Jean Valjean
Victor Hugo's 1862 epic classic magnum opus novel "Les Miserables" is our point of interaction. Feel free to read, post, and link anything pushing this discussion.
Summary/synopsis:
Jean Valjean (JVJ) is a hardworking peasant French ex-convict as the tale begins. We see him walking through 19th century France as a pariah, shunned by all but a Catholic priest. We learn that he has been released after serving 19 years for stealing bread. Several escape attempts lengthened his original sentence.
Background to this is substantial description of contemporary French culture. We are told of a small group, four men and women in the prime of their youth. They are rich enough to lounge in Paris, enjoying the summer. They eat and dance, and laugh and talk.
One of these, perhaps the fairest of the young women, is Fantine.
The novel jumps around in time, moving descriptively to tell of many environments: the world that Jean val Jean was born into, the world into which he entered upon being released from prison. Also, we will have need to know not only of the world of Fantine and her compatriots, as well as the world that Fantine is abandoned to after her friends abandon her, and others.
There are many characters, but three principles support the story. Jean val Jean and Fantine are two. But they both have struggles with money and with the law, so to fully explore the ideas, Mr. Hugo took an agent of the law to form out the triangle for his foundation.
Javert is a policeman, and a loyal one. Joyless and committed, he lives for his job. When Fantine is driven through poverty and abuse to prostitution, it is Javert who is there to arrest her. And when JVJ has his legal crises, Javert is always in the picture.
And so it is a triangle formed by three French citizens, two who are found outside of the law, and one whose task it is to enforce that law.
Hugo's writing is so beautiful, that the descriptions of each of these characters, their plights, their histories, their thoughts, and choices, are poetic and vivid.
Jean Valjean
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