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A
Brief History of the Sewers
Tourists
in the Sewers of Paris
Bibliography
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6.1 Photograph of Paris Sewer
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. . . the great prodigality
of Paris, her marvelous fête, her Beaujon folly, her
orgy, her full-handed outpouring of gold, her pageant, her
luxury, her magnificence, is her sewer. (Les Miserables;
Jean Valjean, Book II, ch1) |
Hugo's View of the Sewers of Paris
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Victor Hugo saw the sewers of Paris as the "conscience
of the city"; a place where there were no secrets, where
class distinctions became insignificant and society could
be observed in a clear light.
Here, no more false appearance, no possible plastering,
the filth takes off its shirt, absolute nakedness, rout of
illusions and of mirages, nothing more but what it is . .
. The last veil is rent. A sewer is a cynic. It tells all.
(Les Miserables; Jean Valjean, Book II, ch 2)
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6.2 Victor Hugo
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Hugo also lamented what he saw as a waste of valuable resources
in the sewers; he advocated the use of sewage as fertilizer.
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Paris throws five millions a year into the
sea. And this without metaphor. How, and in what manner? day
and night. With what object? without any object. With what thought?
without thinking of it. For what return? for nothing. By means
of what organ? by means of its intestine. What is its intestine?
its sewer . . . Science, after long experiment, now knows that
the most fertilising and the most effective of manures is that
of man . . . A sewer is a mistake. (Les Miserables; Jean
Valjean, Book II, ch 1) |
The Sewers of Paris in Les Miserables
Jean Valjean thought that that grating, noticed by
him under the paving-stones, might also be noticed by
the soldiers, and that all depended upon chance. They
also could descend into the well and explore it. There
was not a minute to be lost. He had laid Marius upon the
ground, he gathered him up, this again being the right
word, replaced him upon his shoulders, and began his journey.
He resolutely entered that obscurity. (Les Miserables;
Jean Valjean, Book III, ch.1)
Thus begins Jean Valjean's journey into the sewers of
Paris.
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6.3 Jean ValJean carrying Marius |
When Jean Valjean descends to the sewers, he is following what
Hugo thought to be a great tradition: "Crime, intelligence,
social protest, liberty of conscience, thought, theft, all that
human laws pursue or have pursued, have hidden in this hole..."
(Les Miserables; Jean Valjean, Book II, ch 2). Javert
recognizes the sewers as a possible means of escape for the revolutionaries,
and lies in wait for Valjean where it empties into the Seine. Thénardier,
who represents the criminal element in the novel, runs into Valjean
in the sewer, and provides him with the key to the gates out of
the sewer.
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