There are human creatures which, like crayfish, always retreat into shadow, going backwards rather than forwards through life, gaining in deformity with experience, going from bad to worse and sinking into even deeper darkness. The Thénardiers were of this kind.
This is an interesting chapter and despite some of the more classist overtones of some of the content, I found this particular paragraph to be an interesting angle on human nature.
Missing from this particular paragraph is the context that may have initially led to these “human creatures” being in some level of darkness or possessing some level of “badness”. I have come to believe that in every human there is a spark of something beautiful and life giving. Call it “the divine”, or the result of being “created in the image of God” or if you prefer, call it a “spark of creativity” or an “initial endowment of goodness” from the universe. Whatever you want to label it, I do not believe that we start out evil, or twisted, or bad.
Having said that, I also think that every one of us has a capacity for both good and evil, and that allowing for the forces of society and other factors we cannot control, we still have some degree of agency in choosing how we react and respond to the world around us and the events that happen to us. To me, “goodness” is about making choices that work toward flourishing for humans, our environment, ourselves, our community, etc… Conversely, evil is then actively choosing things that would corrupt and hinder and thwart flourishing. Promoting harm of ourselves, our environment, humanity, our community etc…
In Hugo’s language here, the path I’ve described as an active choosing of the things that lead to flourishing would be a forward movement toward light. His description of the Thénardiers is the inverse of that - going backwards, retreating into shadow, sinking into deeper darkness, going from bad to worse.
This is not about their circumstances it is about the consistent bent of their response to those circumstances.
This does not bode well for little Cossette, and we could spend time thinking about the impact of being turned over to people like the Thénardiers will have on her. I believe we will have plenty of opportunity for that in the chapters ahead.
Instead I invite you to do a little introspection. Life is hard for a lot of us right now. Times are dark and we may feel like we’ve been eclipsed by shadow and don’t have a clear way forward. If that’s the case, how are you responding? Are you choosing to defy that darkness with a care for yourself, for others, for the environment and for your community? Or are you lashing out and increasing harm? We may not be able to control our circumstances. We may not even be able to impact them to any significant degree. We can, however, choose how we respond. Choose to press on toward the light, toward the good, true, right and beautiful. Don’t let the evil that attacks us so relentlessly bend you into it’s shape.
One last thought - there are people out there that call good evil, and evil good. In my experience those seem to be the people who are convinced that they are morally upright because of some identification with a religious or spiritual (or anti-religious or anti-spiritual) “in” group and a conformity on some level to a “purity” code of one sort or another. For these folks the circle of “the good” is always shrinking and their orientation toward others is one of judgment. This is not moving “forward toward the light” or “seeking the flourishing of everyone and everything”. This is an ugly brand of command and control. If you’re ever wondering what the “good, right, beautiful, and true” actually looks like, ask yourself if it’s flourishing or not. Look at the most marginalized in our society, and ask yourself what choices set them up for a good life. You may be surprised to realize that the idea that “good” for them means “bad” for you or some other part of society tends to be completely contrived. Start at the margins. Seek collective liberation and true freedom and equality for all.