La barricade de Corinthe

La barricade de Corinthe is a makeshift defense built from assorted objects to provide protection during street fighting. In the account of the uprising, it is more than an obstacle: the adjoining cabaret houses the insurgents’ headquarters, making the barricade and its interior a shared space of combat and command.

Structure and Setting

A barricade is defined by its improvised construction: varied objects are assembled into an obstacle that can shield those fighting in the streets. The barricade of Corinthe is positioned against a cabaret. The cabaret’s lower room is the insurgents’ headquarters, so their defensive line is directly connected to the place from which they organize.

Place in the Uprising

The structure anchors the account of Little Gavroche’s death in Chapter XV of Book One of Part Five. That passage begins when someone is seen at the foot of the barricade and ends with the announcement that the child’s small, great soul has flown away. The barricade is therefore the setting through which the narrative approaches the death, not merely a piece of street architecture.

Narrative Significance

The barricade brings together the uprising’s practical and human dimensions: it is protection assembled for combat, a boundary adjoining the insurgents’ headquarters, and the place at whose foot the account of Little Gavroche’s final action begins. Its improvised form contrasts with the grave consequence framed by the scene. The defensive obstacle cannot make the fighting safe; instead, it marks the exposed threshold at which the account moves from collective resistance to the loss of a child.