This article discusses the relationship between equality and difference in theNinety-three Victor Hugo's novel, which deals with the War in the Vendée (1793), i.e. the counter-revolution for the restoration of the monarchy in France. In this historical novel the author discusses two conflicting views among the French revolutionaries, represented by the sword and the axe, about the kind of Republic to be implanted and the possibility of equality of the peasant, the woman and the child in relation to the city dweller, the man and the adult. As far as the fate of the child is concerned, the novel highlights two revolutionary utopias in dispute, viz. compulsory military service and compulsory school education.
equality and difference; peasant; woman; child; school