Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (Adapted by Jim Reimann)

"The bishop leaned closely toward him and said in a quiet voice, 'Do not forget. Never forget that you have promised to use this silver to become an honest man.'... 'Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. I have bought your soul from you. I take it back from evil thoughts and deeds and the Spirit of Hell and I give it to God." Page 30-31

This is one of the most significant moments in Jean Valjean's life; one that leads him to a path of giving and self-sacrifice for others for the rest of his life. At this point in the story, Jean Valjean had just been released from prison after serving a nineteen year sentence for stealing a loaf of bread and attempting a few prison escapes. Once released, Jean realizes that his new is not as "free" as was expected. He now has to wear the name of criminal for the rest of his life, and will be discriminated because of it. No one is willing to give Jean shelter because of his yellow passport, and everyone believed his crimes were much worse than stealing a loaf of bread. Everyone who knows of Jean Valjean treats him miserably except for one man, Monseigneur Bienvenu. Monseigneur welcomes Jean to eat and stay at the church, even with his criminal record. He trusts him and treats him as an equal. Even so, Jean continues his evil ways and decides to steal the silver they had eaten him. When he runs away and is caught by the police, Monseigneur still treats him with kindness, telling the police he had given him the silver. Monseigneur even gives Jean silver candlesticks to take with their silver dinnerware as he sees him off. Jean had never seen such kindness in a person, and ends uo becoming an honest man, as he had promised.

"Valjean was now fifty-five years old, and Cosette was eight. Yet it seemed that all the love that might have been possible through his many years was now focused into on indescribable light. It was only the second pure vision he had ever experienced. Just as the grace the bishop had shown him caused the dawn of virtue in his life, Cosette had caused the dawn of love." Page 109

This is another very important moment in Valjean's life. During his life, Valjean had promised a woman that he would bring her child back to her. They had been separated for many years because the woman didn't have enough money to care for her child and had unknowingly left her daughter in the hands of horrible people. Unfortunately, the woman did not live long enough to see Valjean keep his promise so when he saved her, he kept her as his own. This was a new phase in Valjean's life because in his life of solitude it was the first time he had ever felt love for another person. This girl, Cosette, love Valjean unconditionally, always trusting him and never one to judge his actions. For Cosette, it was also the first time she had ever felt love for someone since her previous life had been centered around acting as a slave for her caretakers. Valjean and Cosette brought happiness and love that both needed.

"Without fully understanding why, he paused for a moment, and then leaned out the window to glance at the porch below. Valjean was overwhelmed with amazement by what he saw. Javert had departed." Page. 241

Javert is an officer who had always been hunting out Valjean to bring him to justice for a small theft he committed many years before. Javert's "religion" was the law. He felt it was his duty to do what the law intended, and in this case that meant locking up criminals like Valjean. Javert especially hated Valjean because of his blind kindness towards everyone, even those who treated him wrongly. Javert felt that this kind of kindness did not exist, and it disgusted him to think that Valjean was pulling this kind ruse. It was only until Valjean saved Javert's life, that Javert finally admitted to himself that these kind of blindly kind people existed. He owed Valjean with his life, and for the first time, broke the law, to do the better thing for his conscience.

Connections:
One connection I can make with this story is how for people in general, how easily one can become defined by a mistake. In Les Miserables, Jean Valjean is forever thought of as a criminal for his mistake when he was in dire need. He was poor, and his sister and her children and him were without food. He stole the bread as a means to survive and had to live with the title of criminal for the rest of his life. In society today, it also seems that we are much more concerned with what is wrong than what is good. Especially in media, those who do bad or outrageous things are the people who get the most attention. Media especially seems to glorify infamous celebrities who become defined by their bad behavior.

Another thing I can relate to is Javert's skepticism about great kindness, like the one Jean Valjean showed. Jean Valjean showed virtue and kindness at a ridiculous level where he risked his own well-being in order to help anyone in need, even those out to hurt him. Javert did not believe a person could show such kindness, and despised Valjean for showing off the appearance he had this kind of kindness. Even though Valjean's kindness in the story proved to be real, I do not believe such kindness exists in real life. For one thing, its not beneficial for someone to be that kind to others, like the ways he gives away money to anyone who asked, a real person would become poor and broke in a flash. It also doesn't seem possible to not hold some hateful feelings at some point towards the people who have wronged you. It just doesn't seem possible for someone to be that perfectly good at heart with no regard for their own well-being.

The last connection I can make is the idea that people change once they are in a relationship. In Les Miserables, Cosette and Valjean were everything to each other. Once Cosette find Marius and they married, her lover for her Valjean grew less important and Marius became her everything. When Marius didn't want Cosette to see Jean anymore, she didn't hesitate to follow his wishes, though she had known and loved Valjean for much longer than she ever knew Marius. When she fell in love, her priorities changed. This seems to be the case with anyone who falls in love. Their priorities change where more than anyone else, there focus becomes the one they are in love with. This is what seems to become the most important to them.



As this image states, "Kindness inspires kindness." This is exactly the theme of the story. Monseigneur Bienvenu showed such kindness to Valjean, when no one else even treated him as human, that it changed Valjean's entire life. He spent the rest of his life trying to follow the ways of the priest, to show kindness to everyone without judging. With this true kindness Jean grew to have, he also changed Javert. His kindness to Javert for saving his life, led Javert to do kindness towards Valjean as well. The simple act of kindness to Valjean inspired him to do good for so many in need, always giving what he could.

Discussion Questions:
Did Valjean ever feel hate towards Javert or did he believe Javert was doing the right thing?
Why did Javert feel the need to commit suicide?
Would Cosette have never seen Valjean again if Marius hadn't found out what an honest man Valjean was?
How could Marius ever help someone as evil as Thernardier?
What was Hugo's intentions for leaving Thernardier, someone so corrupted, in a well-off position in his evil schemes?

Reflection:
I liked this story. Most of why I liked this is because it left me with such a warm feeling inside reading about someone so good. Most stories dont really focus on themes of kindness and it was refreshing to read something very different. What I didn't like was that it seemed like there was less of a developed story unlike the Hunchback of Notre-Dame which went into great detail and was filled with such great emotion. I think this flaw is less the fault of Victor Hugo's writing, but more the fault of me reading an abridged version. I feel as though I was missing a lot of the story's detail and brilliance because I read the abridged version. I also didn't like the way the character Thernardier ended up, because he was always getting the things he wanted through his conniving schemes. I didn't want the story to end without justice being served for his wrongdoings. Overall, this was a really pleasant book to read, but I feel I have lost the essence of Victor Hugo's writing with the version I read. I look forward to sometime in the future reading the full unabridged version as it was meant to be read. If I were to recommend this to others I would also tell them to read the unabridged version as to not miss ou on the full story, but if that felt daunting by the massive size of the book, they could read an abridged, easier read to get the gist of the story.

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

"Claude Frollo had accepted him, adopted him, had nourished him, had reared him... Claude Frollo had taught him to speak, to read, to write. Claude Frollo had made him the bellringer of Notre-Dame, and to give the great bell in marriage to Quasimodo was to give Juliet to Romeo." (155)

In this section of the book, the reader has just been introduced to the backstory of the protagonist, Quasimodo. This part is important because it gives the audience a sense of how significant Claude Frollo is to the life of Quasimodo. Claude Frollo gave Quasimodo everything he had; he took Quasimodo in when no one else wanted him or dared to looked at the boy people referred to as a"monster. Claude Frollo had even been the person who had introduced Quasimodo to his precious bells, objects that he loved with a passion as if they were his own children. Because of these things, Quasimodo owed his life to Claude Frollo, and everyday was repaying that as Frollo's personal slave. At the beginning of the story, Claude Frollo had also been the only human being Quasimodo ever had communication with, showing how heavily Quasimodo relied on Claude Frollo's influence. Quasimodo lived to please Claude Frollo, and later in the book the reader sees how this affects his decision-making when he is unable to stand up for himself against his master. In the future, Claude Frollo makes many unethical decisions which Quasimodo is unable to get the courage to stop, and in some cases even aides Claude Frollo in his evil plots.

"I thought... that a trial would deliver you into my power, that in prison I should possess you; that there, you could not escape me. Since you had possessed me so long, I desired to possess you in my turn. When one thinks evil, one may as well consummate it. 'Tis madness to stop midway! The extremity of crime has its delirium of joy. A priest and a witch may join in ecstasy upon the straw of a dungeon floor!" (324)

This is a turning point in the book. Here the reader learns that the misfortunes that had fallen upon Esmeralda, the beautiful young gypsy, including the torment she received for performing, her attempted kidnap, the attempted murder of her love, and her current imprisonment had all been caused by Claude Frollo. Claude Frollo had just confessed his love for Esmeralda, an unexpected event for her considering that she had never met this man nor knew who he was. Here, the reader reaches a crucial point in the story, discovering that Claude Frollo's love for Esmeralda has been the cause of her doom. Claude Frollo was no longer of sane mind, and now believing he was due for eternal damnation for giving into the temptation of women against the vows he had made as a priest, was now undoubtably evil. He blamed Esmeralda as the devil who has tempted him, and now, in his twisted mind; has put her in a predicament where her only choices are to love Claude Frollo and be saved, or refuse him and be hung the next day. In his twisted scheme, Claude Frollo uses loving him as the only method of survival for Esmeralda.

"At the most dreadful moment, a demoniacal laugh, a laugh such as can come only from one who is not human, burst from the livid face of the priest. Quasimodo didn't hear the laugh, but he saw it. The bellringer took a few steps back from the archdeacon, and then, rushing at him furiously, with his two huge hands, he struck the priests back and pushed Dom Claude into the abyss over which he had been leaning." (494)

Here, we find Quasimodo and Claude Frollo at the top of a tower of Notre-Dame. Quasimodo has followed Claude Frollo up to the top to investigate what has become of Esmeralda, who had earlier that day been kidnapped by Claude Frollo. Claude had been waiting up there, a place with a great view of Paris. He was watching the Place de Greve, where one could see a hanging was about to take place. Here Quasimodo watched in horror as he realized it was Esmeralda that was about to be hung. Both Quasimodo and Claude Frollo watch as their love falls to her death, though their reactions are very different. Claude Frollo is joyful and relieved that his temptress is gone, while Quasimodo is full of sorrow and anger that such a pure, good, woman whom he only wanted to protect was now gone all due to the other person dear to Quasimodo's heart, Claude Frollo. This had set Quasimodo over the edge; he was no longer able to ignore the evil doings of his master. He killed the only other person left in the world whom he had loved. Very important to the story, Quasimodo had finally stood up against his master, breaking away from this oppressive power to punish the one who had brought so much pain to others for his own selfish thoughts of love and lust.

Connections:
One connection I can draw from the text to what I see in the world today is how easily people fall in love, or at least think they are in love, though it might only be lust. It is astonishing to see how many characters in this book fall so easily in love. Esmeralda fell in love with an officer named Phoebus, simply because he was a handsome man who had saved her from being kidnapped. Even though this officer only wanted to use Esmeralda for sex, Esmeralda took his empty confessions of love to heart and is for the rest of her life devoted and insistent on loving only him. When the officer's plans to bed with her go awry, he soon forgets about her while she is permanently stuck loving this man. Dom Claude also quickly falls in love with Esmeralda, though he knows nothing about her but her beauty and great voice. I believe he mistakes his strong lust for love, but nevertheless he still stalks Esmeralda and confesses his unyielding love for her over and over again. Quasimodo also quickly falls in love with Esmeralda after she does him an act of kindness, though I do not know if this more of a sisterly love or a romantic love. I see these sort of quick attachments or confession in love often today whether it be on television or in real life. I think it is quite a frequent occurrence for people to mistake a great attraction or feeling of lust for love. I think it is even more common in teenagers, who seem to easily "fall in love" as hormonal, naive, and eager to grow up as many of them are. I often hear couples of my age professing their love for each other, though I doubt most are truly in love whether they believe so or not.
Another connection I can make from the book to the world today is how important looks are to society. Esmeralda loves the officer because he is handsome and strong, while she would never even considered Dom Claude even if he had not been an insane evil man because he was not good-looking and was old. Because of Quasimodo's appearance he was called a monster and avoided by everyone though he was someone of the kindest heart. Dom Claude falls in love with Esmeralda solely on her looks since he had never met her beforehand, and because of her beauty she had also attracted Phoebus. It is a pity how reliant everyone is on appearance, where personality always comes second to this. It is also true for today that appearance is a critical factor for how people are judged, and will most likely always continue to play a significant factor. I'd like to think, though, that people are good enough to realize that appearance is not the most significant factor of defining a person, and what their character is like is much more important, especially when looks fade away with time.
The last connection I can make between the book and the world today is the theme of jealousy. In The Hunchback of Notre-Dame , Dom Claude is unable to win over the heart of Esmeralda. His reaction to this is very unsettling. He takes on the attitude of "If I can't have her, no one can" and his resolution is to kill her as punishment for not loving him. I think we all have at one point indulged in this selfishness, where in jealousy we take on the attitude of "if I can't be happy, no one can," though probably not to the extreme of Dom Claude. It is easy to get caught up in ourselves, but we must try not to hurt others in the process and should try to keep their best intentions in mind as well, an act of kindness Dom Claude failed to do.



In this image love is always out of reach for the man no matter how hard he tries to catch it. This relates to the book because no character's love is reciprocated. They are all chasing characters who have never felt love towards these people. Esmeralda did not love Dom Claude or Quasimodo, and Phoebus did not love Esmeralda. All of them are chasing what they cannot have.

Discussion Questions:
Why did Quasimodo show so much kindness and love towards Esmeralda?
What would be the future of Phoebus and Esmeralda if Dom Claude had not tried to kill him?
Why did Dom Claude find the need to stalk Esmeralda and ruin her life? Why did he not find a new subject of his affection?
Why kind of love did Quasimodo feel for Esmeralda? (romantically or sisterly)
Why did Phoebus so easily let a threatening stranger enter his room to watch him seduce a woman? Had he no dignity or fear?

Reflection:
Overall, this did not end up being a favorite for me. There were some parts I enjoyed like how well Hugo does at developing each character, even the meager ones, and how intriguing the story line is for being so crazy and chaotic, but even these parts that I like are still reasons that I disliked this book. Hugo developed the characters so well and was quickly able to help the reader connect with a character, but there were too many characters, too many names, too many stories with stories. Overall there was just too much going on, a lot was unneeded like the story of Esmeralda finding her long-lost mother. i thought this was too predictable and cheesy, the story could have done without it. The story was also too crazy to the point of ridiculous; it wasn't realistic and therefore not as easy to connect to. I can see why in its time, it had been made fun of by literary critics since it is less of a book with great substance and message, it is more like a really complicated drama. I also did not like such a depressing and unsettling ending, it definitely did not leave me with a good feeling about the book. I also didn't like how disconnected the book was. The book is made up of little stories focusing on different characters, so the reader often is in the middle of something interesting point in the plot when it switches to a new part of the story, not returning back to the point one was at for many chapters. The biggest annoyances I had with this book were these two large chapters of rambling that had nothing to do with the plot. One of these chapters was about the geography of Paris, which was completely useless to me because it mentioned all these different names of places I wasn't going to remember and the second rambling chapter was about how the invention of the printing press made architecture less beautiful because the printing press creating an easier and cheaper method of showing off the culture of an era, so they didn't need to try as hard to express this in architecture. While The Hunchback of Notre-Dame was an entertaining novel, for many reasons explained above I do not feel that it is one that deserves great praise.

Victor Hugo: A Tumultuous Life

"Over a period of time he gained a new view of Napoleon Bonaparte, far different from anything he had ever heard from his mother. Gradually he gained appreciation of Napoleon's administrative, diplomatic, political and military genius... Always patriotic, Victor's feelings were inflamed by the accounts of Napoleon's exploits." pg. 50

As a child, Victor Hugo was able to witness the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. Because Victor's father, Leopold Hugo, was a high-ranking officer of Napoleon's army, he often moved to different posts like Italy and Spain to fulfill his duties. His family followed until Leopold and Victor's mother, Sophie, separated and she took their children to live with her in France. Because Victor spent more time with his mother than father, he grew much fonder of his mother and learned to share her hate for his father Leopold. Victor also learned to share Sophie's views in politics. Sophie was a Catholic Royalist who was against Napoleon's regime and who had had a relationship with General Victor Lahorie, a man who was executed for his plots to overthrow Napoleon. Victor had shared his mother's Royalist views until his reconnection with his father when Victor's brother, Eugene, had gone insane. This traumatic event brought Leopold back into Victor's life and Victor was finally able to see past his mother's bitter opinions of his father. With a new opinion of Leopold, Victor was also able to form a new opinion of Napoleon as well, adopting his father's political views. The quote above is significant because it is the moment Victor forms the political convictions he holds for the rest of his life. Victor sees the freedom that the people of France have acquired because of the efforts of Napoleon and becomes a strong advocate of the working-class and person freedoms. Victor also grows to despise the Bourbon monarchy which wanted to revert back to the laws of Louis XIV and take the power granted to the people by Napoleon back in the hands of the monarch. Angered by this, Victor Hugo said "The people of France... were not dumb sheep," pg. 57. Later in life, Victor became a great influence in the politics of France, spreading his Republican views and trying to restore a government similar to that held by Napoleon.

"At the Hauteville House his work regimen was even more strict than it had been elsewhere. Under no circumstances did he permit himself to end his day's labor until he had written either one hundred lines of poetry or twenty pages of prose. On days when the words refused to flow - rare days, by his candid admission - he kept himself figuratively chained to his desk until late at night. It was this room, more than any other part of Hauteville House that was Victor's real home for the better part of two decades." pg. 190

This quote shows how significant writing was in Victor's life. It was not only his job, but his lifestyle. He wrote for hours and hours a day, not to be disturbed by anyone when he was busy with his work. His work schedule was so rigorous that there were some instances where he was so exhausted that he collapsed and had to be forced to take a vacation where he had to be watched constantly to make sure he was not doing or thinking about work. Writing was everything that made Victor Hugo, Victor Hugo. It was how he reached such stardom. His greatest weapon had been his words. With his writing he was able to gain a following, with his writing he could persuade people to hear his political cries, with his writing he was able to win over countless women. He was able to reach such a powerful position because of his writing that he could even sway people's political opinions which is why he was a significant part of how Napoleon III became president. In all, writing was Victor's method of winning people over, giving him fame and fortune along with it.

"What Juliette had meant to him was revealed by one fact: after her passing, Victor never again wrote a single line of either poetry or prose." pg. 324

Juliette Drouet was Victor Hugo's true love. She was his unofficial wife. Juliette gave up her whole life for Victor, leaving her husband and the luxuries she was used to being handed to her. She lived only for Victor, losing all connections with her previous life - her husband, friends and acting career. She was Victor's lover for 50 years, until the day she died in his arms. Juliette was more of a wife to Victor than his actual wife Adele, who became more of his wife for show rather than actual love. He supported Adele financially and she lived under the same roof in a different room for most of their lives. They went out to events together and she worked as his assistant, making copies of his work. Although Adele was Victor's official wife, Juliette had always been the one he has needed by his side.

Victor was characterized by his many sexual conquests. At one point Juliette counted that, in two years, Victor had slept with over two hundred women. Although Victor had many women in his life, he always kept Juliette around because he needed her as much as she needed him. At one point he made Juliette and another one of his lovers, Madame Auguste Biard, fight for his affection for months, both agreeing to the conditions because they felt as if they had no other choice to be with him. Juliette, of course, won since her faithfulness and love could not be broken by any other woman, no matter how young or lively the new woman was. Juliette was always there to watch over Victor when he was in times of trouble. Whether he needed something as simple as a vacation or needed something as serious as a method of escape from imprisonment, Juliette could be counted on to get him out of his fix. Eventually, Juliette was even able to stop Victor from seeking out other woman when she finally expressed her concern. "For the first time since the early years of his marriage with Adele, he was faithful to one woman, and took no interest in others. He was now seventy six." (pg. 317) Victor's actions revealed how important Juliette was to his life, giving up his frivolous life as to not lose his love. This is further emphasized by the fact that he could no longer write after she passed away, his greatest talent now useless without Juliette. Juliette served as motivation and inspiration for Victor, making it obvious that he had needed Juliette more than she had needed him.

A connection I can make in my own life to Victor Hugo is how easily he adopted his parents' views in politics. Victor had taken his mother's royalist views in his youth because he spent more time with her than he did with his father. Once Victor reconnected with his father, he completely changed his views and became a proud republican like his father. He seemed to change his political views to whichever the person who influenced him the most believed. I can connect to this because I have also adopted my parents views in politics, mostly because I know little about politics and have not put much concern into which political party suits my beliefs. Because my parents are affiliated with a certain party, I also feel affiliated to that political party and probably always will because that's the belief system I have been raised to agree with.

Another connection I can make from Victor's life to my own is how persistent Victor is in the face of doubt. When Victor had first told his father of his intent to make his living writing literature, his father did not approve. His father said, "Were you to elect a career as a lawyer or a physician, I would gladly make sacrifices in order to see you through the university, but to help you to become established in literature would be like the pouring of good wine down an open sewer." (pg. 41) Leopold's disapproval only made Victor more motivated to prove his father wrong. Victor was going to prove to his father that he could make a better living with his writing than his father had being an officer. I have a similar thinking process to this in that I react oppositely to how people react to me. When people praise me in any way I deny the truth in their statements, thinking myself less impressive than someone is trying to make me sound. On the other hand, if someone were to doubt my abilities I become very motivated to prove their beliefs wrong. In all, it seems like good or bad, I can't usually agree with anyone's comments of me.

The last connection I can make between Victor and myself is that he also has issues with expressing his apologies when he is at a huge fault with the people he loves. Instead of fixing his problems, or admitting these faults in person, Victor chose to show his faults through characters in his writing. This is seen in his comedy, Philemon Perveti. In this comedy, the main character is an elderly man who has many affairs with young women even though he already has a loving mistress that he does not appreciate enough. The elderly man is hated by everyone who knows him because he is a ridiculous fool who has grown too old to be chasing young women. This play shows that Victor felt remorse for the many affairs he was having with young women, and sympathized with Juliette, someone who had always remained faithful to him. I can connect to this because I also have trouble expressing my feelings to others, especially if I'm at fault. Sometimes its difficult to express your feelings of regret to the ones you love when you know you are hurting them but can't seem stop your hurtful actions anyways. It seems easier to express these feelings in writing than by mouth because you don't have to see the reaction of the other person but still are able to let your feelings heard by others.



Many images I've seen of Victor Hugo show him with an enlarged head representing his great intelligence and literary genius by giving him an oversized brain. In this picture, Hugo is standing on top of books showing how he has conquered the art of writing. His genius in writing has allowed him to show his genius in many forms like playwriting, poetry, politics, and art. Hugo also has a very serious expression on his face, showing Hugo's serious attitude in completing his writing. Hugo wrote relentlessly, making writing one of the most significant parts of his daily routine where he could be bothered by no one and forced himself to write for hours in any circumstance as long as his health permitted it.

Discussion Questions:
What made Hugo so different from his contemporaries that he was able to reach such stardom?
Why did Hugo feel the need to seek out countless numbers of women even into old age?
What made Juliette finally feel the need to stop Hugo's affairs and why did she wait so long to do so?
If Victor had not reconnected with his father, would he have still reached the same height of success he did with the influence of his father's Republican views?
Why did so many members of Hugo's family go insane, and do you think Hugo was fueled by a sense of insanity as well?
Why did Hugo feel the need to hide Juliette in public when everyone had already known his marriage was a sham?
Why did Hugo continue to keep Adele, his real wife, around for show?

Reflection:
Victor Hugo: A Tumultuous Life was surprisingly a very entertaining book. Non-fiction usually does not interest me, but the way this book is laid out as a story from beginning to end made it easily readable. I think what mostly kept me interested was the drama involved with all his different mistresses and the relief I had when he ended up with Juliette, the woman who had always had his best interest at heart rather than others who had been with him for the fame. I can't fathom how Juliette had so much patience with Victor and could handle him cheating on her, at some points, multiple times a day. For this, I have some distaste for Victor because I can't see how he could love Juliette and still have affairs that would hurt and shame her. I was also very surprised by how important Victor Hugo was to French history. I was amazed that he had so much influence on politics and the people of France like how he played a massive factor in helping Napoleon III reach presidency. He was so influential that he even has his own day in France. The praise he received from his books definitely makes me want to read many of Victor Hugo's books and I'm excited to start reading Les Miserables and The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. The one issue I had in the beginning of this book was that it was hard to follow because it so heavily involved French history and politics. Although this was an issue, as the story progressed it became easier to follow and I actually learned a lot about French history. I would recommend this book to others, mainly because of how amazing Victor Hugo's life and great success he reached was, but I would especially recommend this book to those who like history and politics. If others read this book, I think they would be astounded like me in the wake of Hugo's intelligence and success.