annaobyrne: les mis modern aesthetics // jean valjean jean valjean had taken no part in the fightin

annaobyrne:

les mis modern aesthetics // jean valjean

jean valjean had taken no part in the fighting except to expose himself to it. had it not been for him, no one in that last phase of that desperate struggle would have thought of the wounded. thanks to him, like an angel of m e r c y everywhere present among the carnage, those who fell were picked up, carried to the bar room, and their wounds dressed. in between, he repaired the barricade. but nothing that could be seen as an act of hostility or aggression, or even as self-defence, proceeded from his hands.