Eponine+Thenardier+Block+D

Éponine Thénardier
 * Name:**

18
 * Age:**

Female
 * Gender:**

Beggar, Thief (Occasionally does odd jobs disguised as a boy)
 * Occupation:**

Third Estate
 * Social Class:**

Destitute. Éponine finds herself lucky to eat a meal every two days. She has no proper clothing and lives in a dilapidated hovel. She helps her family pay the rent for the house mainly through begging.
 * Financial Situation:**

Tawny skin. Sunken dark eyes that reveal a despondent spirit. Disheveled bistre hair falling below the shoulders. Homely looking with thin, pale lips. Emaciated from hunger. Filthy overall and clothed in tatters.
 * Appearance:**

Rue St. Antoine, Paris
 * Location:**

Notre Dame de Paris
 * Habitual Locations:**

No routine. Scavenges for food for herself and her family. Begs for money in front of Notre Dame. Delivers letters, written under different names, to the wealthy to ask for donations. Pickpockets pedestrians. Sometimes participates in illicit trades (e.g. breaking into a house with a gang). If successful in earning a few coins, she returns to her home. If not, she roams the nighttime Paris.
 * Daily routine:**

Strong, tenacious, fearless. Faked cheerfulness. Cautious, yet impulsive. Sly and quick-witted. Can be devious from time to time. Versatile to different situations and well-adapted to life on the streets.
 * Personality/Quirks/Unique Personality Traits:**

Éponine’s family was not always impoverished. When she was young, her father was an innkeeper. When Éponine was 4, however, the inn became bankrupt and the family was turned out to the streets. Being an unscrupulous and abusive man, Éponine’s father often beat her and forced her to earn money through begging and stealing. He became engaged in various criminal activities, leading his daughter to a similar lifestyle.
 * Past/individual-family history:**

- Jondrette Thénardier (father) - Thomassa Thénardier (mother) - Azelma Thénardier (younger sister) - Gavroche Thénardier (first younger brother) - Gervais Thénardier (second younger brother) - Babet Thénardier (third younger brother)
 * Family:**

- Lives next door to Marius Pontmercy, who is from a rich Bourgeoisie family. He left home after a conflict with his grandfather and chose to live in poverty. He gives Éponine a few francs when possible, though he is poor himself. Marius is friend to several passionate revolutionaries. Éponine likes Marius but does not have the chance to meet him often. - Loitering around Notre Dame led Éponine to meet Father Fluvant, the bishop of the cathedral. He sometimes gives Éponine a few sous out of charity, but he usually looks down on her with contempt and disgust. Éponine hates him, and he is the reason she despises the Church.
 * Social relations with your own and other classes (people you deal with or know about in the class, AND your opinions and feelings about them):**

None.
 * Religion:**

Literate but uneducated.
 * Education:**

French (with heavy use of slang)
 * Languages you speak:**

- Earning the day’s bread is the main challenge of life - Has family problems (i.e. abusive father, negligent mother)
 * Main privileges and/or hardships:**


 * Portrait:**

12 July 1789. What a day! Paris is certainly becoming riotous, and perhaps the entire country is. Today I ventured further than Notre Dame. Rumor that an army was stationed at Place Louis XV reached me and piqued my curiosity. Ever since the Tennis Court Oath (which I could not attend unfortunately), I have been wanting to be present at every little uproar there was. Because, if what people are saying is true, that they can make such a dramatic change for the peasants that the prices will drop and the taxes lessen, then can I not hope that things might turn out a tid bit better for me? If things do change so much, perhaps I can learn a trade and get a decent job. Or Father can reclaim his old inn...are these too much to hope?
 * Journal #1**

Anyway, I walked all the way to Place Louis XV to see what sort of thing was happening. There were hundreds of soldiers on horseback, whom I assumed to be the German cavalry that people were talking about. And the mob, which I was part of, grew to be equally large. It was really chaotic, and I nearly broke my foot in all the excitement. But that didn’t stop me from throwing rocks at the horses along with the crowd. I don’t know why I did it. I probably got influenced by the angry atmosphere. Or maybe it was out of the fear that the troops would actually start massacring the people.

On the way out of the commotion, I visited an Armourer’s shop. I was hoping I could "borrow" a gun (though, of course, I had to be satisfied with a lame knife). I ran into Adeline Barousse there. She’s the talk of the town because of her having an affair with the King. I'd have thought that she would have everything one could possibly need at Versailles, so I was quite surprised at seeing her there. According to her, she wanted to be vindicated of the rumor about her affair with the King through her rebellious actions. To me it’s nonsense. Life is all I have, so I don’t really care if I lose it or not. But Adeline is different. She's blessed. What is a scandal to risk your life and all your wealth and privileges?

21 January 1793. King Louis XVI was executed today. It's a long walk to Place Louis XV (Place de la Révolution now, I guess), but I still went to watch the execution. It’s amazing how the revolution brought the pig down from all his opulence to the guillotine in just a few years. The entire population of France must have been in the square, come to see the show. I don’t know how the tricoteuses manage to knit stockings in all the confusion. Confusion’s always my friend though, because people can’t keep their wits about them to notice their wallets disappearing. I made enough money to please Father for once, and feeling quite cheerful, I grabbed a loaf of bread from a girl and fled toward home.
 * Journal #2**

I must have let down my guard, basking in my good fortune, because that girl managed to catch me. I was about to give up on that loaf of bread when she suddenly flopped down beside me and suggested sharing the bread. That was more than I was hoping for, so I agreed. After a while of eating silently, she suddenly asked me whether I felt sorry for the King. Which is the stupidest question in the world. Who feels sorry for that lump of fat? There was nothing kingly about him. I don’t know politics, but I say he was a terrible king, taxing starving people to fatten his already fat self.

Cécile Croisseux, that girl whose bread I stole, then asked me what I thought of émigrés. She said that she wanted the nobles to be punished. I don’t really care whether the nobles get punished or not, but it’s rather cowardly of them to run away leaving the country in this mess. They were the cause of the revolution so they should take responsibility. If the nobles didn't tax people and cheat them of their proper wages, then there would have been no insurrection. All those yellow chickens know how to do is kill people and now that their wealth and life is being threatened, they are fleeing!

I was hoping Cécile would go away at this point, but she continued to badger me with questions. Her next topic was the Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which she was very passionate about. I told her that it was very noble of the people to write something like that, but I didn’t think it applied to everyone. I don’t feel like I’m treated equally as everyone else or like I have gained the rights that others have. And I’ve experienced a lot of situations when my gender was against me. I admire the Declaration of Rights of Woman and Female Citizen more. It was very smart of Olympe de Gouges to bring attention to the women, who are always off the stage. I also heard that something similar was published in Britain too. Was it //A Vindication of the Rights of Woman// by Mary Wollstonecraft? I would love to read that even if it means learning English. Maybe in the heat of the revolution, the persecution of women will end too.

August 12, 1803. It’s been a while since I have written about the revolution. I think this will be my last journal entry, because the revolution already ended in my opinion. Napoleon started a new epoch in French history. Things are less radical after Napoleon became consul, and the changes that are happening are positive for once. I’m not saying that everything’s perfect. The one change I hoped for the most, the rights of women, doesn’t seem like it will happen anytime soon. But I welcome with open arms the peace Napoleon is creating.
 * Journal #3**

It seems like I am not the only one sensing the positive change. I found an abandoned newspaper today and found a spot near Notre Dame to peruse it. I was stumbling over the words aloud when an artist, who was sitting not far from me, looked up from her work. I was about to move to another place so I wouldn't distract her, but she motioned it was okay. Putting down her brush and closing the palette, she approached me and asked what was in the news. There wasn’t anything special in the news, which I find is a welcome sign these days. I remember when the newspaper was nothing but a list of people guillotined during The Terror. Joanna Chapelle, the artist, agreed with me that things were much better these days than they ever have been in the last decade.

Joanna was amiable and didn’t seem to mind that I was dressed in rags, and we dropped into a conversation. She admired the reforms made by Napoleon, especially the concordat with the Church which I couldn't care less about. We both agreed that the establishment of lycées was good. It’s a pity that girls can’t attend, but the idea that even the poorest peasant can be educated is quite attractive. (This also means that my brothers have a chance to receive an education and get a decent job. Imagine! My family out of poverty!) The economy also found its stability at last, and I have been less hungry these days.

Joanna and I talked about the revolution for a while too. She said it didn’t affect her much. For me, the revolution gave me hopes for a better life. Although, contrary to my hopes, the revolution made my life more difficult. It didn’t lower the prices of bread, and the competition for food and money was still high. Plus, the streets of Paris were always filled with tension and danger; there was no knowing when people would start an uproar and how big the uproar would become. The revolution did make my life dramatic and exciting, but I am rather glad it ended.