Bossuet is hilarious and, even in just his second chapter, has made so many funny comments:
“Day before yesterday, I entered the school, by chance. You know, one does have such freaks sometimes.”
Bossuet, you’re a student, what do you mean “by chance?”
“He [the student] is an honorable idler who lounges, who practises country jaunts, who cultivates the grisette, who pays court to the fair sex, who is at this very moment, perhaps, with my mistress. Let us save him.”
His reasoning
I’d say I’m done with the jokes, but as we learned in the last chapter: “Puns are sometimes serious factors in politics.” Marius thinking “Lesgle” is “L’Aigle” not only prepares him to understand the “Bossuet” pun at the end of the chapter, but may be a reference to his own Bonapartist politics. “The eagle” might be a “fine name” because eagles were one of the symbols of the French Empire under Napoleon.
I love how awkward Marius is throughout this chapter. Aside from his general lack of experience socializing with people his age, his slow and short responses at the beginning reflect his distraction; after all, he was just cast out. He even seems a bit rude at first, with “I do not know you” coming off a bit abrupt. Still, their shared status as “students” allows him to trust Bossuet a little, and the name “Lesgle/l’aigle” really convinces him to open a bit more (his praise of his name) before he finally reacts emotionally to the story (with “mortification” and apologies). By the end, then, he’s polite and fairly open. He’s still not the best conversationalist, of course. While Bossuet’s speech is peppered with jokes about student life, jokes in French and in Latin, and jokes at his own expense. Marius, in contrast, is to the point, mostly just reacting to the “big picture” of the story and not adding jokes or details of his own. He’s not experienced with this kind of conversation or this kind of humor, but Bossuet gives him the space to respond even as he continues adding jokes to his own words. Bossuet doesn’t provide a distraction, exactly – Marius can’t ignore that he’s in a cab as he has this conversation – but his good humor is still helpful. Of course, he does help Marius actually find housing in a way, but his general openness really helps compensate for Marius’ lack of that. And in the best way possible! Marius now has two friends!!
Poor Marius must be very overwhelmed, though. Friends are good, but that’s a lot of experiences in one day, and these are rather chaotic friends. Bossuet basically introduced himself with “I got kicked out of law school for you and I’m happy enough to take you in because of it, but I actually don’t have anywhere to stay myself,” and Courfeyrac offered his home before he even introduced himself to Marius! Then again, their chaos may be reassuring, as it suggests that the tumults of his day are just part of being a student, and if these two are working through it, maybe he can as well.
