cyberspace junkyard

Eponine vs Cosette

I was at a wonderfully organised treasure hunt / picnic birthday do on Saturday. Dead tired from traipsing through half the city in pursuit of the two birthday girls and their "kidnapper" boyfriends and completely stuffed with picnic fare, I enjoyed a rousing discussion about my favourite musical - Les Miserables. The reason I love the musical that much more than the book by Victor Hugo is (a) because I like music and (b) because Eponine has a bigger and more heroic part in the musical.

All following comments are now referring to the musical...

Let me pause a moment to say that Cosette was not a very well-written part. Maybe it's cos the musical was conceived and written in French and the (I'm assuming) innocence and sweetness of the character was lost in its translation to English. Maybe it's because she really is ...

Okay, I'm back and have been mysteriously transported to my computer at work 16 hours later.

... annoyingly, cloyingly, sickeningly sweet. Eeew. People say I don't have a sentimental bone in my body but that isn't true! I cry in practically every single movie ever made. I sniffled in Mighty Ducks. I teared in Cool Runnings. Don't even get me started on Mr Holland's Opus or Joy Luck Club! I'm just really rational. And when I feel like I'm hopelessly lost and can't do anything about a situation or circumstance I find myself in, well it's usually because I'm not trusting God with it and I just haven't thought through it enough. There's no point crying over it.

Anyway, Cosette shows up, looks pretty and wins the guy. A few well-timed eyelash battings probably helped too. Not that Marius was really much of a guy to win in the first place. But that's another story.

Eponine on the other hand, really put her life, her relationship with her family and her better judgement on the line for Marius. (why couldn't she have had the good taste to fall in love with Enjolras, instead? Especially Anthony Warlow playing Enjolras. *ahem*... moving on)
Maybe Cosette wins in the looks department (probably because she's not dressed in rags and covered with dirt and street grime) but Eponine, street urchin though she was, was feisty, determined and backed up her words of love with action. Let's do a side by side...

Cosette
- has a long black dress with lacy, frilly bits
- lives in a big house
- has a seemingly respectable father
- says things like "in my life, there are times when I catch in the silence the sigh of a faraway song" and "I'm no longer alone now that love in my life is so near... find me now, find me here"
- leaves her love (Marius) to certain death on the barricade with promises of undying love to sustain him

Eponine
- has some rags. Oh, and a long overcoat. Oh yes, and a cap.
- practically lives on the street
- has a disreputable father, mother and a brave but unfortunate little brother (Gavroche)
- says things like "I'm gonna scream! I'm gonna warn them here!" and "One more day I'm on my own. One more day with him not caring. What a life I might have known but he never saw me there".
- risks her life by screaming to warn Marius and Cosette that her father and his gang are about to rob Val Jean's house. Puts aside her own feelings to show Marius where Cosette lives and later delivers a love letter from Marius to Cosette. Risks her life by joining Marius on the barricade.

Y'think my opinion is skewed much? ;)

Anyway, I think girls relate to Eponine because at one stage or another, we've all felt like she does. We've all done something completely irrational and out of the ordinary for someone we love. We've hidden the way we truly feel because we don't think we're worthy, or we're too shy, or we know that they're in love with someone else. We've accepted friendship from someone when we've truly wanted more just to be near them. Tis sad but true. While Eponine's fate is not for all of us, she does have words of wisdom for us that the Little Miss Rational in me embraces - without regret, without pain and without malice...

He was never mine to lose
Why regret what could not be
These are words he'll never say
Not to me, not for me

She always makes me think "You go, girl! We all know you deserved Marius but I never thought he deserved you!"