Les Miserables 23 Essay, Research Paper

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.