Victor Hugo's novel Les Miserables is one of the most stunning works of foreign literature. The sincerity with which the author portrays his heroes makes us worry about the difficult fate of the girl Cosette and Fantina, her mother. In this article, we recall the main character of the epic novel, which is former convict Jean Valjean, convicted of stealing bread for many years.
How the hero went to jail
The protagonist of the work was born in 1769 in Favrol. The boy’s parents died, his older sister Jeanne took him to her. In 1794, the husband of Jean Valjean's sister died. Jeanne was left with seven children.
Hunger pushed Jean Valjean for a crime. In the winter of 1795, when the family ran out of provisions, he stole a loaf of bread. For this crime, Jean Valjean, the hero of the novel by V. Hugo, was sentenced to five years. He was sent to serve time in Toulon. Four times he tried to escape, for which he received another 12 years. Two years in prison was added for resistance to arrest when he was caught after his second escape.
After serving a total of nineteen years, Jean Valjean was released, while receiving a “yellow” passport with notes that indicated that his owner was a former prisoner. This circumstance did not allow him to choose his own place of residence. The main character was sent to Pontarlier.
Outcast
Jean Valjean is the hero of the novel Les Miserables, which is rightly considered the main one.
Having been in prison for almost 20 years, he became an outcast because of the reputation of the former prisoner, because there was a note in the passport that he was in prison. The hero himself admits that being in such an environment made him such.
Valjean is changing the meeting with Bishop Miriel, who treated him like a human being. The bishop did not begin to extradite the former convict when he stole the family silver from him. He stated to the police that he himself had given it to Valjean. This made the former convict repent and lead a decent and honest lifestyle. It was after meeting with the bishop that Jean takes on the role of Father Cosetta.
Inspector Javert
Jean Valjean is the hero of the novel “Les Miserables” by V. Hugo, which is most fully revealed against the background of another character. This is Inspector Javert, a detective who relentlessly followed the former convict. He is talented and deeply devoted to the service of justice. Javert comes from the very bottom of society. He is the son of a fortuneteller whom she gave birth right in prison. Ironically, he nevertheless became a loyal guardian of public order and, starting his career as an overseer in Toulon, rose to the rank of police inspector in Paris. In hard labor, for some reason, did he remember Jean Valjean? and fate constantly pushed him with him.
Javert recognizes the former prisoner in the person of the mayor of Montreal and seeks to be convicted. After Valjean's escape, he continues to hunt for him in Paris. A policeman involuntarily rescues a former convict from bandits. However, after Valjean helps keep Javert alive, the policeman’s moral concepts change. At the last meeting, the detective helps Jean save Marius Ponmersi, stops the persecution of the “ward”, and soon ends his life by suicide.
Morality of a policeman and a convict
The image of such a hero as Jean Valjean, or more precisely, his level of spirituality, is revealed in contrast to the notions of the morality of police Javert. Being a static character, this talented and honest policeman embodies a ruthless guardian of social order. His concepts of morality boil down to serving impeccably. Javert is honest, scrupulous, pedantic. He has no equal in inventive ways to deal with the criminal world. He carefully weighs his findings, checks the facts, fearing to arrest an innocent person. He does not know a feeling of pity for the guilty and convicted, even if they are victims of a social order.
Suspecting that the Monreil mayor is a former convict, Jean Valjean, he makes every effort to expose him, not giving any importance to the virtues of this man.
However, having decided at some point that he had identified himself, Javert, he must be given his due, he submits to the mayor a letter of resignation, as he showed disobedience to his superiors with his suspicions.
For the same reason, he rushes to the Seine, realizing how noble a former prisoner is doing towards him, saving his persecutor from execution. By his suicide, he "asks God for resignation."
The main idea of the novel
The novel Les Miserables is dedicated to describing the life of the lower class of Parisian society. The author does this because he loves Paris madly and fills the content of his work with reverent awe when describing his native city.
Jean Valjean is a key figure in the novel. The author himself admits that he wrote a work about a convict who is filled with great virtues, being at the bottom of his life. He is pure, because his soul is filled with inner light where many continue to roll down.
However, it should be noted that the main criminal in the novel is, perhaps, the very social structure that gives rise to many human vices.
The clash of Jean Valjean and Javert is a conflict of spiritual and earthly duty, a confrontation of conscience and law. Before suicide, the policeman reflects on the insignificance of our laws before the laws of God.