He visibly glows with the praise. Despite his proclaimed pride and independence, a child always wants the recognition and approval of grownups.

"I'd be like the Limping Lady." He says it immediately. He's thought of the person he wanted to grow into before. "Folks who died after me said we won the war, and the worst of the krauts ran away and hid so they couldn't be brought to justice. I'd hunt them down. I'd make sure everyone knew what they did, and they'd never get to do it again."

He sees the Limping Lady as a hero. Her shadow, the barest silhouette of a memory, glows with heroic purpose. Brave and smart and steady and tough as nails--all the things Gavroche wanted to grow to be. Her memory allows him to think of himself and his mother as having died heroes' deaths, rather than just more senseless casualties piled upon countless before.