Les Miserables Themes

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“The light of the unknown world was already visible in his eye,” (397) this light was seen through Jean Valjean’s eyes as he neared death. This light symbolizes the bishop’s goodness and God’s love for him. When he saw this light, he knew he was ready for his journey to Heaven. The story is in Les Miserables is heavy with themes of grace, mercy and redemption as seen through Javert and Jean Valjean.
Javert is very committed to the chance of righteousness and the denial of transformation and the possibility of spiritual redemption. He says to Valjean, “Men like you can never change,” (72) which was shown to be one of his many basic principles. Children who are raised as strongly evangelical have been drilled the opposition between law and grace. When Javert says, “My duty’s to the law; you have no rights,” (104) he is being well-defined as a lost soul who is trying to earn their salvation through submission to God’s law because they haven’t believed in Christ. God has zero tolerance for breaking the law as does Javert. Jesus sacrificed his life for our sins so a criminal must accept...

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