FREE ESSAY ON LES MISERABLES

LES MISERABLES

Les Miserables, written by Victor Hugo in 1862 is a wonderful story of life in France in
the nineteenth century. This novel shows how people have to struggle to be a part of the
society. Les Miserables reveals the cruelty in France society's pressure on the poor, the
outcast, and the criminal.
The main character, Jean Valjean, was released from prison and walked to thirty-five
miles to a small town by the name of D____. While he was there he decided to find an Inn
to get some food and some sleep. Before he could do any thing he had to show his yellow
passport at the town hall. This yellow passport was used to show that he was a convicted
criminal. Jean Valjean went into an inn called Croix de Colbas, and because Jean Valjean
was a criminal he was sent out.
You are going to clear out of here!
Ah! Do you know?
Yes.
They sent me away from the other inn.
And we turn you out of this.
Where would you have me go?
Somewhere else.
Another example is with Fantine. A young mother of child named Cosette. Fantine had to
find someone to take care of her child while she went to find work in another town. She
started working at Valjean's factory after he made something of him self. She was not
able to write so she had to use a public letter writer who ...couldn't fill his stomach
with red-wine with out emptying out his pocket of his secrets.... When the overseer of
the part of the factory she worked in, found out, gave her fifty francs and told her to
leave the city.
Ultimately, Les Miserables shows how society treats the poor and the criminal. The way
Jean Valjean was treated was because of his past conviction. The treatment of Fantine was
directly related on how she couldn't support her child.