A man could go mad, listening to Valjean's reasoning. "You say she saw the chain gang, and wondered at such cruelty! Any child would wonder! And she questioned if they were men-- did you think to ask if she questioned the convicts, or the men driving them?--And if she did ask about the convicts, you are all the answer she would need, you are still a man, her own father--you would be all the proof of their humanity to her, as you've been the image of humanity to her all her life! As you will remain, Monsieur, whether you stay beside her or not."
Bahorel's language is still respectful, formal as it almost never is, and his voice is quiet, but nothing like calm. "In her heart you are her father. You think this is nothing, an ephemera; I tell you again, there is nothing more real. I've seen men, friends who stood with me and faced guns for what they believed, lose their courage and turn home because their families stopped sending letters, or grew cold in conversation-- nothing had to be said, they knew it was a judgement-- and I didn't blame them! And they were grown men, even if they were younger than me. But a parent is the image of the whole world, the place everyone first looks for judgement. To look and see that person look away-- Monsieur, it is a hard thing. Few can bear it. Should your daughter have to?"
The old man isn't likely to listen; Bahorel can see that, suspected it from the start. But Fauchelevent hasn't seen what he's doing from the other side, hasn't seen friends turn wild and dangerous to themselves, or turn quiet and vanish from the world while still walking, or written letters full of lies to someone else's parents to cover the stories of friends who laughed about it too hard and too sharply--
Bahorel shakes his head. "I believe your reasons--" ...are what? The old man makes no sense at all. "--they seem good to you. You think you can hurt no one but yourself with this. Well, a man may destroy himself if he likes, of course! But you are wrong, you can hurt her. If you insist on drawing away--and you do, and you know it, do not try to pass it by in speaking of visits-- she will not know why, and she will never think it is for love. She will come to see it as a judgement. At best, she will not understand, at worst-- she will wonder why she was judged, and agree with the sentence, and believe herself at fault. Would you have her condemn herself so? Now, just as she must learn to face the judgement of the world beyond you? You will hurt her as no one else in the world can. "
If it's cruel to say, it's still true-- and it would be crueler to let the man go on not knowing it, when he could so easily change his course.
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Date: 2015-11-30 05:46 am (UTC)From:A man could go mad, listening to Valjean's reasoning. "You say she saw the chain gang, and wondered at such cruelty! Any child would wonder! And she questioned if they were men-- did you think to ask if she questioned the convicts, or the men driving them?--And if she did ask about the convicts, you are all the answer she would need, you are still a man, her own father--you would be all the proof of their humanity to her, as you've been the image of humanity to her all her life! As you will remain, Monsieur, whether you stay beside her or not."
Bahorel's language is still respectful, formal as it almost never is, and his voice is quiet, but nothing like calm. "In her heart you are her father. You think this is nothing, an ephemera; I tell you again, there is nothing more real. I've seen men, friends who stood with me and faced guns for what they believed, lose their courage and turn home because their families stopped sending letters, or grew cold in conversation-- nothing had to be said, they knew it was a judgement-- and I didn't blame them! And they were grown men, even if they were younger than me. But a parent is the image of the whole world, the place everyone first looks for judgement. To look and see that person look away-- Monsieur, it is a hard thing. Few can bear it. Should your daughter have to?"
The old man isn't likely to listen; Bahorel can see that, suspected it from the start. But Fauchelevent hasn't seen what he's doing from the other side, hasn't seen friends turn wild and dangerous to themselves, or turn quiet and vanish from the world while still walking, or written letters full of lies to someone else's parents to cover the stories of friends who laughed about it too hard and too sharply--
Bahorel shakes his head. "I believe your reasons--" ...are what? The old man makes no sense at all. "--they seem good to you. You think you can hurt no one but yourself with this. Well, a man may destroy himself if he likes, of course! But you are wrong, you can hurt her. If you insist on drawing away--and you do, and you know it, do not try to pass it by in speaking of visits-- she will not know why, and she will never think it is for love. She will come to see it as a judgement. At best, she will not understand, at worst-- she will wonder why she was judged, and agree with the sentence, and believe herself at fault. Would you have her condemn herself so? Now, just as she must learn to face the judgement of the world beyond you? You will hurt her as no one else in the world can. "
If it's cruel to say, it's still true-- and it would be crueler to let the man go on not knowing it, when he could so easily change his course.