LES MISERABLES Essay, Research Paper

Behind the plot of the story there was a great meaning of what life is all about and human nature. I is not only the main character searching for justice but about the world living one terrible lie. The book touches fragile aspects of crime, love, poverty, and the meaning of life and death. Sometimes life is unfair and you cannot change the way it is, but make the best of it.

Things I have Learned

What is justice? Anyone, would say it is what the law says and how people abide by it. A man caught stealing money from the poor should in fact go to jail. A man who has killed should also be executed. But what about morals? A man who steals bread to feed his starving family goes to jail. A man kills an man who attacks and threatens the lives of his family goes to jail. This changes the scenario, but who is really the convict? This idea put me to think. Is it okay to overlook the good thief and punish the bad thief? No, its not just to either one of them. The just to do would be to punish them both, but then the innocent suffer.

This book has well over a thousand themes. Each one uniquely different towards the reader, but there is a principal message behind the book, the Miserable?s name is mankind. No matter in what society, region, or country, they are all still affected by the same kind of miseries. –This text refers to the hardcover edition of this title

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Tender story of an ex-convict who re-discovers life. I began to read “Les Mis” as a challenge to myself. As I read the last pages this evening it was all that I could do to keep from bawling. Although I’ve never seen the musical or the various films, I can’t believe that any adaptation can do justice to Hugo’s beautiful knowledge of language. Although there is some rough going at the descriptions of historical, societal and political France Hugo constantly returns to his masterful description: “Only a thin partition separated him from that small cluster of lost souls groping in the darkness and sundered from the living world; he had heard them living, or rather suffering, with a few yards of him…. They are les miserables — the outcasts, the underdogs. And who is to blame? Is it not the most fallen who have most need of charity?” It is thus that Hugo captures the most icy hearts. The reader can’t help but be enthralled by the trials and tribulations of Jean Valjean, the ex-convict with a will ! to live outside the mire. With some help, he learns that there is so much to live for, and so much to lose. With a bittersweet ending that does a Mexican-hat-dance on the emotions, “Les Mis” is a true classic.