In this chapter we see our new friends - the four students and their four girlfriends - head out on their long promised adventure which turns out to be an outing in the countryside beyond Paris. Though I can see the function it is meant to play, there is a uncomfortable fixation on the “beauty” of these four young grisettes that finds it’s focus on Fantine in particular.
It’s an effective device if it is meant to show the shallowness of Tholomyès own attraction to Fantine, but I can’t help but see in describing her using analogies to greek godesses, statuesque perfection, and opining about the balance of allure and modesty Hugo himself seems very fixated on the outward presentation of this “perfect” specimen without much thought about what may have been happening within the heart and mind of young Fantine.
Ultimately I think it functions both as a unmasking of the shallow surface level intentions of the young men in our tale as well as the fact that sometimes our fixation on particular kinds of beauty can blind us to seeing beyond them.
Here at the outset of this adventure everyone is having a great time, and you get the idea that it all feels a bit fairytale like, especially for our grisettes. It’s hard not to think about what may be lurking around the corner here, and I’m sure it isn’t just a “happily ever after”.