THOUGHTS ON VICTOR HUGO'S "LES MISERABLES"

Les Miserables is certainly one of the great works of French (and world) literature. The theme of the book is resignation in the face of intense suffering.

In 1796, Jean Valjean, a pruner from Brie, stole a loaf of bread to feed his sister and her starving children one night in the depth of winter, for which he was sentenced to five years in the Toulon galleys. After several abortive attempts to escape Valjean was released when he had spent 19 years at the oars. Brutalized and coarsened, he must, in view of his numerous attempts to escape custody, carry a yellow passport as a sign that he is a highly dangerous convict. Refused shelter in the town of D----, and even driven from a dog-kennel in which, in desperation, he has taken refuge, Valjean eventually receives succour from Monsignor Welcome, the saintly Bishop of D----. His coarsened nature, however, cannot prevent him from purloining the Bishop's silverware, for which he is subsequently apprehended by the constabulary. However, Monsignor Welcome tells the police that the silverware is his (Valjean's). His last words to the bemused convict are "It is your soul I require of you". On seeing a Savoyard, Little Gervais, drop a coin, Valjean stamps upon it and refuses to return it to the boy. The Bishop's words echo in his mind and he tries to find Little Gervais but in vain.

Fantine, a workgirl from the town of M. sur M., becomes pregnant by her student lover Felix Tholomyes and gives birth to a girl, Cosette. She returns to the town of her birth in order to seek work but cannot take Cosette with her because of her bastardy. Passing through the village of Montfermeil outside Paris, Fantine stops at the inn which is known as the Sergeant of Waterloo and is run by a couple called the Thenardiers ("the woman was a brute, the man a blackguard"). Pausing, she notices the two little Thenardier girls, Eponine and Azelma, playing in a monstrous contraption which has been constructed for their amusement by their mother. Completely taken in, Fantine leaves Cosette with the couple, who maltreat and abuse the child and make her do all the rough work about the inn.

Returning to the town of M. sur M., Fantine obtains employment in the local factory, but the existence of Cosette is discovered and she is dismissed. Her situation goes from bad to worse. She is compelled to sell her hair and teeth in order to placate the Thenardiers, who are using the mother as a means of obtaining money while starving and maltreating the child. In order to maintain the upkeep of her child, Fantine is eventually forced into prostitution.

Meanwhile, Jean Valjean has become M. Madeleine, the respected, rich and industrious Mayor of M. sur M. (and Fantine's former employer). One winter's night a young man thrusts a handful of snow down Fantine's neck, whereupon she attacks him furiously and is apprehended by Javert, the ruthless police inspector. M. Madeleine rescues her and places her in the infirmary which he has organized, but she is dying of tuberculosis. On hearing that an imbecile, Champmathieu, has been apprehended for the assault on Little Gervais, Madeleine goes to the court in Arras and confesses his guilt. He has promised the dying mother that he will go to Montfermeil to bring her child, but on his return to M. sur M. he is arrested by Javert. This takes place in front of Fantine and she dies ("You have killed this woman"). As a streetwalker, Fantine is buried in a common grave ("her tomb was like her bed").

After a vivid and memorable description of the Battle of Waterloo, and a brief account of Valjean's escape (and supposed death), my favourite Christmas story takes place. Cosette is sent into the forest to fetch water on a bitterly black Christmas Eve and meets Valjean who rescues the child from the claws of the Thenardiers. Eventually he finds sanctuary in an extremely strictly run convent, where Cosette is educated. To cut a long story short, the novel traces the development of Valjean's character from devil to angel.

I would say that Hugo is attempting to show that Christ makes the most exorbitant demands upon His followers ("it is your soul I require of you"), and, furthermore, wickedness is not confined to those who are Dives but also abounds among those who purport to be Lazarus.