Les Misérables · Chapter
What Is Met with on the Way from Nivelles explained
In 1861, the narrator travels on foot from Nivelles to La Hulpe, passing through the countryside.
What happens
In 1861, the narrator travels on foot from Nivelles to La Hulpe, passing through the countryside. He stops at a place called Hougomont, where a peasant woman shows him a cannonball hole from the Battle of Waterloo. He then sees a distant lion-shaped monument and realizes he is on the battlefield of Waterloo.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
Marius’s psychological peak occurs as he is overwhelmed by a “whirlwind” of confusion, realizing that his pers…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- The Human Condition and Fate
The narrator's journey to the battlefield of Waterloo evokes the enduring impact of historical events on the landscape and human memory.
Key passages
“It was a French cannonball which made that.”
A French cannonball created that hole.
The peasant woman explains the origin of the hole in the door at Hougomont.
“He was on the battlefield of Waterloo.”
He had arrived at the site of the Battle of Waterloo.
The narrator recognizes the location as the famous battlefield.
