Les Miserable
Les Misérables, a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. Beginning in 1815 and culminating in the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris, the novel follows the lives and interactions of several characters, focusing on the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his experience of redemption.
The story begins in 1815, as the peasant Jean Valjean, just released from 19 years' imprisonment—five for stealing bread for his starving sister and her family and fourteen more for numerous escape attempts—is turned away by innkeepers because his yellow passport marks him as a former convict. Bishop Myriel gives him shelter. At night, Valjean runs off with Myriel's silverware. When the police capture Valjean, Myriel pretends that he has given the silverware to Valjean and presses him to take two silver candlesticks as well, as if he had forgotten to take them. The police accept his explanation and leave. Myriel tells Valjean that his life has been spared for God, that he should use the silver candlesticks to make an honest man of himself.Six years pass and Valjean has become a wealthy factory owner and is appointed mayor of a town. Valjean saves Fantine, a grisette of his factory, feeling responsible because his factory turned her away, promises Fantine that he will bring Cosette to her. Valjean finds Fantine’s daughter Cosette and raises her up as his own. They flee to Paris. Valjean then becomes a gardener and Cosette becomes a student. Eight years later, Cosette falls in love with a student Marius, who has become alienated from his family because of his liberal views.
The "revolution" has already started but doomed to fail. As the barricade falls, Valjean carries off the injured and unconscious Marius. All the other students are killed. Marius slowly recovers from his injuries. As he and Cosette make wedding preparations, Valjean endows them with a fortune of nearly 600,000 francs. After the wedding, Valjean confesses to Marius that he is an ex-convict. Marius is horrified, assumes the worst about Valjean's moral character, and contrives to limit Valjean's time with Cosette. Valjean accedes to Marius' judgment and his separation from Cosette. Valjean loses the will to live and retires to his bed. But finally Marius recognize that it is Valjean who rescued him from the barricade. As they rush to Valjean's house, Marius tells Cosette that Valjean saved his life at the barricade. They arrive to find Valjean near death and are reconciled with him. Valjean tells Cosette her mother's story and name and dies with content.
Examining the nature of law and grace, the novel elaborates upon the history of France, the architecture and urban design of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. Such a classic, its weight is bound to give people a shock, When you walk into this work with a feeling of awe, you will find that this kind of massiness is not just on the surface -- the revelation of the suffering of the time, the excavation of the depth of human nature, the outline of the historical era, all make this massiness resist the weathering of time with a powerful inner strength, directly to the heart of every reader.
On the first reading, it is possible to be captivated by the ups and downs plot, lamenting Jean Valjean's sufferings, delighting in Marius' love. But rereading such a classic, people’s struggle and suffering always suppress my heart. I bury the book in meditation, and the great impact keep me in silence for a long time. I take a look at my own life and build a belief in goodness. At the same time, I view the people around me and the world with a more tolerant attitude. it is only a great work like Les Misérables can implant this belief deeply into our hearts. As Hugo begins the novel by saying, " So long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless."
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