“I love him
but when the night is over
he is gone,
the river’s just a river.”
– Eponine (On My Own)
Eponine was my favorite Les Mis character. I also adored the priest. Eponine though, she I absolutely just loved. Eponine is quite symbolic of many redeemed types found in Hugo’s work, the Mary Magdalene fallen woman redeemed by a deep, albeit romantic and impossible love. He sees her death as typically operatic, a drawn-out farewell scene with an aria-like speech exploring all her feelings. As in Romantic opera: The dying Eponine recounts her long-held feeling of love for Marius, feelings she interprets as both moral and physical defects making her unworthy. Eponine’s devotion to Marius saves her from reiterating the sins of her parents. Her love redeems her, as Valjean and Fantine are redeemed by their love for Cosette. I think her character should have been even bigger in the novel. I think, like life, the pretty shiny blonde Cosette and the ‘prince’ Marius are not nearly as interesting, independent, fierce or even as intelligent and good as Eponine. I did find out recently that of people who have seen the play and movie she is generally the favorite. Rightly so.
“God will bless you,’ said he, ‘you are an angel since you take care of the flowers.’
‘No,’ she replied. ‘I am the devil, but that’s all the same to me.”
“Now for my pains, promise me-“
And she hesitated.
“What?” asked Marius.
“Promise me!”
“I promise you.”
“Promise to kiss me on the forehead when I’m dead. I’ll feel it.”
She let her head fall back on Marius’s knees and her eyelids closed. He thought the poor soul had gone. Eponine lay motionless, but just when Marius supposed her forever asleep, she slowly opened her eyes, revealing the somber depths of death, and said to him in an accent whose sweetness already seemed to come from another world,
“And then, do you know, Monsieur Marius, I believe I was a little in love with you.”
She tried to smile again and died.”
The gamin Gavroche puts in a strong plea for mercy, and his sister Eponine, if Hugo had chosen to take more trouble with her, might have been a great, and is actually the most interesting, character. But Cosette—the cosseted Cosette—Hugo did not know our word or he would have seen the danger—is merely a pretty and rather selfish little doll, and her precious lover Marius is almost ineffable.”
― George Saintsbury
On my own
Pretending he’s beside me
All alone
I walk with him till morning
Without him
I feel his arms around me
And when I lose my way I close my eyes
And he has found me In the rain the pavement shines like silver
All the lights are misty in the river
In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight
And all I see is him and me forever and forever And I know it’s only in my mind
That I’m talking to myself and not to him
And although I know that he is blind
Still I say, there’s a way for usI love him
But when the night is over
He is gone
The river’s just a river
Without him
The world around me changes
The trees are bare and everywhere
The streets are full of strangers I love him
But everyday I’m learning
All my life
I’ve only been pretending
Without me
His world will go on turning
A world that’s full of happiness
That I have never known I love him
I love him
I love him
But only on my own
