A Reader's A-Ha Moment in Les Miz

For reasons which don't need exploring at this juncture, I am trying to finish the last 300-odd pages of the Brick by, say, next Friday. Book four - Les Amis, Marius, Marius moping after Cosette, Eponine's death, digressions into the inevitable progress of history from darkness to light - was such a drag that I deliberately took a break before starting book five.

And in book five, I read Enjolas' impassioned words as he realizes that no one is coming and there will be no revolution. "Citizens, the nineteenth century is great, but the twentieth century will be happy." (p1191) But from this end of the century, I must suggest that, no, the 20th C was not happy. There was not the uplifting of men. Enjolras is charismatic, and wrong. So wrong. A riot in the streets is not a great way to enact progress or equality.

So that is why I am finding the last two-fifths of Les Miz a reading challenge. Dying for your principles is easy. Living for them is way harder.

Does Hugo recognize this? I think so: Valjean is the major protagonist, not Enjolras. Valjean generally wants to live. But I am not sure, because Hugo also likes to kill characters left, right, and center. So it's hard to figure out whether I am receiving the message Hugo is trying to send.