In Les Miserables and The Book Thief, abandoning children and leaving them in the hands of others is an occurring theme in both books. Although there is a completely different type of care each girl receives, the parents both have faith in ultimate strangers to care for their daughters. Liesel Meminger from The Book Thief is adopted by another family to seek refuge from poverty and war. In Les Miserables, Fantine leaves Cosette to a family that seems as though it will be a good deal, but they are secretly only taking her in for the money. She seems to be safe from poverty and war, like Liesel, but is not. She is treated completely unjust and eats “with them [cats and dogs] under the table” (167). In The Book Thief, Rosa and Hans Hubberman treat Liesel with respect and dignity and do not hold her against her past or her mother’s actions unlike in Les Miserables. “This woman [Cosette’s foster family] was a formidable creature that only loved her children” (384). Victor Hugo goes on to explain how this woman is only scared of her husband as well. Cosette’s foster home treats her with such neglect and it is rightfully explained by “certain natures cannot love on the one hand without hating on the other. Mother Thenardier loved her two daughters passionately, which caused her to hate the stranger” (167), which was Cosette. Even though in the Book Thief, Liesel is loved by her new home even more so than her first, it is the same reoccurring theme that lands both girls in new homes. The promise for a better future.
I agree with Louisa in saying that Cosette and Liesel are very similar given their circumstances. Liesel and Cosette are both abandoned by their mothers who sadly cannot take care of themselves, let alone a child. However, Louisa was correct to point out that the girls were treated very differently when they entered their new homes. Liesel was treated very well by Rosa and Hubberman, and they loved her very much. Cosette on the other hand, gets horrible abuse and neglect from the Thernadiers, and they treat her like 'the servant of the house" (47) by the time she is not even five years old.
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