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.
No comments:
Post a Comment