Annie Pitts
Ms. Molyneaux
H English D
April 28, 2015
The
significance from Les Miserables is
pretty evident through the pitiful, miserable lives of Jean Valjean, Fantine,
and Cosette. All three of the thus far
introduced characters have been under awful conditions and struggling to
survive. This demonstrates the lives of
many peasants during this time in France, since this book was written in an era
of the backlash of the French Revolution.
Before Jean Valjean becomes a well-established
mayor, he undergoes much maltreatment, treated even worse than dogs in
kennels. When he first is released from
prison he is, “dazzled with the idea of liberty,” but soon finds out that his “liberty”
only entails as far as his yellow passport will take him(25). He finds a way out of this seemingly never
ending cycle of rejection by leaving town and starting over, but we first see
Jean Valjean at his worst and extremely miserable, not even being treated as a
man, but as a prison number, 24601.
Fantine is equally as miserable
when we meet her. She is sickly and has
a daughter to take care of who lives with foster parents. Fantine is deeply saddened by both the father
deserting her and also being separated from her daughter, although she knows
this is the best way for Cosette to grow up, in a fairly stable home. Fantine’s miserable life of never endlessly
paying off the debts to Cosette’s foster parents comes to end when she dies.
Cosette is Fantine’s daughter and
is also leading an awful life. She is
constantly ordered around by her foster parents and treated as a slave more
than a child. This mistreatment of
Cosette ends, though, when Jean Valjean takes her away with him, raising her on
his own.
The lives of all these characters
demonstrate a very sad and miserable theme, a perfect fit for the title. “Les Miserables” literally translates to “the
miserable ones” in English, and Cosette, Fantine, and Jean Valjean are very
miserable due to hard times and how difficult it is to survive for them.
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