Perception In Les Miserables, By Victor Hugo

One of the most common American proverbs is the expression to “never judge a book by its cover”. This saying, used for more than just books, is commonly used to express that what is on the appearance of something might not always show that things true nature or content. Even so people will often forget this fact and rely on their own perception. So what does this say about perception? To Victor Hugo author of the novel Les Misérables this would probable show that human perception is flawed and that people trust it more than they should. In Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables he suggests that by following only our perception will not always lead to the truth, with the characters of Thénardier, Jean Valjean, and Inspecter Javert.

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From the beginning of the book we learn Jean is an old convict. In this part of the book Jean is searching for a place to stay the night. He is turned down after the people learn he is a former convict and thus perceives him as dangerous. It is only the bishop who thinks of him only as a man. The bishop demonstrates this by saying that before Jean told him his name and status as a former convict he knew it and that his “name is my brother,” (28). By not having any perception’s based on who Jean was the Bishop saw only the good in Valjean as a man which would later show in his care of Cosette and his generosity to the poor. This shows a reason that perception may be flawed. The people thought of convict’s as bad people and thus their perception was based only on that fact and did not show the truth. Another place where Jean perceived a bad person from being a former convict was when he revealed himself as a convict to Marius. Marius makes many assumptions based on this fact such as assuming he stole the money he gave to him and killed Javert at the barricade. Marius also feels that the “something strangely enigmatic in this person (Jean) of which his instincts had warned him. This enigma was the most hideous of disgraces, the galleys,” (308). This new perception of Jean would drive him away. It is only when Marius learn the full truth about Jean that he starts to realize the reality of what a great man he was. This shows again of how the idea that who somone is or was effects peception about