litcard miserables

8/13/2019 Litcard Miserables

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Victor Hugo: Les Misrables Will NeibergallPublished 1862. Takes place from 1815-1832.

o!el di!ided i"to large sectio"s "amed after the sectio"s# protago"ists$ %hich are further di!ided i"to small chapters a"d e!e" sm

asides$ comprised mai"l& of e'positor& i"formatio".

(haracters)

ame *escriptio" +ig"ifica"ce

Jean Valjean An ex-convict, guilty of stealing bread for his

family, who ursues a life of virtue in return forthe !indness of a bisho"

#or significant amounts of the beginning and end of the boo!, Je

the main rotagonist" $he story and all its themes can be seen asuon his search for hainess and virtue"

Javert A olice chief with immense resect for thelaw, set uon bringing Jean Valjean to justice"

$he constant resence of Javert in the narrative creates a symbolfigure out of him, develoing and reresenting the boo!%s theme

enforcement and ursuit"

&osette $he daughter of #antine, whom Jean Valjean

effectively adots"

'n her !ind and fragile nature, she reresents comfort and securit

Valjean, who uses fatherhood as a means of fulfillment after escimrisonment at the hands of Javert"

#antine A wor!ing-class woman who unsuccessfullysee!s roserity in (aris while unable to

roerly care for her daughter, &osette"

'n her misfortune, she dislays the ruthless ine)uity of (arisian sNaoleon and she insires Jean Valjean to accet &osette into h

*arius A olitically active young man, the son of a

colonel of Naoleon and the grandson of anostalgic advocate of monarchy"

+is struggle for olitical identity is one of the novel%s centeriec

relationshi with his father is a driving force in the middle of the

isho *yriel A bisho in a small #rench town !nown for his!indness"

y showing grace to Jean Valjean in a deserate time, he sets Vath of duty and !indness"

$hnardier A criminal who victimi.es &osette and JeanValjean, and to whom *arius is indebted at the

re)uest of his father"

+e becomes one of the novel%s main antagonists in its second haresents *arius with a conflict"

/onine $he daughter of $hnardier" +er love for *arius begins the comlicated relationshi between$hnardiers, &osette and Jean Valjean"

*" 0illenormand $he grandfather of *arius" +is olitical orientation introduces an internal conflict for *ariuoffering of hel characteri.es the theme of misery in *arius%s lif


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0avroche A street urchin, and a $hnardier child" +is !indness and generosity to others in site of his own misfort

contrast between his hilosohy and that of his family"

&olonel (ontmercy $he father of *arius" +is bac!ground 1described as a struggle between Naoleonic anNaoleonic law2 insires *arius to act uon his olitical imuls

#auchelevent 3ne of the subjects of Valjean 1as *ayor

*adeleine2"

Valjean%s !indness to him desite his disresectful attitude saves

causes him to oen u in generosity to Valjean later, in (aris"

Plot +ummar&) ,ea" Valea" arri!es i" a small re"ch to%" after bei"g released from priso". He had ser!ed "i"etee" &ears for ste

to feed his famil& a"d subse/ue"tl& attempti"g "umerous escapes. He is tur"ed a%a& from e!er& i"" a"d is fi"all& accepted i"to th

the to%"#s bishop$ %ho refuses to hear his "ame or stor&. 0" the "ight$ ,ea" co"templates killi"g the bishop a"d steals his sil!er.

police retur" him to the home of the bishop$ the bishop prete"ds to ha!e gi!e" ,ea" the sil!er$ a"d adds ca"dlesticks u"der the co"

,ea" Valea" should tr& to become a better perso". 0"spired$ ,ea" Valea" mo!es to a differe"t small to%" a"d becomes !er& rich

i"!e"ti"g a ma"ufacturi"g method$ later becomi"g ma&or u"der the false "ame adelei"e. ea"%hile$ i" a "earb& to%"$ a %orki"

"amed a"ti"e lea!es her daughter (osette %ith a famil& of i""keepers called the Th"ardiers$ promisi"g to se"d them a" allo%a"

to %ork for Valea" u"til she falls ill. Valea" promises to let her see (osette before she dies$ but he is co"fro"ted b& the to%"#s pol

,a!ert$ %ho has disco!ered his past as a co"!ict. a"ti"e dies %he" ,a!ert arrests Valea" i" her prese"ce. Valea" ma"ages to esc

tra"sit to priso"$ a"d he fi"ds the Th"ardiers a"d takes (osette from them. The t%o li!e happil& i" Paris u"til ,a!ert catches o" t%hereabouts. The t%o are the" allo%ed to li!e %ith o"e of Valea"#s former subects as ma&or$ auchele!e"t$ i" a mo"aster&$ %he

a garde"er. ea"%hile$ arius Po"tmerc& li!es %ith his cruel gra"dfather. He belie!es his father$ (olo"el Po"tmerc&$ hates him

colo"el dies a"d arius disco!ers that their relatio"ship had bee" forbidde" b& his gra"dfather due to the colo"el#s allegia"ce to

0"spired b& his father$ arius lea!es a"d studies la%$ e!e"tuall& becomi"g i"!ol!ed %ith a radical political mo!eme"t. 0" Paris$

(osette a"d falls i" lo!e %ith her$ but ,ea" Valea" catches o" to his desire a"d becomes protecti!e of (osette. 4"e da&$ arius he

"eighbors the Th"ardiers co"spiri"g to rob (osette a"d Valea"$ so he reports them to the police chief ,a!ert. ,a!ert arrests th

Th"ardiers a"d Valea" escapes. *ue to her lo!e for arius$ 7po"i"e Th"ardier u"%itti"gl& helps him court (osette$ but Valea

hide her from him. arius the" oi"s his politicall& acti!e frie"ds i" a re!olt agai"st the strict policies of post-apoleo"ic ra"ce. ,

captured as a sp&$ a"d 7po"i"e dies for arius after deli!eri"g a letter from (osette. Valea" has a cha"ge of heart a"d goes to th

barricades$ first freei"g ,a!ert %ithout e'pla"atio" a"d the" sa!i"g arius$ %ho %as badl& %ou"ded. he" ,a!ert catches back uValea"$ he allo%s Valea" to help arius$ a"d kills himself. arius a"d (osette pla" to be married$ a"d arius tries to keep (ose

Valea" separated. shamed$ arius the" goes %ith (osette to apologi9e to Valea"$ %ho dies happil& %ith them at his side.


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ritte" from a" om"iscie"t$ third-perso" poi"t of !ie% drifti"g bet%ee" character-ce"tric perspecti!es %ith disti"ct !oice.

Themes:

4ight and dar! 1candlestic!s5sunlight as recurring symbols of virtue6 dar! corners and alleys are always dangerous2

*isery 1s)ualor suffered by unwilling wor!ing eole and willing olitical activists2

7ecognition 1names changing and being given or so!en according to one%s actions2

(ursuit 1mutually beneficial relationshi of law and lawbrea!er6 constant state of olitical revolution, love2

*e!ice :uote it- Ho% does it e"ha"ce the

%ork;

Ho% does it illumi"ate a theme or t

of the %ork as a %hole;

metahor This manwho was still all bleeding from the

lacerations of his destiny, who had been almost

evil, and who had become almost holy, who,after having dragged the chain of the galleys,

now dragged the invisible but heavy chain of

indefinite infamy

Metaphor soberly

characterizes characters

experiences, and createsdeep contrast with Hugos

light, humorous narration

$he use of metahor alongside similadescrition goes with the recurring th

device of the chance encounter or sursimilarity that distinguish virtue from

arallelism The size of certain gashes was a serious danger,

the suppuration of large wounds always being

liable to reabsorption, and consequently to kill

the patient, under certain atmospheric influences;

at every change in the weather, at the slightest

storm, the physician was anxious

The similarity of successive

clauses adds to some

sentences a microcosm of

an entire storys dramatic

structure, building in

importance or tension.

$he use of this sentence following a n*arius%s love for &osette conveys a d

grasing or ursuit, in line with the thwor!" $he effect of the sentence is sim

effect of the music and lyrics in the madatation"


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:uote +peaker +ituatio" +ig"ifica"ce

89he answered in a voice so low that it was

no more than a breath which could scarcelybe heard: +ush; humiliations, self-resect outraged, anydrudgery accetable, disgust, bitterness,

rostration ? *arius learned how one

swallows down all these things, and howthey are often the only things that one has toswallow"=

$henarrator

@escribing*arius%s lifeat the

beginning of8$he/xcellence of*isfortune=

$he title, LesMisrables, is easy to connect with the fate o#antine, but it lays its most significant role in describing and his olitical allies" 'n BCDs (aris, misery is considered

many to be a condition of rivilege6 it%s chosen by *arius to render his olitical life more ossible"

8$his stone is entirely blan!" $he onlythought in cutting it as of the essentials of

the grave, and there was no other care thanto ma!e this stone long enough and narrowenough to cover a man" No name can beread there"=

$henarrator

$he closinglines of the

novel

$he theme of recognition 1first established by isho *yrrefuses to hear Valjean%s name2 is here nicely tied u" Just

bisho had believed, the narrator imlies that to get hung uname is to be concerned with human vice and vanity" #or +1and robably the BCE revolutionaries2, the ultimate hero with no name, li!e Valjean5*adeleine54eblanc"

8At the moment when Jean Valjeanaused before the bed the cloud bro!e as

if urosely, and a ray of moonlightcrossing the high window suddenlylighted u the bisho%s ale face"=

$henarrator

@escribingValjean%s

murderouscontemlation"

$he theme of light and dar! 1later made more clear by the candland the recurring dar!ness of hysical sace2 is here established

the literal use of light to illuminate the face of a man of virtue" $dissuades Valjean from !illing the bisho, just as it later serves glorify and 8save= the s)ualid corses of #antine and Valjean"

Where was he? He sought himself and found himselfno longer. Jean Valjean confounded him. All the

axioms which had been the supports of his whole life

crumbled away before this man.

Thenarrator

DescribingJaverts final

existential worry

$he theme of ursuit is here finally clarified"Javert has ac!nowledged Valjean as a scounhad been necessary to one another%s emotion

develoment as the ursuer and the ursued"


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