Les Miserables :: essays papers

Les Miserables "Les Miserables" is about a man, Jean Valjean, who has just been released from the galleys after 19 years of imprisonment. He is in search of food and shelter, but all the taverns and inns in D----- have rejected him, because he is a former convict. He then meets a woman in front of the church who tells him to go to the house where the bishop lives. Although the bishop knows Valjean is a convict, he takes him in, and gives him food and shelter. However, Valjean is still tempted to steal from the bishop. He takes his silverware, and flees. Valjean is caught by the police, and forced to return to the bishop's house. The bishop gives Valjean a second chance, by telling the police that the silverware was a gift, and giving him the silver candlesticks in addition. Valjean is instructed to start a new life as an honest man. In M---- sur M----, Valjean invents a new manufacturing process, and earns a great fortune. He has his own factory, and has been elected Mayor Madeline, a new name, to begin a new life. In his factory, works a woman, Fantine, who has given up her child so that she could work to begin a new life, as well. Her daughter, Cosette, was left with the Thenardiers. She was treated terribly, and was forced to eat under the table, with the dog. Meanwhile, Javert, an officer in the galleys where Valjean served, denounces Valjean, because he claims he recognizes him as a former convict. However, he later changes his point of view, claiming that he has found the real Valjean, who is being charged with stealing a branch off an apple tree. Valjean could not live knowing that someone else may be charged more harshly because of the crimes he had committed in the past. Valjean announced his true identity to save the man. He returned to his factory to collect all his money, and then to escape from the police. Javert eventually caught Valjean. At this time, Fantine, who was deathly sick, thought that Valjean had brought Cosette to her. When Javert arrested Valjean, Fantine died. Valjean was sent to the galleys again, but escaped, by faking his death.