Little People Know!
So never kick a dog,
Because he's just a pup,
We'll fight like twenty armies and we won't give up,
So you'd better run for cover,
When the pup grows up!
Gavroche, in my opinion, represented the childhood innocence that Enjolras... never had, in a way. The spunky, loud mouthed street 'brat' fought just as hard, and pulled his weight when it came to the final fight at the barricades.
But before the barricades... before the fighting, Gavroche was just a street kid. Well... in a matter of speaking, of course. In Hugo's novel, Gavroche took in two kids - both younger than him - and taught them that life wasn't over once you hit the streets. He taught them how to survive. From a ten year old kid, I think that's pretty amazing.
In the show, Gavroche was the 'bearer of bad news'. He was the one to break General Lamarque's death to the rest of Les Amis. (Before 'Do You Hear the People Sing' - LISTEN EVERYBODY!... General Lamarque... is dead.) And his death moved the entire audience to tears -- he, just a child, had ran out into the streets to gather bullets and cartridges for Les Amis, and was shot by the National Guard. His final words were 'So you'd better run for cover... when the pup grows...' Sadly, the youngest Thenardier, like his sister, Eponine, would never actually get to 'grow up'.
As I just mentioned, Gavroche is a Thenardier. He had two sisters, Eponine and Azelma. Azelma was not mentioned in the musical, but in the novel, she got a small role. In Cosette, the evil novel, Azelma played the 'bad-guy' and the all around, bed-hopping slut. Sad, as in the original book, she was a pretty cool kid. So much for decent sequals.
Gavroche's parents, the Thenardiers (Er, dun think they had first names - Thenardier and Thenardiess?), literally threw him out - rather, he left. From the time the family moved to Paris, Gavroche was in the streets. He never went home, but seemed to have some sort of vague relationship with Eponine. (In the show, or, when I saw it, he seriously looked like he was going to shove Marius out of the way, and hug Eponine. It was sweet.)
So, I'll end my little overview of Gavroche with this - though he was the youngest, and though some people don't considter him a Revolutionary or Rebel, he absolutely was! A Revolutionary and Rebel in his own way. He pulled just as much weight as anyone else, and because of his age, he tends to be overlooked.
Quotes
Yea, I purposely skipped the 'actor' section, 'cause I can't seem to remember any names currently. Demmit, look back for it, soon. Now for quotes...
"Think you're poor? Think you're free? Follow me! FOLLOW ME!" - Gavroche, 'Look Down'
"So never kick a dog, because he's just a pup. We'll fight like twenty armies and we won't give up. So you'd better run for cover when the pup grows up!" - As Javert is discovered to be a spy, and Gavroche's Death. It's used a few times...
More to come, as I have the time.
Dedication
Yup. I did mention this earlier. All ri, my dear friend, Olivia, and I are the two youngest of our friends. One day, she mentioned how 'Little people *do* know', so I decided to dedicate the profile of the youngest Rebel to her! After all... we're rebels, too... <pause> *real* rebels...