Les Miserables Turning Points

Throughout Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables the main character, Jean Valjean went through multiple turning points. Jean Valjean was once an honest tree pruner, but was arrested for a stealing a loaf of bread. After serving nineteen years in prison, he became calloused and despises the world for what it did to him. He traveled to the mountain town of Dinge, where a virtuous bishop lived. Valjean attempted to stay in an inn, but is kicked out due to him being an ex-convict. Valjean stayed with the bishop, Myriel, but had mixed feelings with the thought of stealing from the kind man. Valjean even considered murdering the Bishop but fled with the silver into the night. Valjean is caught and returned to the bishop, however the result of the visit

is quite unexpected. The bishop tells the officers that he gave the silver to Valjean as a gift and insisted Valjean take the silver candlesticks as well. Valjean is shocked. “’but this time,’ said the bishop, ‘you must not forget your candlesticks.’ He fetched them from the mantelpiece and handed them to Valjean. Valjean was trembling. He took the candlesticks mechanically air and with a distracted air. ‘And now,’ said the bishop, ‘go in peace. Incidentally, my friend, when next you come here you need not go through the garden. This door is never locked.’” (Hugo 111) His encounter with Myriel sparked change within Valjean. However, Valjean returned to his old ways and stole from a poor child “He saw all this, the picture of his life, which was horrible, and of his own soul, hideous in its ugliness. Yet a new day had now dawned for that life and soul.” (Hugo 118) Valjean repented, started his life anew, and traveled to Montreuil-sur-mer. While living in the poor town Valjean becomes mayor and the little town flourished! But trouble lurked in the shadows in the form of Javert a prison guard who suspected Valjean to be the ex-convict who skipped parole. After Javert arrested a man thought to be Valjean the real Valjean wrestled with what to do.

“’The blessings I have longed for during these years, the subject of my nightly dreams and prayers to heaven, has now been granted to me – perfect security! God has caused it to happen, and it is not for me oppose the will of God.’” (Hugo 213) But Valjean’s mind continued to swirl and in the end, he revealed who he was and was arrested. Valjean escaped and adopted the daughter of a woman named Fantine whom he made a promise to on her death bed to care for her daughter Cosette. After taking in Cosette, Valjean transformed again into a loving protector. “The bishop had taught him the meaning of virtue; Cosette had now taught him the meaning of love.” (Hugo 392) Valjean, however lost sight of what was right in a rage when Marius fell in love with Cosette. Valjean even celebrated the idea of Marius dying at the barricade. But Valjean saved Marius and even agreed to stay away from Cosette. However, she came to him whilst on his death bed with the candlestick lit beside him. Jean Valjean was the main character in Victor Hugo’s novel, Les Miserables, and he represents a great redemption through the virtue of the bishop and the love of

Cosette.

Javert, the inspector who chased Valjean, had one major turning point in Victor Hugo’s novel. Throughout the novel Javert hunted Valjean with a sense of justice and law. Javert believed in enforcing society’s law to such an extent it made him not think whether the laws were just. Nethertheless Javert felt shameful in his upbringing. He was born to a gypsy and a galley slave and raised in the streets. Javert hoped to better himself, but that idea flawed him. Javert became obsessed with his self-image and thought himself better than those on the street from whence he came. However, throughout the novel it became evident that Javert not only wanted to follow the law, but also started to enjoy hounding Valjean. “Then, with a demonic and sensual pleasure, he settled down to enjoy himself. He played his man knowing that he had him, deliberately postponing the climax, granting him a last illusion of freedom, relishing the situation like a spider with a fly buzzing in its web or a cat letting a mouse run between its paws – the ecstasy of watching those last struggles! His net was shrewdly cast, he could close it when he chose, and Valjean, desperate and dangerous though he was, could not hope to resist the force arrayed against him.” (Hugo 423) Although after being captured at the barricade and freed by Valjean, Javert changed. He granted Valjean permission to have Marius saved and then to visit Cosette one last time. However, when Valjean looked outside Javert was gone. Javert wrestled with what he thought was right up until the end. Javert realized he hadn’t been virtuous and saw that his work had become his religion. He obeyed the orders of his superior, but hadn’t thought about his true superior, God. “He now became conscious of God and was troubled in spirit, thrown into disarray by that unexpected presence. He did not know how to treat this superior, knowing that the subordinate must always give way, never disobey or dispute orders, and that, faced by a superior with whom he does not agree, he can resign. But how to resign from God?” (Hugo 1107) Javert saw no available path for him to take so he jumped off a bridge. Unlike Jean Valjean, Javert couldn’t handle his turning point and killed himself. However, Javert represented a good example, as one who became so caught up in the world he forgot about what truly mattered.