Les Misérables Volume 2, Chapter 2 Summary

Summary

Victor Hugo pauses the main action to relate a local Montfermeil superstition about the devil burying treasures in the forest and a contemporary incident that echoes that belief. In the superstition, villagers claim to encounter at night a black figure wearing two horns who digs holes; three responses to such an encounter bring death within varying intervals, though many opt to open the holes to seize a fleeting treasure. Hugo cites an old Norman monk Tryphon and a pair of enigmatic Latin lines that warn of the devil’s ambiguous spoils: coins, stones, corpses, spectres, or nothing.

Shortly afterward, the narrative turns to Boulatruelle, an ex-convict and road-mender of Montfermeil, whose recent habit of leaving work early to go into the forest and sometimes digging raises suspicion. Neighbors interpret his nocturnal behavior through the superstition: some think he seeks Lucifer’s hoard. Thénardier and the schoolmaster, among the most inquisitive, ply Boulatruelle with drink to learn more. Under questioning and local speculation, they assemble a story: Boulatruelle once saw a stranger—possibly an old galley comrade—enter the woods carrying a coffer; later the stranger returns with a pick and shovel and Boulatruelle infers the coffer was buried. Boulatruelle searches the woods extensively but finds nothing; the village gossip continues, leaving the implication that some secret or treasure may indeed be buried, or at least that the village imagination fills the gap.

The chapter functions as an interlude mixing folklore, rumor, and a small mystery that dovetails with suspicions surrounding fugitives and hidden valuables. It frames local mentality and prepares readers to view later discoveries through a lens of myth, misinterpretation, and the social consequences of stigma.

Key events

1. Hugo describes the Montfermeil superstition of a horned 'black man' digging treasures at night.
2. Three traditional responses to encountering the figure are explained, each bringing death in different spans.
3. The monk Tryphon's Latin couplet enumerating possible 'treasures' is quoted and discussed.
4. Boulatruelle, an ex-convict road-mender, is noticed digging and roaming the forest at dusk.
5. Villagers, especially Thénardier and the schoolmaster, suspect Boulatruelle has found a buried coffer.
6. Thénardier and the schoolmaster get Boulatruelle drunk and piece together his account of seeing a stranger bury a coffer.
7. Boulatruelle's searches turn up nothing, but gossip and speculation continue in the village.

Analysis

This chapter operates as a thematic and tonal interlude that fuses folklore with social paranoia. By presenting a local superstition in detail, Hugo shows how myth shapes perception: ordinary sights (a peasant with a dung-fork, a sleeping man) become diabolical apparitions at night. The legend’s three fatal responses dramatize choices between curiosity and self-preservation, and suggest that seeking illicit gain invites destruction. The Latin lines attributed to Tryphon condense the novel’s recurring ambiguity about value and ruin—treasure can be coin, stone, corpse, or nothing—hinting that appearances and expectations often mislead.

Boulatruelle’s story extends these ideas into social reality. As an ex-convict, his behavior is read through prejudice; villagers interpret his furtive forest activity as evidence of concealed crime or treasure. Thénardier and the schoolmaster function as local investigators whose gossip reconstructs events from fragments, illustrating how narrative and rumor create a probable but unreliable account. Structurally, the chapter pauses the central plot to develop atmosphere, social texture, and motifs of concealment and misrecognition that will recur: buried secrets, the weight of past identities, and the danger of reading intention into action. The narrative voice mixes mock-scholarly cataloguing and moral observation, both undermining and exploiting superstition to critique how communities produce meaning and punish the marginal.

Important quotes

“it is thought that the devil, from time immemorial, has selected the forest as a hiding-place for his treasures.”

NarratorIntroduces the central Montfermeil superstition that frames villagers' interpretation of nocturnal finds.

“Fodit, et in fossa thesauros condit opaca, As, nummas, lapides, cadaver, simulacra, nihilque.”

NarratorTryphon's enigmatic Latin couplet listing the possible outcomes of digging up the devil's treasure—riches or nothing—underscores the story's ambiguity.

“Boulatruelle was a man who was viewed with disfavor by the inhabitants of the district as too respectful, too humble, too prompt in removing his cap to every one, and trembling and smiling in the presence of the gendarmes,—probably affiliated to robber bands, they said;”

NarratorSummarizes the villagers' prejudiced perception of Boulatruelle, explaining why his forest behavior attracts suspicion.

Characters in Volume 2, Chapter 2

• Tryphon
• Boulatruelle
• Thénardier
• schoolmaster
• Father Six-Fours
• goodwives
• Voltairians