Les+Miserables

=//Les Misérables// by Victor Hugo =

[|Click Here to see the Trailer of the Motion Picture, Les Miserables]  "Before him he saw two roads, both equally straight; but he did see two; and that terrified him-he who had never in his life known anything but one straight line. And, bitter anguish, these two roads were contradictory" (Hugo 530).

= =  ** BIOGRAPHY: ** Victor Hugo was born on February 26, 1802 in France. He was a famous French poet, playwright, and novelist. Hugo first became a well-known writer with his poems and then later his novels. Two of his novels that have become classics are //Les Misérables// and //The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.////Les Misérables// took Hugo seventeen years to write and publish, finally in 1862. Victor Hugo died on May 22, 1885 and is now buried in a famous French monument, the Panthéon. Napoleon Bonaparte was the ruler of France as Hugo was growing up, and his father, Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo, was an officer in Napoleon's army. Hugo's political views changed from a conservative royalist to a more liberal republican as he grew older. Many of his writings include political and social issues of the time period that they were written in. Hugo's writings were influenced greatly by the Romanticism Movement.

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** SYNOPSIS: ** First it should be recognized that //Les Misérables// is a historical fiction novel and its original language is French. Now, to the summary. Jean Valjean is the main character in //Les Misérables.// He was jailed for stealing a loaf of bread and remained there for nineteen years for various escape attempts. When Valjean was finally released, a bishop welcomed Valjean into his home for the night. The bishop caused a change in Valjean's character; he became a good and generous man after being so hardened by jail. However, Valjean tries to keep hidden from the police because they are looking for him as a repeat offender. (Valjean had robbed a young boy after he got out of jail.) Valjean becomes mayor of a town and is very well liked. Nobody knows that he is really an ex-convict. Meanwhile, a young woman Fantine has an illegitimate child and gives her young girl to the care of the Thenardiers while she tries to make a living. The Thenardiers are very cruel to Fantine's child, Cosette, and Fantine does all she can to earn money to send to the Thenardiers for Cosette. She even resorts to prostitution. Javert, the main inspector that's Valjean's enemy, suspects that the mayor is Valjean. When another poor man is put to trial for being Valjean, the true Valjean goes to the court and saves the innocent man from jail by revealing his true identity. Javert puts Valjean back in jail, and Fantine dies. However, Valjean fakes his death in jail and escapes prison. He knew of Fantine's love for Cosette and miraculously he meets Cosette in the woods one night. He convinces the Thenardiers, with a large sum of money, to hand Cosette over to him. He raises Cosette as his own child, under the name of Fauchelevent because he is hiding from the police yet again. Eight years later, a young revolutionist, Marius, sees Cosette in the gardens of Paris and the two young adults fall in love. Marius obtains Cosette's address after months of not seeing her, and the two secretly meet in her garden every night. One night, Cosette tells Marius she and her father, Valjean as Fauchelevent, are going to move. Marius is heartbroken and desperately joins an ensuing battle between revolutionaries in Paris and the Parisian army. He does not care if he lives or dies. He writes a final farewell letter to Cosette, which is intercepted by Valjean. Not wishing to see Cosette suffer the loss of her beloved Marius, even though he despises Marius because he is losing Cosette to her, Valjean joins the battle in order to try and save Marius. A violent and bloody battle ensues, with Javert right at Valjean's heels.

**SYMBOLS:** **Candlesticks** - The bishop gives Valjean his precious silver candlesticks in an effort to turn Valjean into a better man. Throughout the novel the candlesticks serve as a symbol for compassion and hope and love. As they shine, the greater the love and hope. **Javert** - Javert is an obvious symbol for the authority, structure, and strict laws of society. His main goal in life is to make sure the law is upheld and even begs to be fired after he believes he wrongly accuses the mayor (Valjean) to be, actually, Valjean. His inability to see through the lens of anything beside the law leads him to drastic measures.
 * Sewer - **The underground sewer through Paris serves as a symbol for secrets and conscience. When Valjean travels through the sewer he is struggling with his conscience. He also meets a very shady and secretive character in the sewer.


 * CRITICISM/STRUGGLES IN READING THIS NOVEL: **This book was hard for me to comprehend at some points. The original language of the novel was French, so I obviously read the translated version into English. Translating a whole text into another language is bound to have some barriers, just as this novel did. Some sentences didn't flow super well or had words switched around. This was not a major issue, but I came across it various times. Another issue that made this book more difficult for me to understand was its references to French politics and history of the 18th and 19th century. I do not know much about French history or politics, let alone that of centuries ago. When the novel referenced certain people or events, I was not as well acquainted to the subject as other French readers would be. This presented a barrier to a better understanding of the novel. There were also many run-on sentences with many commas and semi-colons. While reading these long sentences, I would be distracted by the flow of the sentence with the various commas and usually end up forgetting what the sentence is about. For instance, there is even one sentence, dubbed the longest sentence in French literature, that is 823 words long! An example of a shorter, but still run on sentence is this, "These two beings, then, were living thus, very high, with all the improbability of nature; neither at the nadir nor at the zenith, between man and the seraph, above earth, below the ether, in the cloud; scarcely flesh and bone, soul and ecstasy from head to foot; too sublimated already to walk upon the earth, and yet too much weighed down with humanity to disappear in the sky, in suspension like atoms with are awaiting precipitation..." (Hugo 381). And yet, this is only half of the sentence! However, these struggles did not take away from the greatness of this novel.

**WH****AT MAKES THIS NOVEL OUTSTANDING:** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">This novel is outstanding for many reasons. It presents struggles that are real to the time period that it was written in.<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> It also portrays the changes that occur within a human soul that are true even to the time of today. Th<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">e se concepts hook a reader as they become more involved with a character's metamorphosis. The reader wants to continue rea <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">ding to follow the path that a certain character follows. All of the characters plot lines tie together in a unique and interesting way to make the novel very addicting. Hugo's style of writing is also superb. He is a great master of literary devices, particularly metaphors, and really knows how to grab a hold of the inner soul. Hugo includes many of his own in depth analysis' of various actions and situations. "Until order, which is nothing more nor less than universal peace, be established, until harmony and unity reign, progress will have revolutions for stations... Utopia, moreover, we must admit, departs from its radiant sphere in making war. Th truth of tomorrow, she borrows her process, battle, from the lie of yesterday. She, the future, acts like the past, She, the pure idea, becomes an act of force" (Hugo 496-497). This example from //Les Misérables// is a great example of Hugo's expertise of writing.This novel has a great plot line that is easy to get hooked to through its use of characters, plot, and excellent literary devices.

<span style="color: #300fe6; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**RECOMMENDATION:** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">I would recommend this novel because it is has a great use of literary devices that are truly superb. Hugo is an excellent writer that knows how to use his words to the extreme. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Les Misérables// has a mix of love and action and suspense. Therefore it is a great novel for many readers. To miss out on reading this novel would be to miss out on the opportunity of experiencing a truly great novel of the famous Victor Hugo.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">If you are interested in seeing the musical version of Hugo's classic novel, <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: left;">[|to access the website where you can learn more information.click here]

<span style="color: #300fe6; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**BIBLIOGRAPHY** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Hugo, Victor. //Les Misérables//. Enriched Classic. New York: Pocket Books, 2005. Print.