At this point, Hugo breaks off to discuss, in Chapter 20, the failure of the general populace to rise in 1832. He is convinced that in the long run, the natural, inevitable direction of mankind is forward, but he recognizes that this march is not steady. Sometimes a specific generation places its own happiness above the general welfare. Hugo is not severe toward this selfishness; he recognizes the individual's right to prefer his own interests to those of humanity. In general, he observes, people are resistant to the more violent forms of progress such as revolutions and insurrections. They are afraid of violence and incapable of understanding the ideals that motivate them. But self-interest, however understandable, must not and will not be man's guiding principle. Paris' rejection of the insurgents was a temporary aberration, a sickness. Mankind is basically healthy. With all its relapses, failure of nerve, intermittence, it is surely marching toward its ultimate apotheosis.
At the barricade, the government troops launch an open assault. The insurgents retaliate vigorously and once more push back the assailants. Marius and Enjolras are the two poles of the resistance. On one side, Marius exposes himself impetuously. On the other side, Enjolras, more self-controlled, fights with deadly efficiency.
For a while, the military situation remains a stalemate. The rebels in their almost impregnable fortification fend off the enemy, but they cannot defeat an inexhaustible supply of troops. Gradually the successive waves of soldiers sweeping over the wall wear them down. Their weapons are gone. Many are killed, almost all are wounded. Their defense is a magnificent epic. It invites comparison with Homeric deeds or medieval heroes.
