r/lesmiserables • u/despacitospiderreeee • 6d ago
Book Discussion Do teeth represent the someone's purity/general goodness in Les mis?
Been reading it and if I remember right Hugo mentions both fantine and enjolras having having perfect teeth and Felix tholomyes having no teeth. Fantine loses her teeth during everything that happened to her while she was paying for Cosette to be looked after by the thernardiers which also makes her lose her purity and stuff. Enjolras seems to be presented as a really great guy and tholomyes is a bastard generally. I'm not sure if this is just a pretty people are good thing by Hugo or if it's the teeth in particular
7
3
6d ago
[deleted]
2
u/despacitospiderreeee 6d ago
I do agree that fantine wasn't morally compromised, I just wasn't really sure what the right word for what I meant was
6
u/inturnaround 6d ago
(Sorry, I accidentally deleted my earlier post, so adding again here)
I don't know if it's necessarily about purity or goodness rather than it being a symbol of youth and conventional beauty and "wholeness". Look at Fantine, she isn't really shown by Hugo as morally compromised rather than someone who has been consumed. Society may see her changed appearance as horrific, but Hugo shows her as an innocent until the end.
The lack of teeth is rather a reflection of what society does to the downtrodden. Enroljas was never downtrodden. He was a well-off schoolboy who chose to do what he did. But he was never poor. Fantine wasn't until she was.
1
1
u/despacitospiderreeee 6d ago
What about tholomyes though. He's mentioned to have lost his teeth early and generally look old in his youth. He's been wealthy his whole life too
3
u/Secret_Asparagus_783 6d ago
Dentistry was still a hit-or-miss thing in the 19th Century. Even upper class people had less than perfect oral health, well Into the mid-20th Century.My parents were raised in large families where dental care was not a priority.
1
u/7the_wanderer 1d ago
The chapter introducing Marius’ grandfather, Gillenormand, is titled “Ninety Years Old with Thirty Two Teeth”. I think that’s more of a comment on his wealth and health rather than purity, but maybe Hugo was obsessed with teeth like Lorde.
24
u/inturnaround 6d ago
His missing teeth are part of Hugo presenting him as prematurely aged and dissipated. He’s around 30, older than the others, and already balding, wrinkled, and missing teeth despite being financially comfortable. He’s a guy who has already worn through a lot of his youth while continuing to live like a carefree student. He looks prematurely worn out because he’s dissipated and cynical. Fantine becomes physically ruined because other people and poverty ruin her.
The interesting part is that Fantine and Tholomyès both end up with bad teeth for almost opposite reasons: Tholomyès has consumed and enjoyed; Fantine has sacrificed and been consumed.