The void stretched out before the young girl; long dark and un-ending. Her wide eyes saw the pit, filled to the brim with tortured, screaming souls; souls marked with destitution and distress. Young Cosette herself was teetering on the edge of the abyss, her lack of balance and stability threatening to throw her down to join the pitiful beings crying below.
And on the other side of this deep hole was her. The Lady. The spectacular doll that was the speculation of all the village girls including Eponine, Azelma and even Cosette herself. Dressed in pink crape with gold ringlets and a fair complection, The Lady seemed a princess to The Lark.
But the chasm of poverty lay stretched out between the girl and the doll, and there was nothing to cross the abyss with. Cosette would never obtain the doll, the jewel that stood proudly at the center of the booth, the windows shielding her grimy with the remnants of the greedy fingers of the village children.
Fate sometimes works in odd ways. Had The Lark not met a certain man in a yellow coat in the woods that night, Cosette's life might have been thrown into the void of the poor one day. She would have lived among those other weeping creatures.
But Jean Valjean- this yellow clad man; this man who in himself held the power to alter a young girl's future- was the bridge to cross that abyss. He was the fallen log or plank of wood that elevated Cosette above the ravine of helpless poverty and further despair which Cosette had been falling into before. He was the path to the world on the other side. A world that was full of pink crape and pretty ringleted hair- a world of money. The world of The Lady. Valjean transformed the young, beaten, ugly Lark into a replica of the doll that had seemes so far out of reach before. He helped her scale the chasm of wretchedness and assisted her in embracing Catherine The Lady, Cosette's bright and lovely future.
Let us turn now to another character, another young girl who possesses a future- telling doll. Eponine sits contentedly on the ground of her parent's inn, playing with her doll, Jeanne. She dresses her in fine clothes, bits of lace, and scraps of pretty calico, but the doll itself is broken. Her face is faded, her limbs threatening to fall off, her hair knotted and disorderly.
Eponine now is pretty herself, dressed in presentable, even nice clothing with a child-like radiance emitting from her. She is well away from the pit of the poor, she is safe for now. She is securely set in The Lady's world, not quite at the center with Jean Valjean, but away from the edge for sure.
Then the Thenardier's inn was lost. As the family loaded all their possessions into the carriage and drove away they were un-knowingly driving closer and closer to the edge of the dangerous ravine. Nearer to the egde now they could hear the moans of those inside it, they could see the blackness of it in the distance but they didn't fall in. They were still balancing on The Lady's side.
Eponine's fine clothes faded into simpler dresses and her lifestyle grew more and more impoverished, but still the family clung to the world of money desperately. They feared poverty and what it would bring.
The family held on as long as they could, but with no income and little money the eventually fell into the abyss. They joined the ranks of those who needed but could not have. Eponine along with all the Thenardiers were in destitution.
Over time, Jeanne the doll had also lost her calico and lace. She too fell with the family as their lives hit the bottom of that ravenous chasm. Her still, faded face, limp arms and matted hair stayed with the young Eponine until her youthful innocence died too young.
Eponine's face lost its rosiness. Her eyes grew shrouded and pained. She no longer held her youthful radiance, her charm gone years before its time. Her clothes turned to rags, her hair became tangled. Her once pretty face faded into a mask of poverty. With each letter she carried for her father and with each beating she endured her tired body threatened to give out on her, her limbs hung on by threads. The cheery Eponine of the past gave way to the poor, sullen one. The one that greatly resembled her old doll.
Two dolls. Two futures. Two young girls with a life ahead of them mapped out by play things. Two children whose fortunes switched around completely by an unknown force. One was saved from misery, the other cast into it. Two rolls- the rolls of the jealous and the roll of the contempt- switched in the play of life. Two worlds- the one residing with Catherine the doll in the land of money, the other residing with Jeanne at the bottom of a loathsome pit. Two dolls. Two futures.
This short one shot took 6 MONTHS to think through. I had the basic idea about how the dolls were incredibly symbolic of Cosette's and Eponine's futures in my mind but the words didn't come out right. One day I was reading Les Miserables and I read this line about the pit of poverty and it came out into this- my best Les Miserables fan fiction ever despite the fact that it's a oneshot. Hope you enjoyed it- I like reviews but not flames. CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM!
Much love,
Ruby Thorn