Les Misérables: Lovely Ladies

"What is this history of Fantine? It is society purchasing a slave."

Summary

    Fantine had been dismissed as winter took its cold, iron grip on the world. She kept to herself, and wandered about the town without hope. She did not have enough money for nearly anything: she could not afford proper clothing for winter; she could not afford her debts for her furniture; and most importantly, she could not afford the dues for Cosette which the Thénardiers had recently increased. Desperate, Fantine goes to a barber; her beaming golden locks fell to her knees, and she sells every golden hair for a sum of ten francs. With the barber money she buys a petticoat for Cosette, like the Thénardiers claimed to need. However they had no need of the worthless cloth, for they wanted the money; they gave the coat to Éponine.

    The Thénardiers wrote again, still asking for more, this time begging Fantine to send money for medicine, claiming that poor Cosette had been stricken with military fever. After learning the possibility of death from the fever, Fantine makes no hesitation in reporting to the dentist she saw earlier that day. She returns home with fourty francs for the Thénardiers and a hole where her two front teeth once were. Fantine's only friend, Marguerite, despairs at the sight of poor Fantine, who she found sitting in the dark claiming to be content because Cosette will live another day.
    Fantine sold back her furniture. She sold everything until she had nothing but a blanket for a bed and her meager shanty. The Thénardiers continued to ask for more, but Fantine has no more to give. Fantine despairs, for she cannot sustain the only light in her terrible life. Marguerite, loyal as ever, takes the poor woman and has her sell the one thing she has left: her body. From here on, she belonged to everyone, for everyone knew of her abysmal circumstance, and everyone took advantage of it. She was an object to play with, to tease, to mock, to bully. She was a sex doll for the lustful, prey for the envious, and a spit-bowl for the proud. Fantine was no more; she was but an empty shell, pouring what little soul she has left into feeding Cosette. But in vain.

Analysis

    The brain has a tendency to organize everything it encounters, which often leads to organizing things in a hierarchy, whether it be that of a food chain in any given environment, what possessions we deem important enough to save in a fire, or, in this case, who to respect in society. The social hierarchy of Absolutist France, like most of Europe at the time, centered around the wealthy and centrifuged out anything that did not have the money to hang on. And those who did kicked and mocked those on the outside because it makes them happy; if there is someone below one's self, that means that one is above someone, that one is better and more superior to someone else. By placing one's self in the social hierarchy, it is easiest to compare one's self to those below one than to depress one's self with the unreachable glamour of the higher-ups. Therefore, those like Fantine are easily tossed farther down the ladder by being shoved down by those who have the strength, wealth, or ambition to do so.

    Although pounded into the bottom of society, Fantine manages to remain content, for she is living vicariously through her daughter. She believes so strongly that her love for her child is what's keeping them both alive that she strives to keep going. Fantine's hope in a hopeless place is a combination of the human instinct of self-preservation and, more importantly, the motherly instinct to protect her children. Fantine gives all she has to keeping herself afloat to keep her daughter alive, and in making such a character Hugo created the "mother" archetype.

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                          Nick

Les Misérables: I Dreamed a Dream

"'Long live Tholomyès!' exclaimed Dahlia and Zéphine. And they burst out laughing. Fantine laughed with the rest. An hour later, when she had returned to her room, she wept. It was her first love affair...she had given herself to Tholomyès as to a husband, and the poor girl had a child."

Summary

    In the year 1817, the streets of Paris rung with the bells of prosperity and complexity; the vivacity and wealth of the city extended to, but was not limited to, four student boys, and their lovers: Dahlia and Listolier, Fameuil and Zéphine, Favourite and Blachevelle, and finally, Tholomyès and Fantine. The boys were comrades, and by social conventions, the four girls were friends, at best. The two quartets frolicked and connived together. Tholomyès led them in all they did, since he was the most clever and possessed the most initiative, and they all followed him faithfully and blindly, Fantine especially. 

    Fantine came from M. sur M, but no one knew how she had come to be. Her parents seemed to have never existed, as she raised and herself, and at fifteen she left M. sur M. for Paris, and it was there that she met her companions, of which she did not belong. While the rest were creatures of education and debauchery [one could liken them to modern university students without the university], Fantine was a basic woman of basic interests, who, although she had nothing in common with the rest of the group, followed them on their escapades just to be with Tholomyès.
    Tholomyès and they other boys came up with a plan to "surprise" their lovers, and waited a year to follow through with it. One day the eight young adults were dining at a restaurant, and Tholomyès was giving another lengthy philosophical speech, when a cart crashed and killed the horse carrying it. Tholomyès gives a short psalm, and Fantine is overcome with grief; and the girls tease her for it. Favourite, frustrated beyond belief by a year of constant waiting for the "surprise," demands it from Tholomyès. Finally, he agrees that the time has come. The boys exit the restaurant with a kiss on their lovers' brows, and tell them to wait.
    Some time passes. The girls watch carts go by the restaurant windows as they wait; one of the carts stop for a moment before continuing, which surprises Fantine. She thought the diligence never stopped; the girls tease her for this too. After an entire hour passes, their waiter brings them a letter from the boys, saying they told him to wait an hour before giving it to them. The letter, signed by all four of them but clearly written by Tholomyès explains that the boys' parents have demanded they return to Toulouse to make a living out of themselves, and that by the time they read the letter they are all long gone. Favourite, Dahlia, and Zéphine laugh it off, calling it a petty farce, and rejoicing in the name of Tholomyès. Fantine laments in despair, for she has been left to raise her child on her own.
    Desperate, Fantine resorts to returning to her hometown, M. sur M., to find work. However, she can't find work with a child out of wedlock in her arms, so she must have her dear Cosette live with someone else.  She stops in Montfermeil, and finds a woman named Madame Thénardier playing with two little girls. The Thénardiers charge an initial fee of fifty-seven francs and a monthly payment of seven francs to look after Cosette, and Fantine agrees. She spends the night there, pays the deposit, and then goes to M. sur M. to find work.

Analysis

    Fantine led an extraordinary and miraculous life in her early years, and her determination and will managed to get herself into luxury; however her luxury was short-lived, for she traded her strong will for comradery and a false love, and lost her dignity as a result.. Although her ambitions were admirable, she was caught off-guard by a sudden love for Felix Tholomyès. Her naivety became one with her, and she lost herself in the escapades of the double quartet. And even after her short period of blinding love, her naivety continued to follow her. In Montfermeil, her desperation blinded her from ensuring her daughter's safety; Fantine did not know of the Thénardiers' reputation as rats, and she didn't bother to inquire either. Her naivety, though, arose from abnegation: in Paris, she fell in love, and let her instinct and worries fall to side so she could follow Tholomyès and make him happy through her; in Montfermeil, she hastily gave Cosette away to the Thénardiers so that she could find a job to feed her daughter. Although society seemed to take advantage of Fantine's innocence, she persisted forward to sustain herself and Cosette, making her character an archetype of motherly abnegation.

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                      Nick

    

Les Misérables: At the End of the Day

"Overcome with shame, even more than with dispair, she quitted the shop, and returned to her room. So her fault was known to everyone. She no longer felt strong enough to say a word."

Summary

    Fantine was from a small town called Montreuil sur Mer (shortened as M. sur M.), its primary industry making English jet and German black glass trinkets. In 1815, three years before the return of Fantine, a moderately aged man arrived into the town, and had the idea of  "...substituting...gum-lac for resin, and, for bracelets in particular, slides of sheet-iron simply laid together, for slides of soldered sheet iron." This innovation made the process exponentially more efficient and cost-effective, and created a miniature industrial revolution for the town. This man, named Father at first, and later Monsieur Madeleine, transformed the town from a bleak gray speck of dirt on the map to one of the most admired arrondisements in France. The town wanted to thank Father Madeleine for his kindness to everyone and his contribution to the town, but refused any promotions until they were forced on him; it was not long before he became the mayor of the town.
    Fantine returns to M. sur M. in 1818, looking for work to feed her daughter, Cosette, who is with two inkeepers known as the Thénardiers in Montfermeil. Monsieur Madeleine maintained a policy of hiring anyone who had a good soul, so it was easy for Fantine to find a job there. However, her co-workers (who were all female) caught her writing letters to someone. And since humans are gluttonous in their curiosity, the women set forth all efforts to find out what was going on with the woman with beautiful golden locks. One woman found out she was sending money elsewhere to support a child born out of wedlock. Another woman managed a quick glance to the addressee of one of her letters: Monsieur, Monsieur Thénardier, inn-keeper at Montfermeil. The woman at the head of the operation judged every soul at the factory, and was named Madame Victurnien. She spent thirty-five francs to go to Montfermeil, and she returned saying, "I have seen the child." All this gossip and self-serving investigation took the span of one year.
     In this year, Fantine had lost herself in joy: she forgot about the vanities, and reveled in the fact that she was able to live an ample life and pay for her sweet Cosette at the same time. She even paid for furniture through credit, and was happy that she was going to pay of all the debts she had accrued: she was paying for rent, the furniture, and although the Thénardiers had upped the monthly stipend from six to fifteen francs that month, she managed to pay that too, and all was well. One morning at the factory, the superintendent handed her fifty francs, told her she was no longer employed there, and, in the mayors name, told her to leave.

Analysis

    Many in today's society remember the Industrial Revolution for its negative impact on the environment, but one must not forget the affect that it had on society. It created a hostile dog-eat-dog mindset that weaved out any possible weak link; and before labor laws came into effect, the unforgiving nature of unrestrained capitalism defined the workings of society.  Although one had the capacity to excel to great heights, such as Monsieur Madeleine, one could very rarely achieve success through any amount of hard work in the early decades of the Industrial Revolution (see: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair), often because of extraneous reasons; such is the despair of poor Fantine.
    Fantine worked as well and as hard as any woman worked at the factory in M. sur M, and worked for the same reason as many: to feed and clothe her family. However, her family lacked a husband yet had a child, making it an abomination, according to the overwhelmingly patriarchal and misogynistic society at the time. In addition, the curiosity of her co-workers drove them to further and further extremes to find the truth; but why? Victor Hugo underlines the gluttony of curiosity, saying that it is one of man's greatest vices. However the curiosity of the women at the factory did not appear from nowhere; indeed, it arose from their jealousy of Fantine, from mankind's inherent habit to find flaws in others. Fantine had hair that seemed to be woven from gold, and teeth that were carved from pearls; it was no wonder that the women, especially haggard old Madame Victurnien, sought to undermine her. In order to feel better about their own misfortunes and insecurities, the women used the power gained from their vapid curiosity to be rid of beautiful Fantine.

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                     Nick

Les Misérables: Valjean's Soliloquy

"Did a voice whisper in his ear that he had just passed the solemn hour of his destiny; that there no longer remained a middle course for him; that if he were not henceforth the best of men, he would be 

the worst."

Summary

    Jean Valjean wanders down a road; it's insignificant which one, he just wanted to go anywhere besides D------. While walking down a country road, Jean Valjean hears someone coming up from behind him. He dodges into a push, and sees the thing behind him is a little boy who's flipping his coin; probably his only coin. The boy, who is known as Little Gervais, drops the coin, and it rolls to Jean Valjean, who quickly puts his foot on it so Little Gervais can't take it back. The boy demands that Jean Valjean five it back, but he plays dumb and pretends he does not have the coin. Confused and upset, Little Gervais runs away crying. Jean Valjean gets up, and stares down at the coin he just stole. Suddenly he realizes that he just stole a boy's only means of wealth and ruined the boy's life. Overcome with guilt and shame, he cries out for the boy and runs after where he might have gone. He shouts and shouts and runs and runs, and he asks everyone he comes across if they've seen a little boy named Little Gervais. Jean Valjean accepts that he will never find the poor boy, and breaks down; his entire world crashes down around him. The man cries for the first time in nineteen years.
    Jean Valjean was last seen praying in front of the Bishop's house in the middle of the night.

Analysis

    The destruction of Jean Valjean's soul was brought about by self-hatred; by doing that which made him hate the world, his soul split into two: he must either be as good as a saint, or as evil as the society that he had grown to hate. But with every hateful thought comes an equivalently strong pang of guilt. An entire lifetime of psychological development flashes before his eyes: he sees a resentful yet sacrificing man become a man full of hate and sin; he no longer knows who this man is. Who is he? What does he want? Does he still want to hate the world? If so, what are the consequences? He'll continue to be a man of evil and the dangerous man that society has labelled him to be; but he can't do that without humoring the society he hates with the fury of a thousand blazing suns.
    There is no middle ground available for Jean Valjean because if he tried to take a twilight path, he would be walking a nearly invisible tightrope that hung above the abyss of evil. So, to prevent himself from fulfilling the expectations of the society who hated him, he chose the higher ground; and he had no choice. Jean Valjean re-identifies himself as a man of light, a man of pure good based off the light that blinded him just hours ago. The Jean Valjean of darkness is dead now; the Jean Valjean of light has been born and shall exist forevermore in the memories and stories of those he affected.

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                       Nick

Les Misérables: The Bishop

"Monseigneur, monseigneur! Does your Grace know where the basket of silver is?"

"Yes. Here it is."

"Well! Nothing in it! And the silver?"

"Ah, so it is the silver which troubles you? I don't know where it is."

Summary

    Victor Hugo spends the first forty pages of Les Misérables saying just how good the Bishop of D------ is, and I think it's because he wanted to emphasize how good humanity can be before showing how horrible it is.

    The Bishop, like any man, has his story. As one of the higher-up priests of theocratic Europe, he had his own part to play in the French Revolution of 1792. A man of mercy yet also a man of peace and love, he reluctantly stood behind the Revolutionaries, and, with much grimace, voted for the execution of King Louis XVI. And, much to the Bishop's discontent, he had to attend the execution. He arrived, and felt the chill of the guillotine upon sight. Victor Hugo paints the guillotine not as the executioner's weapon, but as the executioner itself. To the Bishop, the guillotine was a monster that thirsted for blood and craved the attention of the masses. It stood tall and proud as a killer, and the people cheered it on with each victim. It's a truly horrifying thing, and I deeply apologize that I do not have the literary capacity to illustrate such horror. 

    After experiencing petrifying secondhand agony during the first revolution, the Bishop exiles himself to the mountainside town of D------, to try and cleanse himself of darkness with some fresh air. When he arrives, the people welcome him with open arms and put him in the biggest house in the town. He reluctantly accepts; he is thankful and appreciative of their patronage, but would much rather be put into a home that would bring him closer to the poor. While doing his rounds, the Bishop comes across the town's hospital, and is confused as to why they have a hundred or more people in a building that fits maybe twenty at most when he himself lives in a house that could fit two hundred or more, but is only occupied by three. He then moved into the hospital with his sister, his maid, and only the most necessary things to live (with the exception of some silver cutlery, for his sister refused to let her brother live in absolute poverty when he deserved to have so much more), and quickly gained the reputation of a saint without having any ambition to have a reputation at all. 

    The most important thing to understand about the Bishop of D------- is that he is a pure and absolute good; Hugo states that in his sleep, the Bishop sleeps with a smile of contentment on his face, and he visibly radiates with goodness. Now, enter Jean Valjean, the man who, after forty or so years of being treated without any kindness, has become a man of darkness who has come to hate the world. He knocks at the door that is never locked, and the Bishop, without even asking who's there, says, "Come in." Jean Valjean bursts in in a fit of frustration, and tells (or rather, yells) his entire story right there at the Bishop's doorstep. The two women are horrified, for they knew who it was the second the door was flung open. The Bishop, however, maintains his air of civility, hears Jean Valjean's story, and invites him in for supper, which his sister has just nearly finished. Over dinner the Bishop learns as much about Jean Valjean's story as possbile, all the while calling him "sir" and "friend" and even "brother," to which he is astounded that anyone, let alone a stranger, would treat him, the lowly hateful criminal, with such kindness and respect. The Bishop knows how exhausted Jean Valjean must be after such a hard day, so he gives him the guest bed. After nineteen years in prison, Jean Valjean sleeps on a real bed for the first time.
    Jean Valjean awakes after a few hours of sleep, since the galleys taught him to get a lot out of a few hours of sleep. He recalls the silver which he ate supper with; he thinks to himself, "I deserve that silver," and rightly so. His nineteen years of virtual slavery earned him about $100, then they took off $20 for trying to escape four times, and another $20 as a parole fee. Since they stole nearly half of his potential earnings as well as half of his life for trying to feel his family, Jean Valjean feels cheated by the world. So, to try and get back what was stolen from him, he decides to steal the silver. He gets up out of bed, meditates on his decision, then, before going to the kitchen to take the silver, he goes into the Bishop's room. Jean Valjean finds a literally glowing man sleeping with a content smile in the Bishop's bed. Jean Valjean approaches the Bishop, and stares at him for a second. This is the moment where Jean Valjean begins to split in two: he is either good or evil, with no in between. He looks at the Bishop, and is faced with a choice: spare him, or break his trust and kill an innocent man. Jean Valjean feels hatred, possibly jealousy of the Bishop's ability to be kind, for he doesn't know how it feels to feel righteous. Jean Valjean decides to spare the Bishop; he leaves the room, takes the silver, and flees into the night.
    The next morning, the Bishop's sister discovers that the silver has been stolen, but the Bishop is quick to console her, saying that they never really needed the silver in the first place, and that it had always belonged to the poor. Suddenly, two guards arrive carrying Jean Valjean with them. They claim that he stole the silver, but without hesitation, the Bishop gives him the candlesticks too, saying he forgot the best ones. Disgruntled that they weren't able to arrest Jean Valjean, the two guards leave the Bishop's house. Immediately after the Bishop looks him in the eyes and tells him in a stern voice that little to no one has ever heard: "Do not forget that you promised to use this money to do good." Scared of the light of the Bishop, Jean Valjean takes the silver and the candlesticks and escapes from that blinding place without looking back.

Analysis

    The Bishop of D------'s past illustrates the fact that all lights are not necessarily pure; take for example, the first French Revolution,  whose infinite tentacles engulfed anyone who was unfortunate enough to be near it. Certainly the Bishop's choice to vote for the execution of the king was not an easy one: a man of supreme good electing for a supreme evil. However the Bishop decided not to let that choice haunt him, but let it motivate him. He went out to the wilds of France, and traveled from town to town preaching the good Word.

     I think, though, the most interesting thing to think about when it comes to the Bishop is the effect a pure light can have on any given thing. Now, keep in mind, the Bishop has no ambition to move higher up the papal hierarchy; he only wishes to improve the lives of those who wouldn't have a chance otherwise. So, he does everything for others and nothing for himself. For the wealthy, a pure light brings interest and respect; they are curious about what it is and if they can use it as a stepping stone. For the poor, a pure light brings salvation; they cling to it with everything they have because it's the only good thing they've seen in many years, probably. However criminals, like Jean Valjean, can hardly even recognize it because they've only been shown darkness for so long, if not their whole lives. They are often baffled that anyone would be fair to them, and question what they're doing, if only for just a moment. Jean Valjean had just enough of a moral standing remaining after his prison sentence so that he had the potential to rebuild himself in the Bishop's image.

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                       Nick

Les Misérables: On Parole

"I was sent away from the other inn."

"And you are to be turned out of this one."

Summary

    Upon being "freed," Jean Valjean was issued the horrible yellow passport, a document which would block out virtually all mercy and kindness from any who he hoped to receive him. He then walked. And walked. And walked. He tried to get some work here and there, but his passport prevented him from keeping said jobs. He went like this for a short while before reaching the town of D------*. D------ used to be a fortress, so to enter the small town, Jean Valjean had to show his passport upon entry. Word quickly spread of Jean Valjean's, or rather, the dangerous criminal's, arrival. Not knowing of the wave of gossip that spread around him, Jean Valjean went to the first inn that he saw, and went in. He had severely worn apparel on which was accessorized by a thin coat of dirt, so the innkeeper was suspicious from the get-go. However Jean Valjean had the money for supper and a night of rest, so the innkeeper let him stay. While Jean Valjean sat down beside the fire and tried to warm himself, the innkeeper caught wind of the man who had just entered. He asked Jean Valjean to leave, like any host should; politely, but sternly, so that it was a command that took the form of a request. Confused and suddenly irritated, Jean Valjean asked why he should leave. The innkeeper started with saying how there wasn't enough food, and then how there wasn't enough lodging, but then just had to resort to bluntly kicking him out because he was a criminal. 

     Jean Valjean went around the town like this for the rest of the night. The pub turned him out in similar fashion, and so did each of the townsfolk. Out of frustration and pure exhaustion, Jean Valjean found a stone bench and laid down. A woman found him laying there, and told him he need not sleep on a bed of stone. That was ridiculous, and surely someone would take him in. Jean Valjean said he knocked on every door, but the woman pointed out to him that he missed one door in particular: the door of Bishop Monseigneur Bienvenu.

Analysis

     Jean Valjean finds himself being released from the cycle of misfortune and hatred and pushed into a new cycle of resentment. The feudal system of pre-Revolutionary France created an enormous imbalance of wealth and, which in turn created a cycle of resentment: the rich and royal look down on the poor like dirt just for being dirt; the poor look down on criminals like unwanted dirt for doing that of which they are tempted to do but can't out of fear for sinking themselves down to that level; and the criminals look down on the rest of the world as if they were faux masterpieces for betraying them. And because of how their society is set up, almost everyone is forced to turn with it, and most cannot manage to escape.

    Take for example the peasant who was the third person to turn Jean Valjean away from shelter. Through the windowpane, Jean Valjean saw the peasant man and his family, and they almost seemed happy, if not content with themselves. Hopeful, Jean Valjean knocked, but quickly discovered that he was no better than the rest: when he realized Jean Valjean carried the yellow passport, he demanded for him to leave, and threatened to bring out his gun. However, the peasant is like Jean Valjean from nineteen years ago in that he is protective and content with his life, but is quick to revert to aggressiveness. No man can escape the cycle of prejudice unless an outside force gives them motivation to either step outside of it or push against it.

     The question to ask, though, is if after two hundred or so years, if our society has lifted itself out of the cycle of prejudice. The Occupy movement in early 2012 brought the issue of America's extremely imbalanced distribution of wealth, revealing the lower and middle class's discontentment with the "one percenters." Furthermore, the American political system (as well as other countries' political systems, I'm sure) creates an inescapable divide. Victor Hugo and Jean Valjean believe that society will never change, but it really comes down to whether you're more of a half-empty or half-full kind of person.

*Some old books censor out some of the names of places and people in such a fashion. Personally I think that publishing companies do this because they'd rather censor the name than get it wrong.

Thanks for reading,

                       Nick

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(Blogger's Note: I'm splitting up "On Parole/The Bishop," because if I didn't,the post would be extraneously long.)

Les Misérables: Prologue

"Look down, look down, sweet Jesus doesn't care."

Summary

    In the musical, "Prologue" is simply a short devotion to the prison life that Jean Valjean spent nineteen years in. Obviously, there was more character development in those long nineteen years than a four minute song can convey.
    Jean Valjean had one sister, who had seven children. One particular winter, Jean Valjean was not able to harvest lumber to provide income for his sister, and therefore, no food was available: in the everlasting words of Victor Hugo, "There was no bread that winter. Literally no bread. Seven children!" Being a man of sacrifice, Jean Valjean had to resort to crime to feed his beloved sister and her children. He broke open a window to steal some bread from a bakery. Unfortunately (and that's really putting it lightly, let me tell you) for him, he was caught and sent to prison for five years charged with theft and breaking and entering.
    In the galleys, Jean Valjean became an entirely different person. He went from someone who did what he could to serve his family well to someone who wanted to do everything he could to exact vengeance any way he could. After his arrest, Jean Valean only heard about his family once more for the rest of his life: his sister was alive and working, and had one child alive, who attended a school. After that, he never saw or heard from or about his family ever again.
    He attempted to escape four times, and was caught each time. Each attempt added more and more years to his sentence. So, within the course of nineteen years, Jean Valjean not only developed a hate for the world, but also nurtured that hatred. Having nothing but time, Jean Valjean meditated on why it was acceptable for him to be thrown in jail for so long just for trying to feed his family. Was society to blame? Was society so corrupt and greedy that it tossed aside any defective parts? Or did it simply have no pity for the forgotten? Or maybe it was God Himself, for creating such a world? And if God did allow such a world to be created, perhaps then he also allowed everyone in it to be as cruel? For all these things and more, Jean Valjean slowly grew to hate the world that had never once showed him any kindness during his sentence in jail.
     After nineteen long, hard, resentful, hateful years, our protagonist, Jean Valjean, was released from the prison in Toulon with one string attached: the cursed yellow passport. The yellow passport required Jean Valjean to return to the officials every so often to ensure he was behaving, and declared him as an extremely dangerous man (and rightly so; after being shown a lifetime of hate without any kindness whatsoever, that's all one learns how to feel and express).
     The misfortunes and transgressions that Jean Valjean experienced in the first forty or so years of his life sets the stage for one of the most remarkable pieces of literature of all time, one which I will document here.

Analysis

     As compared to the first forty or so pages that described what the ultimate good was like, the description of Jean Valjean's upbringing up until the present plot-line is one of what the ultimate bad is like. It showed that society, at least in the early nineteenth century, was cruel and unforgiving. Such an unfavorable society often produced unfavorable people, which then perpetuated the unfavorable society, which then produced more unfavorable people, etc etc. However, Jean Valjean is a man of enormous potential: he is strong, driven, and most importantly, caring; so he has the capabilities to step outside of the cycle and make something of himself. Unfortunately, in order to do so, Jean Valjean would have had to toe an impossibly minuscule rope to get there; and, as with most who have the potential of Jean Valjean, the rope snapped underneath him at the drop of a hat, and he barely managed to survive. During his stay at the prison in Toulon, Jean Valjean began to put his potential for greatness down the path of infamy instead. Of course, it couldn't be helped; it's almost as impossible to come out of a situation like his as a kind man as it was to become royalty. But one can only think about what would have happened if Jean Valjean hadn't broke into the bakery that night? Victor Hugo even remarks that, what if he had waited to ask for the bread instead of steal it? I think that Jean Valjean would've continued to work at the lumber mill, he would've continued to feed his sister's family, and would've continued to gravel about how hard he has it until he died, and no one would've been the wiser. That being said, I think that it wasn't only critical to the plot that Jean Valjean spend nineteen years in jail, but it was even more critical to his character.Spending such a long time in the galleys allowed him to see and learn the true nature of his society as well as himself. In the galleys he learned that he was a man of extremes, and of impulse: Jean Valjean became a man of hate, and at every chance he saw he tried to escape, despite numerous failures in the past. Furthermore, he became a man of intense passion: he saw how cruel the world he was in was, and realized that he was against it, that he was one of the many hundred thousands who were treated unjustly for no legitimate reason. It is this passion that would break him apart inside, and it is this passion that will make him the most influential characters in Les Misérables.

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Thanks for reading,
                         Nick