Les Misérables Volume 2, Chapter 6 Summary

Summary

Jean Valjean and Cosette arrive in a vast, melancholy garden attached to a ruinous building as night falls. The garden is described in detail: poplars, fruit-trees, vegetable beds, a melon patch under glass, stone benches black with moss, an old well, and a mutilated stone statue; the house that overlooks it has grated windows and scuttles like prisons, and no light shows from any window. Valjean resumes his shoes and takes Cosette under a shed near a pile of fagots and a statue, seeking the deepest concealment possible after their flight. They hear the tumult of a patrol searching nearby streets and alleys—the sound of gun-stocks, Javert’s calls to his spies and imprecations—but the uproar seems to recede after a quarter hour. Both are tense and expectant; Cosette trembles and presses close to Valjean, who lays his hand lightly on her mouth to keep silence.

Just as the patrol noise fades into the distance, the scene shifts abruptly: from the darkness rises a hymn, a celestial burst of song issuing from the very edifice that appears uninhabited. The voices are described as women’s and childlike—the virginal and innocent accents that feel almost otherworldly. The effect is overpowering; the two fugitives are brought to their knees though they do not understand the source or reason for the chant. The hymn seems to transform the night for Valjean, making him envision a blue sky and feel metaphorical wings unfolding within him. The music fades after an indeterminate span, leaving the garden empty and silent once more; the previously menacing and reassuring presences alike have vanished, leaving behind only a faint breeze and melancholy sounds from the wall’s weeds.

Key events

1. Jean Valjean and Cosette find refuge in a gloomy, deserted garden beside a ruinous building.
2. Valjean retrieves his shoes, shelters Cosette beneath a shed, and both keep silent during the night.
3. They hear the nearby patrol searching and Javert’s calls, creating a tense, threatening atmosphere.
4. After the patrol noise recedes, a mysterious, heavenly hymn issues from the dark building.
5. Moved by the song, Cosette and Valjean fall to their knees in reverent astonishment.
6. The hymn fades and the garden returns to silence, leaving an enigmatic calm.

Analysis

This chapter juxtaposes two contrasting auditory worlds—violent, earthly pursuit and a radiant, almost supernatural hymn—to heighten the emotional and moral tension around Valjean and Cosette. The garden and ruined façade create a liminal setting: neither fully domestic nor wholly wild, a space suited for hiding yet also for revelation. The detailed, melancholic landscape emphasizes isolation and the sense that the fugitives are outside ordinary life. The patrol’s noise and Javert’s voice anchor the scene in social and legal menace, reminding readers of the ever-present danger to Valjean.

The sudden emergence of the hymn functions as a narrative counterpoint: it both comforts and mystifies. The song triggers a physical and spiritual response—kneeling, visions of blue sky, imagined wings—that suggests redemption, grace, or an ascent beyond immediate peril without naming any doctrinal source. Hugo uses sensory contrast (harsh percussion of the patrol versus the celestial chorus) and focalization through Valjean’s interior experience to deepen sympathy for him and to hint at larger moral forces at work. Structurally, the chapter acts as a hinge: it relieves immediate tension but replaces it with an enigma that propels curiosity. The ruined statue, grated windows, and unlit house serve as symbols of decay, confinement, and hidden life; the hymn implies that sanctity or human goodness can exist even behind prison-like walls, foreshadowing future moral revelations.

Important quotes

“Jean Valjean found himself in a sort of garden which was very vast and of singular aspect; one of those melancholy gardens which seem made to be looked at in winter and at night.”

NarratorOpens the scene with a detailed, melancholic description of the garden where Valjean and Cosette hide.

“It was a hymn which issued from the gloom, a dazzling burst of prayer and harmony in the obscure and alarming silence of the night;”

NarratorThe unexpected, celestial song contrasts with the earlier threats and transforms the mood of the scene.

“Cosette and Jean Valjean fell on their knees.”

NarratorTheir physical reaction to the hymn shows the song’s immediate spiritual impact on both innocent and penitent.

Characters in Volume 2, Chapter 6

• Jean Valjean
• Cosette
• Javert
• Thénardier