime, acting in the name of a more progressive cause. Except, instead of helping out "little ones" (we’re still in a book about "The Three Children," even though they’re not on-screen), he’s showing mercy to his enemies. That doesn’t bring about the kind of rewards Cimourdain has in mind.

Actually, here’s a link to the Bible verse in context, if that’s your thing. Families at odds with each other.

Post a comment in response:

If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting