Wow, that’s a lot of names and a lot of description and a lot of information.
Hugo talks about how people at the time of the Convention didn’t comprehend its sublimity, how they could only be worried and afraid, including those who were part of the Convention. This resonates with how, at the end of the descriptions of the various camps of the Convention, Hugo turns to the “dregs”—who are ultimately the deciding force, and who will attack anyone who appears to be stumbling. They don’t see the grandeur or importance of what they’re doing. They’re out to be on the winning side and cling to whoever seems confident and dissociate themselves from anyone who seems otherwise. The worst and pettiest of the lot are also the most decisive.
The narrative proclaims that revolution is the product of forces beyond the control of any individual—forces that Hugo attributes to “God,” but God working through the People. Here’s that mystical pantheism of his again. And since he identifies God with The People, it’s no wonder that he appears to share his RPF Robespierre’s view (amusingly, also shared by the Bishop of Digne) that atheism is for aristocrats.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2014-05-19 01:55 am (UTC)Wow, that’s a lot of names and a lot of description and a lot of information.
Hugo talks about how people at the time of the Convention didn’t comprehend its sublimity, how they could only be worried and afraid, including those who were part of the Convention. This resonates with how, at the end of the descriptions of the various camps of the Convention, Hugo turns to the “dregs”—who are ultimately the deciding force, and who will attack anyone who appears to be stumbling. They don’t see the grandeur or importance of what they’re doing. They’re out to be on the winning side and cling to whoever seems confident and dissociate themselves from anyone who seems otherwise. The worst and pettiest of the lot are also the most decisive.
The narrative proclaims that revolution is the product of forces beyond the control of any individual—forces that Hugo attributes to “God,” but God working through the People. Here’s that mystical pantheism of his again. And since he identifies God with The People, it’s no wonder that he appears to share his RPF Robespierre’s view (amusingly, also shared by the Bishop of Digne) that atheism is for aristocrats.