How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
When those who found this skeleton attempted to disengage it from the one it embraced, it fell to dust. (XI.IV.8)
Now there's an image of impermanence. At the beginning of the novel, the narrator had been walking around looking at medieval graffiti in a cathedral that's been around since the 13th century. Whoever wrote the graffiti "disappeared many centuries ago," but the graffiti survived. And now the last line of the novel is given to the frail skeletal remains of two of its characters. That's a contrast, but it's not so hard to figure out what Hugo's up to. Let's review: people may not literally last, but they do last when memorialized in a work of art, like a novel.
There's a big debate in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame about whether a building or a printed book is the more permanent art form. We're not sure if Hugo totally resolves the debate, but we are pretty sure that we'll remember Quasimodo long after Frollo's graffiti has disappeared.